Tire and vehicle sensor-based vehicle state estimation system and method

• US 9,995,654 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Original Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Inventors: Singh, Kanwar Bharat
• Primary Examiner(s): Henry, Caleb
• Application Number:
  US14/794,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20170010184A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,070 Days
• Field of Search: 702 41
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 19/00 Tyre parts or constructions not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 2019/004 Tyre sensors other than for detecting tyre pressure
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/00 Testing of vehicles testing fluid tightness G01M3/00; testing elastic properties of bodies or chassis, e.g. torsion-testing, G01M5/00; testing alignment of vehicle headlight devices G01M11/06; testing of engines G01M15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/02 Tyres
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/022 the tyre co-operating with rotatable rolls

Abstract

A vehicle state estimation system and method uses an observer model to make cornering stiffness estimates from tire-based sensor data and vehicle-based sensor data throughout transient and non-transient operational maneuvers of a vehicle. A cornering stiffness identifier extracts transient-state cornering stiffness estimates from the cornering stiffness estimates made by the observer model and extracts from the transient-state cornering stiffness estimates an optimal transient-state cornering stiffness estimate having a substantially highest confidence measure for use by a vehicle control system.

Claims

1. A vehicle state estimation system comprising:

a vehicle supported by at least one tire, the vehicle operating in transient maneuver states or non-transient maneuver states throughout operational maneuvers of the vehicle;

at least one tire-based sensor being discrete from any vehicle-based sensors, the at least one tire-based sensor being mounted to the at least one tire and operative to generate tire-based sensor data, the tire-based sensor data including at least a measurement of tire inflation pressure and a measurement of tire temperature;

at least one vehicle-based sensor being discrete from any tire-based sensors, the at least one vehicle-based sensor being mounted to the vehicle separate from the vehicle tires and operative to generate vehicle-based sensor data, the vehicle-based sensor data including at least a lateral acceleration, a yaw rate and a steering wheel angle;

an observer model operative to make cornering stiffness estimates from the tire-based sensor data and the vehicle-based sensor data throughout the operational maneuvers of the vehicle; and

a cornering stiffness identifier operative to extract and output transient-state cornering stiffness estimates from the observer model cornering stiffness estimates throughout the operational maneuvers of the vehicle.

2. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 1, wherein the cornering stiffness identifier is operative to extract from the transient-state cornering stiffness estimates an optimal transient-state cornering stiffness estimate having a substantially highest confidence measure.

3. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 2, further comprising a tire load estimator for operatively estimating a vertical force on the at least one tire from the tire-based sensor data.

4. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 3, further comprising an inertial parameter generator operative to output to the observer model a substantially real-time update of vehicle inertial parameters derived from the vertical force estimation.

5. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 4, wherein the at least one tire is mounted to an axle, and the vehicle state estimation system further comprising an axle force estimator operative to estimate from the vehicle inertial parameters and the vehicle-based sensor data an axle lateral force estimation on the axle and output the axle lateral force estimation to the observer model.

6. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 2, wherein the observer model comprises a discrete-time unscented Kalman filter.

7. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 2, further comprising a vehicle sideslip angle estimator operative to generate a sideslip angle estimation.

8. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 2, further comprising a vehicle control unit receiving as an input the optimal transient-state cornering stiffness estimate from the cornering stiffness identifier.

9. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 8, wherein the vehicle control unit receives as a further input a sideslip angle estimation made by the sideslip angle estimator.

10. A vehicle state estimation method comprising:

supporting a vehicle by at least one tire, the vehicle operating in transient maneuver states or non-transient maneuver states throughout operational maneuvers of the vehicle;

mounting at least one tire-based sensor to the at least one tire, the at least one tire-based sensor being discrete from any vehicle-based sensors and being operative to generate tire-based sensor data, the tire-based sensor data including at least a measurement of tire inflation pressure and a measurement of tire temperature;

mounting at least one vehicle-based sensor to the vehicle separate from the vehicle tires, the at least one vehicle-based sensor being discrete from any tire-based sensors and being operative to generate vehicle-based sensor data, the vehicle-based sensor data including at least a lateral acceleration, a yaw rate and a steering wheel angle;

generating cornering stiffness estimates from an observer model based upon the tire-based sensor data and the vehicle-based sensor data throughout the operational maneuvers of the vehicle; and

extracting a plurality of extracted output transient-state cornering stiffness estimates from the observer model through a cornering stiffness identifier throughout the operational maneuvers of the vehicle.

11. The vehicle state estimation method of claim 10, further comprising extracting from the extracted transient-state cornering stiffness estimates an optimal transient-state cornering stiffness estimate having a substantially highest confidence measure.

12. The vehicle state estimation method of claim 11, further comprising:

estimating a vertical force on the at least one tire from the tire-based sensor data;

generating a plurality of vehicle inertial parameters from the vertical force estimation;

updating the vehicle inertial parameters in substantially real-time throughout the vehicle operational maneuvers;

inputting the updated vehicle inertial parameters to the observer model.

13. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 11, further comprising using the optimal transient-state cornering stiffness estimate in a vehicle control unit.

14. The vehicle state estimation system of claim 13, further comprising:

generating a sideslip angle estimation with a sideslip angle estimator model; and

using the sideslip angle estimation by the vehicle control unit.