Ride Height Sensor Discrepancy Detection for Active Suspension
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle ride height sensors often provide inaccurate outputs, leading to adverse effects on active suspension systems and difficulty in diagnosing discrepancies, resulting in unnecessary replacements.
Innovation Solution
A method to identify discrepancies in ride height sensors by comparing outputs of cross-axle and longitudinally aligned sensors in real-time, using programmable circuitry to generate diagnostic codes or alerts when threshold discrepancies are reached.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ride height sensors are used in active suspension systems, then vehicle handling and performance are improved, but sensor inaccuracies cause adverse effects and diagnostic difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors ride height sensor outputs and compares them against expected values derived from vehicle dynamics models and other sensor data. When discrepancies are detected, the system generates diagnostic codes and alerts, creating a feedback loop that enables real-time detection and diagnosis of sensor inaccuracies, thereby resolving the diagnostic difficulty while maintaining reliable vehicle performance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary diagnostic system that acts as a mediator between the ride height sensors and the vehicle control systems. This intermediary layer processes sensor data, identifies discrepancies, and provides diagnostic information, making it easier to detect and measure sensor failures without affecting the core suspension system's reliability
2Loss of time
If ride height sensors are monitored in real-time, then diagnostic speed and accuracy are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring and comparing sensor outputs during normal operation, so that when a failure occurs, the diagnostic information is already available or nearly available. This preliminary monitoring reduces diagnostic time without requiring complex post-failure analysis systems
Solution Approach 2:
The diagnostic system is designed to be multi-functional, serving both as a real-time monitoring tool and as a diagnostic aid. By combining these functions into a single system that uses the same hardware and software resources for both vehicle operation monitoring and sensor fault detection, the patent achieves fast diagnostics without proportionally increasing system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus to identify ride height sensor discrepancies are disclosed. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes machine readable instructions and programmable circuitry to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine readable instructions to compare a first sensor output of a first ride height sensor of a vehicle to a second sensor output of a second ride height sensor of the vehicle, increment a discrepancy counter based on the comparison of the first sensor output and the second sensor output, and generate an indication to service at least one of the first ride height sensor or the second ride height sensor after the discrepancy counter satisfies a threshold.