Steering Wheel Angle Deviation Detection for Wheel Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Misaligned vehicle wheels can cause vehicles to deviate from a straight path, leading to increased tire wear and potentially going unnoticed by operators, as existing methods lack effective detection mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A system that collects and compares steering wheel angle data from multiple vehicles in a platoon to determine if a target vehicle has a misaligned wheel by identifying deviations from a reference vehicle's steering wheel angle data, using a predetermined threshold to detect periodic corrections indicative of misalignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If no detection mechanism is implemented, then the vehicle can operate without additional sensors or systems, but the operator remains unaware of wheel misalignment leading to increased tire wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses steering wheel angle data from multiple vehicles in a platoon as a reference copy to detect misalignment in a target vehicle. Instead of installing complex sensors in each vehicle, the system copies steering behavior data from reference vehicles and compares it with the target vehicle's steering patterns to identify wheel misalignment, thereby achieving reliable detection without adding physical detection hardware to each vehicle
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces steering wheel angle data as an intermediary medium to indirectly detect wheel misalignment. Rather than directly measuring wheel alignment angles which would require complex sensors, the system uses steering wheel angle variations as a mediator that reflects underlying wheel alignment issues, enabling detection through readily available steering data
2Reliability
If steering wheel angle data from multiple vehicles is collected and analyzed, then misaligned wheels can be detected, but data collection and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential steering wheel angle data from multiple vehicles, specifically focusing on angular deviations from a reference vehicle's steering pattern. Instead of collecting and processing all possible vehicle operational data, the system selectively extracts and compares only the steering angle parameters that are indicative of wheel misalignment, thereby reducing the overall data volume while maintaining detection accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the steering wheel angle data into comparable units by establishing a reference vehicle and measuring deviations from its steering pattern. The data is divided into discrete angular deviation measurements that can be individually analyzed, allowing the system to process steering data in manageable segments rather than as a continuous large dataset, thus reducing processing requirements
Data Source
AI summary
A reference vehicle is identified from data measuring changes in steering wheel angles of a plurality of vehicles. A target vehicle's steering wheel angle deviations is compared to steering wheel angle deviations of the reference vehicle A target vehicle component is actuated upon determining that a difference of the target vehicle's change of steering wheel angle and the reference vehicle's change of steering wheel angle exceeds a predetermined threshold.