Method for determining variables characterizing vehicle handling

Claim 1

A method for determining variables which represent handling characteristics of a vehicle having wheels, said method comprising the steps of: feeding signals from the vehicle to a computing device, said signals representing measured values of a vehicle longitudinal velocity (v x ), a vehicle longitudinal acceleration (a x ), a vehicle lateral acceleration (a y ), and a vehicle yaw velocity (Ψ); using state equations of motion in the computing device to determine said variables characterizing vehicle handling; determining a side slip angle (β) in the computing device as one of said variables characterizing vehicle handling; feeding at least further signals from the vehicle representing the measured variables of a steering angle (δ), and a wheel speed (ω) of individual ones of said wheels to the computing device; using in the computing device at least one measurement equation based on a vehicle model; using at least an inclination angle (Φ) of a roadway with respect to a plane as a state variable in said measurement equation; and outputting signals from the computing device for said variables characterizing vehicle handling, including said side slip angle for the vehicle.

Claim 2

A method for determining variables which represent handling characteristics of a vehicle having wheels, said method comprising the steps of: feeding signals from the vehicle to a computing device, said signals representing measured values of a vehicle longitudinal velocity (v x ), a vehicle longitudinal acceleration (a x ), a vehicle lateral acceleration (a y ), and a vehicle yaw velocity (Ψ); using state equations of motion in the computing device to determine said variables characterizing vehicle handling; determining a side slip angle (β) in the computing device as one of said variables characterizing vehicle handling; feeding at least further signals from the vehicle representing the measured variables of a steering angle (δ), and a wheel speed (ω) of individual ones of said wheels to the computing device; using in the computing device at least one measurement equation based on a vehicle model; using at least an inclination angle (Φ) of a roadway with respect to a plane as a state variable in said measurement equation; and outputting signals from the computing device for said variables characterizing vehicle handling, including said side slip angle for the vehicle.

Claim 11

A system to determine variables representing handling characteristics of a vehicle having wheels, the system comprising: a vehicle longitudinal velocity sensor providing a vehicle longitudinal velocity output signal (v x ); a vehicle longitudinal acceleration sensor providing a vehicle longitudinal acceleration output signal (a x ); a vehicle lateral acceleration sensor providing a vehicle lateral acceleration output signal (a y ); a vehicle yaw velocity sensor providing a vehicle yaw velocity output signal (Ψ); a steering angle sensor providing a steering angle output signal (δ); wheel speed sensors providing wheel speed output signals (ω) for individual ones of said wheels of the vehicle; a computing device which receives as inputs said vehicle longitudinal velocity signal (v x ), said vehicle longitudinal acceleration signal (a x ), said vehicle lateral acceleration signal (a y ), said vehicle yaw velocity signal (Ψ), said steering angle signal (δ), and said wheel speed signals (ω), said computing device being programmed to perform the following steps: determining said variables representing handling characteristics of the vehicle, including a side slip angle (β) as one of said variables, using state equations of motion and at least one measurement equation based on a vehicle model, wherein an inclination angle (Φ) of a roadway with respect to a plane is used as a state variable in the measurement equation; and wherein said computing device outputs the side slip angle (β).

Claim 12

A system to determine variables representing handling characteristics of a vehicle having wheels, the system comprising: a vehicle longitudinal velocity sensor providing a vehicle longitudinal velocity output signal (v x ); a vehicle longitudinal acceleration sensor providing a vehicle longitudinal acceleration output signal (a x ); a vehicle lateral acceleration sensor providing a vehicle lateral acceleration output signal (a y ); a vehicle yaw velocity sensor providing a vehicle yaw velocity output signal (Ψ); a steering angle sensor providing a steering angle output signal (δ); wheel speed sensors providing wheel speed output signals (ω) for individual ones of said wheels of the vehicle; a computing device which receives as inputs said vehicle longitudinal velocity signal (v x ), said vehicle longitudinal acceleration signal (a x ), said vehicle lateral acceleration signal (a y ), said vehicle yaw velocity signal (Ψ), said steering angle signal (δ), and said wheel speed signals (ω), said computing device being programmed to perform the following steps: determining said variables representing handling characteristics of the vehicle, including a side slip angle (β) as one of said variables, using state equations of motion and at least one measurement equation based on a vehicle model, wherein an inclination angle (Φ) of a roadway with respect to a plane is used as a state variable in the measurement equation; and wherein said computing device outputs the side slip angle (β).