Vehicle Steering Control for Abrupt Wheel Disturbance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heavy-duty vehicle steering systems face challenges in providing adequate driver assistance and safety, particularly in situations like tire explosions where abrupt wheel disturbances occur, leading to potential accidents due to loss of control.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that detects abrupt wheel disturbances, such as tire explosions, and automatically activates lane detection to assist the driver in maintaining vehicle control by comparing actual steering torque with undisturbed torque levels, using a combination of electric and hydraulic actuators to adjust wheel angles based on detected lane curvature.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the driver is allowed to disable steering assistance based on lane detection, then driver convenience is improved, but safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of abrupt wheel disturbance events (such as tire blowouts) and pre-activates lane detection before the driver can disable it. This preliminary action ensures that safety mechanisms are already in place when the driver attempts to disable assistance, resolving the contradiction by preparing the safety net in advance while maintaining driver freedom to disable normal assistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors steering torque and wheel position to detect abrupt disturbances, providing real-time feedback that triggers automatic activation of lane detection. This feedback loop ensures that even if the driver disables steering assistance, the system can reactivate it when safety concerns are detected, balancing driver convenience with safety requirements.
2Reliability
If lane detection is activated during abrupt wheel disturbances, then safety is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-configures the lane detection arrangement to be automatically activated upon detection of abrupt wheel disturbances. This preliminary setup means that the activation logic is already in place, requiring only a simple trigger event rather than complex real-time decision-making, thus improving safety while minimizing the increase in system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The steering control system automatically detects wheel disturbances and self-activates lane detection without requiring external intervention or complex coordination with other systems. This self-service approach improves safety response time while keeping the system architecture relatively simple by using existing sensors and control pathways.
3Reliability
If the system detects abrupt wheel disturbances and activates lane detection, then driving safety is enhanced, but response time is reduced due to additional processing
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-detects wheel disturbance events by continuously monitoring steering torque and wheel position, and has the lane detection activation logic pre-configured. When a disturbance is detected, the system immediately triggers lane detection without requiring complex real-time analysis, thus enhancing safety while minimizing response time loss through preliminary preparation.
Solution Approach 2:
Upon detecting an abrupt wheel disturbance, the system skips normal processing delays and directly activates lane detection. This rushing through of the activation process ensures that safety measures are implemented as quickly as possible, prioritizing rapid response over thorough analysis in emergency situations.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method of controlling steering of a vehicle (1), comprising the steps of: acquiring (S1) a signal indicative of a driver request indicative of a desired wheel angle of a turnable vehicle wheel (5); determining (S2), based on the signal indicative of the driver request, a control signal for an actuator (13) coupled to the turnable vehicle wheel to achieve the desired wheel angle; controlling (S3) the actuator (13) using the control signal; detecting (S4) an abrupt wheel disturbance event; and in response to detecting the abrupt wheel disturbance event: acquiring (S5), from a lane detecting arrangement (19), a signal indicative of a lane curvature ahead of the vehicle (1); and controlling (S6) the actuator (13) based on the lane curvature ahead of the vehicle (1).