Drive-through inspection system for a moving vehicle
First Claim
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1. A vehicle inspection system, comprising:
- a first plurality of displacement sensors disposed in a laterally spaced arrangement along one longitudinal side of a vehicle inspection lane through which a vehicle undergoing inspection is moved in a longitudinal direction, each displacement sensor in said first plurality of displacement sensors configured to acquire a plurality of displacement measurements associated with wheel assemblies on a first lateral side of a vehicle moving through said vehicle inspection lane, said plurality of displacement measurements from each displacement sensor acquired from a plurality of different vertical elevations;
a second plurality of displacement sensors disposed in a laterally spaced arrangement along an opposite longitudinal side of said vehicle inspection lane, each displacement sensor in said second plurality of displacement sensors configured to acquire a plurality of displacement measurements associated with wheel assemblies on a second lateral side of the vehicle moving through said vehicle inspection lane, said plurality of associated displacement measurements acquired from a plurality of different vertical elevations;
a processing system configured to receive said displacement measurements from said first and second plurality of displacement sensors, said processing system further configured to evaluate said received displacement measurements to estimate a measurement of at least one vehicle characteristic.
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Abstract
A vehicle measurement station utilizing at least one displacement sensor disposed on each opposite side of a sensor region of a vehicle inspection lane to acquire displacement measurement data, associated with a moving vehicle passing through the sensor region. Each displacement sensor is configured to acquire measurement data along at least three discrete and vertically spaced measurement axes. A processing system receives the acquired data for evaluation, identification of outlier data points, and for determining a measurement associated with a characteristic of the moving vehicle, such as vehicle velocity, axle alignment, wheel alignment, or dimensions.
69 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A vehicle inspection system, comprising:
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a first plurality of displacement sensors disposed in a laterally spaced arrangement along one longitudinal side of a vehicle inspection lane through which a vehicle undergoing inspection is moved in a longitudinal direction, each displacement sensor in said first plurality of displacement sensors configured to acquire a plurality of displacement measurements associated with wheel assemblies on a first lateral side of a vehicle moving through said vehicle inspection lane, said plurality of displacement measurements from each displacement sensor acquired from a plurality of different vertical elevations; a second plurality of displacement sensors disposed in a laterally spaced arrangement along an opposite longitudinal side of said vehicle inspection lane, each displacement sensor in said second plurality of displacement sensors configured to acquire a plurality of displacement measurements associated with wheel assemblies on a second lateral side of the vehicle moving through said vehicle inspection lane, said plurality of associated displacement measurements acquired from a plurality of different vertical elevations; a processing system configured to receive said displacement measurements from said first and second plurality of displacement sensors, said processing system further configured to evaluate said received displacement measurements to estimate a measurement of at least one vehicle characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A vehicle measurement system, comprising:
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a pair of sensor units disposed in proximity to a vehicle inspection lane through which a moving vehicle passes, with one sensor unit of said pair on each opposite lateral side of said vehicle inspection lane; wherein each sensor unit includes a plurality of displacement sensors each configured to acquire a plurality of measurements associated with a rolling wheel assembly on an associated side of a vehicle moving through said vehicle inspection lane between said sensor units, said plurality of measurements from each of said plurality of displacement sensors acquired along a plurality of vertically separated measurement axes; wherein each of said sensor units is operatively coupled to convey said plurality of measurements to a processing system configured with software instructions to utilize said conveyed plurality of measurements to determine at least one measure of a vehicle characteristic; and wherein said processing system is further configured with software instructions to utilize said conveyed plurality of measurements to determine a plurality of values for a vehicle characteristic, and to evaluate said plurality of determined values of said vehicle characteristic to identify outlier values within said plurality of determined values. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A vehicle inspection system for acquiring measurements of a vehicle moving through an inspection lane, comprising:
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a non-contact measurement system configured to acquire displacement measurements associated with the wheel assemblies on each side of the moving vehicle, said displacement measurements acquired from said wheel assemblies at points which are disposed at three or more different vertical elevations; a drive-over tire tread depth measurement system configured to acquire a plurality of measurements of tire tread depth from at least one wheel assembly of the moving vehicle; and a processing system configured to receive said displacement measurements and said tire tread depth measurements, said processing system configured with software instructions to evaluate said displacement measurements acquired at three or more different vertical elevations to identify at least one alignment characteristic of the vehicle, and to generate an inspection report including said at least one alignment characteristic and, for at least one of said wheel assemblies, a representation of said measured tire tread depth. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A moving vehicle evaluation system, comprising:
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a pair of sensor units disposed on opposite lateral sides of a vehicle inspection lane through which a moving vehicle passes; wherein each sensor unit is configured to acquire a plurality of distance measurements along respective measurement axes to a surface of a rolling wheel assembly on an associated side of a vehicle moving through said vehicle inspection lane between said sensor units; wherein each of said sensor units is operatively coupled to convey said plurality of distance measurements to a processing system configured with software instructions to determine, from said acquired plurality of distance measurements and each of said respective measurement axes, a representation of an alignment angle associated with said vehicle; and wherein said processing system is further configured with software instructions to compensate said representation of said alignment angle for a vehicle suspension bias introduced by the presence of a driver within said moving vehicle.
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Specification