Method and system of controlling a vehicle in the presence of a disturbance

• US 7,561,953 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Issued: 07/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch Corporation (Robert Bosch GmbH), Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Yu, Jingsheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nolan; Peter D
• Application Number:
  US11/079,619
• Publication Number:
  US 20060206253A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 701/37, 701/38, 701/39, 701/40, 701/51, 701/70, 701/71, 701/76, 701/77, 701/78, 701/79, 701/124, 280/5.5, 280/5.501, 280/5.502, 280/5.507, 280/455.1, 280/400, 303/123, 340/440, 477/97, 180/271, 180/282, 731/170.1
• US Class Current: 701/78
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 13/00 Steering specially adapted for trailers combined traction and steering hitches B60D
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/002 computing target steering angles for front or rear wheels B62D7/159 takes precedence

Abstract

A system and method of controlling a towing vehicle adapted to be connected to a trailer at a hitch. The method includes sensing a plurality of vehicle conditions indicative of at least a movement of the towing vehicle, and an angle of the towing vehicle, determining a disturbance at the hitch based on data including at least the movement of the vehicle and the angle of the vehicle, and generating a compensation signal based on the determined disturbance at the hitch.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a towing vehicle adapted to be connected to a trailer, the method comprising:

sensing a plurality of vehicle conditions indicative of at least a movement of the towing vehicle, and an angle of the towing vehicle;

estimating a hitch force caused by the trailer using a calculated dynamic model of the towing vehicle;

wherein the dynamic model of the towing vehicle is based on data including at least the movement of the vehicle and the angle of the vehicle;

generating a compensation signal based on the estimated hitch force; and

controlling a vehicle system based on the compensation signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the movement of the vehicle comprises a yaw rate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the angle of the vehicle comprises at least one of a body slip angle of the vehicle and a steering angle of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data further includes at least one of a mass, a longitudinal speed, a moment of inertia around a center point, a cornering stiffness of a front tire, a cornering stiffness of a rear tire, a distance between the front tire and the center point, a second distance between the rear tire and the center point, and a distance between the rear tire and a hitch connecting the towing vehicle to the trailer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the movement of the vehicle comprises a sensed movement, and wherein estimating the hitch force caused by the trailer comprises:

determining a movement estimate; and

comparing the movement estimate with the sensed movement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the angle comprises a sensed angle, and wherein estimating the hitch force caused by the trailer comprises:

determining an angle estimate; and

comparing the angle estimate with the sensed angle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated hitch force represents a dynamic force applied by the trailer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation signal comprises at least one of an engine torque compensating value, a brake torque compensating value, a front steering torque compensating value, and a rear steering torque compensating value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the disturbance comprises a hitch force is estimated at a hitch connecting the towing vehicle and the trailer, wherein generating the compensation signal further comprises determining a wheel torque compensating value and a steering angle compensating value from at least one of a first distance between a front tire and a center point, a second distance between a rear tire and the center point, a third distance between the rear tire and the hitch of the towing vehicle, a first cornering stiffness of the front tire, and a second cornering stiffness of the rear tire.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the compensation signal comprises at least one of a front wheel torque compensation value, a rear wheel torque compensation value, a front wheel steering angle compensation value, and a rear wheel steering angle compensation value.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting at least one of a front wheel torque, a rear wheel torque, a front wheel steering angle, and a rear wheel steering angle based on the compensation signal.

12. A system for controlling a towing vehicle adapted to be used with a trailer at a hitch, the system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to sense vehicle conditions including a movement and a speed of the towing vehicle;

an estimating module configured to receive the sensed vehicle conditions including the movement of the towing vehicle and the speed of the towing vehicle, and to estimate a hitch force the hitch using a calculated dynamic model of the towing vehicle;

wherein the dynamic model of the towing vehicle is based on data including the sensed vehicle conditions; and

a compensation module configured to receive the estimated hitch force from the estimating module, to generate a compensation signal based on the estimated hitch force.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the movement of the towing vehicle comprises a lateral movement of the towing vehicle.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the speed of the towing vehicle comprises a wheel speed of the towing vehicle.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the estimated hitch force represents a dynamic force applied by the trailer.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the vehicle conditions further include at least one of a steering angle, a mass, a yaw rate, a body slip angle, a moment of inertia around a center point, a cornering stiffhess of a front tire, a cornering stifihess of a rear tire, a distance between the front tire and the center point, a second distance between the rear tire and the center point, and a distance between the rear tire and the hitch of the towing vehicle.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the movement comprises a sensed movement, and wherein the estimating module is further configured to determine a movement estimate, and to compare the movement estimate with the sensed movement.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the vehicle conditions further comprise a body slip angle of the towing vehicle, and wherein the estimating module is further configured to determine a body slip angle estimate, and to compare the body slip angle estimate with the sensed angle.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the compensation signal comprises at least one of an engine torque compensating value, a brake torque compensating value, a front steering torque compensating value, and a rear steering torque compensating value.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the compensation module is further configured to determine a wheel torque and a steering angle from at least one of a first distance between a front tire and a center point, a second distance between a rear tire and the center point, a third distance between the rear tire and the hitch of the towing vehicle, a first cornering stiffness of the front tire and a second cornering stiffness of the rear tire.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein estimating module is further adapted to adjust the hitch force estimate based on a plurality of wheel torques including an engine driving torque and a brake torque.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the compensation signal comprises at least one of a front wheel torque compensation value, a rear wheel torque compensation value, a front wheel steering angle compensation value, and a rear wheel steering angle compensation value.

23. The system of claim 12, further comprising at least one of a front wheel control configured to adjust a front wheel torque based on the compensation signal, a rear wheel control configured to adjust a rear wheel torque based on the compensation signal, a front wheel steering control configured to adjust a front wheel steering angle based on the compensation signal, and a rear wheel steering control configured to adjust a rear wheel steering angle based on the compensation signal.

24. A method of controlling a towing vehicle adapted to be connected to a trailer, the method comprising:

generating a dynamic model of the towing vehicle based on a plurality of dynamics of the towing vehicle;

estimating a hitch force caused by the trailer based on the dynamic model of the towing vehicle; and

compensating at least one of a wheel torque and a steering angle based on the estimated hitch force.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the plurality of dynamics of the towing vehicle are modeled with at least of one of a linear model, and a non-linear model.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the plurality of dynamics of the towing vehicle comprise a wheel speed, a steering angle, a mass, a yaw rate, a body slip angle, a moment of inertia around a center point, a cornering stiffness of a front tire, a cornering stiffness of a rear tire, a distance between the front tire and the center point, a second distance between the rear tire and the center point, and a distance between the rear tire and a hitch connecting the towing vehicle and the trailer.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein estimating the hitch force at the hitch comprises:

sensing a vehicle condition indicative of a yaw rate of the towing vehicle;

determining a yaw rate estimate; and

comparing the yaw rate estimate with the sensed yaw rate.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein estimating the hitch force at the hitch comprises:

sensing a vehicle condition indicative of a body slip angle of the towing vehicle;

determining a body slip angle estimate; and

comparing the body slip angle estimate with the sensed body slip angle.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the wheel torque comprises at least one of a front wheel torque, and a rear wheel torque.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the steering angle comprises at least one of a front wheel steering angle, and a rear wheel steering angle.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein compensating at least one of a wheel torque and a steering angle comprises adjusting at least one of the wheel torques with the hitch force at a hitch connecting the towing vehicle and the trailer, and the steering angle with the disturbance at the hitch.

32. A system for controlling a towing vehicle adapted to be connected to a trailer at a hitch, the system comprising:

means for generating a dynamic model of the towing vehicle based on a plurality of dynamics of the towing vehicle;

means for estimating a hitch force caused by the vehicle trailer based on the dynamic model of the towing vehicle; and

means for compensating at least one of an engine torque, a brake torque, and a wheel torque based on the estimated hitch force.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the means for modeling comprise one of a linear bicycle model, a single-track model, a two-track model, and a non-linear bicycle model.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the plurality of dynamics of the towing vehicle comprise a wheel speed, a steering angle, a mass, a yaw rate, a body slip angle, a moment of inertia around a center point, a cornering stifthess of a front tire, a cornering stiffness of a rear tire, a distance between the front tire and the center point, a second distance between the rear tire and the center point, and a distance between the rear tire and the hitch.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein means for estimating the hitch force comprises:

means for sensing a vehicle condition indicative of a yaw rate of the towing vehicle;

means for determining a yaw rate estimate; and

means for comparing the yaw rate estimate with the sensed yaw rate.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein means for estimating the hitch force comprises:

means for sensing a vehicle condition indicative of a body slip angle of the towing vehicle;

means for determining a body slip angle estimate; and

means for comparing the body slip angle estimate with the sensed body slip angle.

37. The system of claim 32, further comprising means for finding at least one of a convergence of a yaw rate estimate, a second convergence of a body slip angle, and a convergence of the hitch force estimate.

38. The system of claim 32, wherein the wheel torque comprises at least one of a front wheel torque and a rear wheel torque.

39. The system of claim 32, wherein the steering angle comprises at least one of a front wheel steering angle and a rear wheel steering angle.