494 results about "Active steering" patented technology

A method for collision avoidance using automated braking and steering comprising: determining an actual distance to an obstacle in a path of a vehicle; determining a relative velocity between the obstacle and the vehicle; determining a first distance sufficient to avoid collision by braking only; determining a second distance sufficient to avoid collision by combined braking and steering around the obstacle. The method also includes: applying braking if at least one of, the first distance exceeds the actual distance and the first distance is within a selected threshold of the actual distance. If the actual distance exceeds the second distance and a lane change is permitted, steering control to affect a lane change is applied.

This invention takes the advantage of existing radar, vision and ultrasonic sensors available for side blind spot detection, rear view, rear virtual bumper, and rear parking assist. Using a sensor fusion technique to combine the useful information from these sensors, the trailer articulation angles as well as trailer track width and tongue length is accurately estimated. When an active steering system is present, vehicle and trailer can be controlled with increased stability by applying the trailer information.

A method for collision avoidance using automated braking and steering comprising: determining an actual distance to an obstacle in a path of a vehicle; determining a relative velocity between the obstacle and the vehicle; determining a first distance sufficient to avoid collision by braking only; determining a second distance sufficient to avoid collision by combined braking and steering around the obstacle. The method also includes: applying braking if at least one of, the first distance exceeds the actual distance and the first distance is within a selected threshold of the actual distance. If the actual distance exceeds the second distance and a lane change is permitted, steering control to affect a lane change is applied.

A technique for use in marine seismic surveying includes a method and an apparatus. In one aspect, the method includes towing a seismic spread including a source multiple streamers on a generally curved advancing path, the streamers being actively steered. The source is fired and data is acquired on the curve. In other aspects, the method is performed with only a single vessel or the generally curved advancing path is a sincurve advancing path. The method may include a dual circular shoot in another aspect. And, in yet another aspect, the invention includes an apparatus comprised of a computing apparatus on board a tow vessel receiving positioning data from the marine seismic streamers. It is also programmed to: sail the tow vessel in a generally curved advancing path and actively steer the marine seismic streamers through the generally curved advancing path.

A method and a device for maneuvering a combination of a towing vehicle and a trailer, wherein the trailer is connected to the towing vehicle by a non-steerable tow-bar, and the towing vehicle observes the rear surroundings, including the trailer, by a rear-view camera. The method includes the steps: a) determining the actual articulation of the trailer relative to the towing vehicle; b) determining the length of the tow-bar and the maximum articulation of the trailer; c) inputting the intended articulation of the trailer; d) reversing the towing vehicle with at least active steering support until the intended articulation of the trailer is reached; e) fixing the direction of travel predetermined by the intended articulation; f) maneuvering the towing vehicle with at least active steering support while maintaining the predetermined direction of travel until an eventual parking position is reached.

A method to assist steering of a vehicle equipped with an active steering system when operating in a reverse direction is provided. The method comprises monitoring vehicle operating characteristics and an operator steering input. Boundaries of a target region and a reference point are determined. A target steering angle range is calculated based upon the reference point and the target location. A controlled steering angle of the active steering system is corrected when the operator steering input is outside the target steering angle range. An aspect of the invention included determining the reference point comprising a point of intersection of a first vector and a second vector, the first vector parallel to and passing through a centerline of a rear axle of the vehicle and the second vector perpendicular to and passing through a centerline of an inside front steerable wheel of the vehicle.

Systems and methods for automatic steering of marine seismic sources are described. One system comprises a marine seismic spread comprising a towing vessel and a seismic source, the seismic source comprising one or more source arrays each having a center of source array, each source array having one or more source strings; a seismic source deployment sub-system on the towing vessel, the sub-system controlled by a controller including a software module, the software module and the deployment sub-system adapted to control an inline distance between one of the centers of source array and a target coordinate. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract, allowing a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

A system for controlling a vehicle. The vehicle has a steerable front axle and at least one further steerable axle. The system determining the path of a reference lead point at the front of the vehicle and determining the path of a follow point at the rear of the vehicle. A controller for driving the at least one further steerable axle of the vehicle such that the deviation between the path of the lead point of the vehicle and the follow point is within a predetermined range while the vehicle is in motion.

The invention discloses a lane keeping and automatic centering system and method based on a deviation prediction algorithm. A lane keeping and automatic centering controller detects lane marking line information of a road ahead of a vehicle in real time through a camera; a vehicle body controller acquires current steering lamp information and headlamp information of the vehicle, and a vehicle body electronic stabilization system acquires current vehicle speed information of the vehicle; an electric power steering system acquires current steering angle information of the vehicle; an expected steering angle of the current vehicle is worked out through a deviation prediction algorithm and a PID control algorithm in the lane keeping and automatic centering controller, an expected steering angle signal is transmitted to the electric power steering system through a CAN to request for active steering, and the electric power steering system receives the expected steering angle signal and switches the current steering angle into the expected steering angle by rotating a steering wheel; meanwhile, a warning signal and a man-machine interaction signal are generated and transmitted to a vehicle warning system and a man-machine interaction interface through the CAN. The system and method can achieve the lane keeping and automatic centering functions.

The invention discloses a hydraulic steering system for a front lifting crane. The hydraulic steering system is provided with a front shaft, a rear shaft and a steering device which is used for controlling the steering loop of a driving steering shaft, wherein both the front shaft and the rear shaft are both steering shafts, either the front shaft or the rear shaft serves as the driving steering shaft, and the other one serves as a driven steering shaft. The steering system further comprises a hydraulic valve and a controller, wherein the hydraulic valve is used for controlling the steering loop of the driven steering shaft, and the controller is used for outputting a control signal to the hydraulic valve according to a steering mode determined by user instructions, so as to adjust the flowing direction and flow rate of the steering loop of the driven steering shaft. Compared with the prior art, the steering system for the front lifting crane, disclosed by the invention, has the advantage that the requirements on two aspects, namely the performance of the steering system and the service lives of wheels, can be met effectively. Based on the steering system, the invention further provides the front lifting crane using the steering system.

A seismic survey system having a source array (11) coupled to a deflector device (15) that controls the position of the source array. A positioning system unit (16) is mounted on the source array to provide a signal to a controller, informing the controller of the current position of the source array so that the controller can control the position of the deflector device (15) and the coupled source array. A seismic source (14) on the source array may be triggered when the source array is at a desired location as measured by the positioning system unit. The deflector device (15) comprises one or more wings (18) in a generally vertical or, alternatively, in a generally horizontal arrangement disposed adjacent to a central body (19). The streamlined central body has connection points that allow the deflector device (15) to be connected to a tow cable (13) from the tow vessel (12) and to the source array (11).

The invention provides a difference active steering system of an electric wheel driving automobile and a difference active steering control method. The difference active steering system consists of a left steering electric wheel, a right steering electric wheel, a difference active steering mechanism and a difference active steering control system; the difference active steering control method uses a steering angle of the steering electric wheels and a vehicle speed dual PID (proportion integration differentiation) control arithmetic to determine target values of the torques of left and righthub electric motors in the left and right steering electric wheels. The novel steering method provided by the invention is applied to the vehicle having a steering mechanism; each steering electric wheel rotates around respective main pin to form a coordinated steering angle according to the driving force difference of the left and right steering electric wheels and the limitation of a trapezoidal steering mechanism, so that the vehicle is steered; and the active steering mechanism is simple and has steering energy consumption.

A seismic survey system having a source array (11) coupled to a deflector device (15) that controls the position of the source array. A positioning system unit (16) is mounted on the source array to provide a signal to a controller, informing the controller of the current position of the source array so that the controller can control the position of the deflector device (15) and the coupled source array. A seismic source (14) on the source array may be triggered when the source array is at a desired location as measured by the positioning system unit. The deflector device (15) comprises one or more wings (18) in a generally vertical or, alternatively, in a generally horizontal arrangement disposed adjacent to a central body (19). The streamlined central body has connection points that allow the deflector device (15) to be connected to a tow cable (13) from the tow vessel (12) and to the source array (11).

A rollover stability control system for a vehicle may include an object information device. An active suspension or an active steering system may be coupled to a wheel of the vehicle. The rollover system may include a lateral support system. A controller determines that an obstacle is an imminent tripping obstacle and raises or steers the wheel, to prevent the wheel from colliding with the obstacle, or deploys the lateral support system in response to a rollover notification signal and the determination. A rollover stability control system for a vehicle may include a chassis and a driving surface wheel. A wheel assembly is coupled to the chassis inward from the driving surface wheel relative to a longitudinal centerline of the vehicle. The wheel assembly contacts the driving surface when a roll angle of the vehicle is greater than a predetermined level.

The invention relates to a front wheel and rear wheel drive steering control system of an automobile in the technical field of automobile engineering. Steering wheel steering angle sensors are respectively connected with a drive turning electronic control unit; one end of each steering wheel steering angle sensor is connected with a steering wheel, and the other end of each steering wheel steering angle sensor is connected with a front wheel steering motor servo control unit; the front wheel steering motor servo control unit is respectively connected with a front wheel steering angle displacement sensor and a front wheel steering execution mechanism; a rear wheel steering motor servo control unit is respectively connected with a rear wheel steering angle displacement sensor and a rear wheel steering execution mechanism; the front wheel steering execution mechanism is connected with a front wheel, and the rear wheel steering execution mechanism is connected with a rear wheel. The invention combines front wheel drive steering and rear wheel drive steering, improves the lateral dynamic performance of the automobile, the driving characteristics of a driver and the operating stability of the automobile, changes a steering angle of the front wheel and the rear wheel in real time according to the drive working condition and a running parameter of the automobile and ensures that the automobile response follows the output response of a reference automobile model.

The transportation system in this invention provides vehicle coupling units which allow the electrical connections and reconfigurations of two or more vehicles together at highway speeds. The coupling unit provides for the bidirectional exchange of electrical power between these vehicles to meet the various power demands of each vehicle. The system is designed to permit coupling and decoupling process of the vehicles while they are traveling at highway speeds. To facilitate the coupling event, each vehicle will employ vehicle active steering, vehicle active suspension, and coupler joint articulation, which will be under vehicle computer control, and will employ vehicle to vehicle data communication. This transportation system allows the electric vehicles to electrically and mechanically couple together for flexible electrical power sharing to achieve the extension of the range of electrically powered vehicles to minimize the time needed for stationary re-charging of electrical vehicles required by electrical charging stations.

The invention relates to a self-vehicle active avoidance system based on vehicle-vehicle communication. The self-vehicle active avoidance system comprises a receiving module, a self vehicle information collecting module, an information processing module, an action response module and a sending module, wherein the receiving module is used for receiving front vehicle running information sent by a front vehicle; the self vehicle information collecting module is used for collecting self vehicle running information; the information processing module is used for obtaining the current road information, and is used for judging whether the self vehicle and the front vehicle have a collision occurrence risk or not according to the front vehicle running information, the self vehicle running information and the current road information; when the condition that the self vehicle and the front vehicle have the collision occurrence risk is judged, a control signal for executing the risk avoidance action is output; the action response module is used for responding the control signal output by the information processing module, and controls the self vehicle to execut active warning, active braking or active steering; the sending module is used for sending the self vehicle running information to a back vehicle. The invention also provides a self-vehicle active avoidance system based on vehicle-vehicle communication. The system and the method have the advantage that the risk that vehicles running in the same direction generate rear-end collision and receive rear-end collision can be reduced.

The invention provides a wheel longitudinal force regulation-based vehicle handling stability control method; the control method is applied to a vehicle with a mechanical steering system and without an active steering function. The control method comprises the following steps: (1) according to a signal input by a driver and a vehicle speed state, calculating a vehicle reference motion state by a vehicle reference model; (2) according to a vehicle motion state measured by a vehicle-mounted sensor, estimating to acquire a non-measured vehicle motion state as a vehicle real motion state; (3) based on sliding mode variable structure control, acquiring a target control force and a target control moment which are needed for the vehicle real motion state to track the reference motion state; (4) by regulating longitudinal force of the wheels, generating the needed target control force and target control moment. According to the control method, by regulating the longitudinal force of the wheels, nonlinear combined control on vehicle speed, yaw velocity and side slip angle can be realized, and the vehicle handling stability is improved.

The invention provides an electric power steering system. The system comprises a signal acquisition unit, a control unit and an execution unit, wherein the control unit is used for receiving a signal output by the signal acquisition unit in real time, judging whether to enter an active steering mode or an auxiliary steering mode according to the signal, transmitting a command to the execution unit according to the signal and controlling the execution unit to act correspondingly. The invention also provides an automobile using the electric power steering system and a method for controlling the steering of a vehicle based on the electric power steering system. According to the system, the method and the automobile, an auxiliary steering control function, an aligning power control function, an aligning damping control function and other functions of the conventional electric power steering system can be realized, ambient environment information of the vehicle can be detected, and an active steering control function can be realized under an emergent working condition, so that traffic accidents can be effectively prevented.

The invention discloses a combination control system for integration electric power steering and active steering. The combination control system for integration electric power steering and active steering comprises an active steering control system, an electric power steering control system, an adjustment control system based on yaw velocity and an adjustment control system based on steering wheel moment, the active steering control system and the electric power steering control system are respectively connected with a vehicle speed sensor and a steering wheel angle sensor for calculating and processing the inputted vehicle speed and steering wheel angle and outputting the total front wheel angle control signal to the total system for steering the front wheel actively; the adjustment control system based on yaw velocity is used for adjusting the obtained yaw velocity value for having feedback to the active steering control system for amending the front wheel angle control signal; the adjustment control system based on steering wheel moment is used for adjusting the obtained steering wheel moment for having feedback to the electric power steering control system for amending the outputted front wheel angle control signal.

A balloon catheter can include an actively steerable element for adjusting the configuration of the balloon after placement at a target location. By coupling the actively steerable element to the balloon, any articulation of the actively steerable element will also re-configure the position of the balloon, thereby enabling greater control over procedures that make use of such a balloon catheter. The active steering capability can also enhance the material manipulation capabilities of the balloon catheter, and enable operations and actions that are not possible with a non-steerable balloon catheter.

The invention provides a lane-keeping control method and a lane-keeping system. After the lane-keeping system receives opening signals of a lane-keeping switch, a lane identifying device collects road information, a car body information collecting device collects car body information, and a lane-keeping control device controls an initiative steering system to adjust the traveling direction of a car according to the road information and the car body information. In the process of adjusting the traveling direction of the car, if the lane-keeping control device receives operation switching signals, the lane-keeping system is turned off, and a driver controls traveling of the car; if the lane-keeping control device receives torque signals of applying torque on a steering wheel, the lane-keeping control device controls the initiate steering system to offset the torque. The lane-keeping system conducts analysis treatment on the operation of the driver in the process of adjusting the traveling direction of the car and can conduct corresponding treatment on drivers' different operation motions on the car.

Systems and methods for automatic steering of marine seismic sources are described. One system comprises a marine seismic spread comprising a towing vessel and a seismic source, the seismic source comprising one or more source arrays each having a center of source array, each source array having one or more source strings; a seismic source deployment sub-system on the towing vessel, the sub-system controlled by a controller including a software module, the software module and the deployment sub-system adapted to control an inline distance between one of the centers of source array and a target coordinate. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract, allowing a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

A steering actuator system to be mounted to the steering wheel and steering column of a vehicle. The steering actuator system includes a flat baseplate with multiple adjustable sliders. These sliders slide along channel guides within the flat baseplate to accommodate steering wheels of varying sizes. The system includes a gear which mounts below the steering wheel, possibly around the steering column of the vehicle. A steering actuator powered by a motor or some other power source is connected to the gear and when activated can actively steer the vehicle. When connected to a guidance system, the vehicle can automatically be guided and steered via the guidance system and the steering actuator system. This provides a convenient way to add automatic steering to any vehicle with a steering wheel.

A two-port air pump speaker that includes at least two active, phase-modulated, bi-directional shutters and an ultrasonic pumping chamber having at least two ports; a first port facing towards the listener, the forward port, and a second port facing another direction, the backward port which may be behind an acoustic baffle or inside a speaker enclosure. A two-port speaker with two active steering shutters can create continuous bi-directional airflow which leads to low distortion reproduction of low audio frequencies. The same improved design can be used also for other applications where acoustic modulation is required, especially in ultrasonic frequencies.

A rollover stability control system for a vehicle may include an object information device. An active suspension or an active steering system may be coupled to a wheel of the vehicle. The rollover system may include a lateral support system. A controller determines that an obstacle is an imminent tripping obstacle and raises or steers the wheel, to prevent the wheel from colliding with the obstacle, or deploys the lateral support system in response to a rollover notification signal and the determination. A rollover stability control system for a vehicle may include a chassis and a driving surface wheel. A wheel assembly is coupled to the chassis inward from the driving surface wheel relative to a longitudinal centerline of the vehicle. The wheel assembly contacts the driving surface when a roll angle of the vehicle is greater than a predetermined level.

The invention relates to a control device for an automotive active steering system. The device comprises an AFS target rotating angle determining module, an assisted displacement motor adjusting module, an EPS target torque determining module, an assisted motor adjusting module and a coordination control module, wherein the AFS target rotating angle determining module is combined with the coordination control module to provide a target rotating angle value for the assisted displacement motor adjusting module; the EPS target torque determining module provides a target torque value for the assisted motor adjusting module; the coordination control module is communicated with an EPS control unit through a CAN bus; the AFS target rotating angle determining module comprises a target transmission ratio setting sub module, a target rotating angle calculating sub module and an expected heading angle speed calculating sub module, wherein the target transmission ratio setting sub module calculates a transmission ratio R according to the automotive speed u and an ideal angle transmission ratio curve; and the target rotating angle calculating sub module calculates a target rotating angle value theta m4d according to the rotating angle theta S of a steering wheel and the transmission ratio R.

A seismic survey system includes a winch having a winch cable coupleable to a source array towable between two deflected lead-ins, a positioning system for determining a current position of the source array and a controller for adjusting the winch to modify the current position of the source array to a desired crossline position. The winches may be attached to the deflected lead-ins or mounted on a tow vessel. The winches exert lateral forces on the source array, derived from the deflected lead-ins, to control the inline position of the source array. A method includes positioning a seismic source array in tow behind a vessel comprises determining a current position of the source array and adjusting a lateral force applied to the source array to move the source array to a desired crossline position. Optionally, by adjusting the gun cable winch, the inline position may be controlled.