Patent Application
20160161974
Vehicles, such as automobiles, military vehicles, airplanes, etc., may be autonomously controlled to accelerate, brake, and steer the vehicle. As one example, an automobile may be configured to be autonomous so that the acceleration and braking of the automobile may be remotely controlled during durability testing of the vehicle. Traditionally, the automobile is driven by a human test driver during durability testing. Durability testing may include a variety of tests that may be tedious and/or physically demanding on a human test driver. For example, durability testing may include tests that require driving the automobile over bumps, curbs, etc., which may be physically demanding on a human test driver.
To relieve the physical demand on the human test driver, the automobile may be autonomously operated during some tests of the durability testing. During such autonomous operation, the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal of the vehicle may be autonomously operated. For example, an autonomous control device may be connected to the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal for autonomous operation. However, several disadvantages are associated with such known autonomous control devices.
The installation of conventional autonomous control devices may be too time consuming to satisfy time constraints associated with durability testing. In addition, in some instances, e.g., between tests, during selected tests, etc., it is desired to manually operate the automobile by a human driver seated in the vehicle by operating the accelerator pedal and brake pedal with the feet of the human driver. However, removal of the known autonomous control device may be time consuming and unduly delay the durability testing. Further, the installation of the known autonomous control device may require modifications to the automobile that may invalidate the durability test results. The known autonomous control device may also lack satisfactory performance characteristics as a result of lack of responsiveness of components (known as “dead band”), device failure, etc.
As such, there remains an opportunity to design a mechanism that is quickly and easily installed/uninstalled from the vehicle and has satisfactory performance characteristics to autonomously operate the accelerator pedal and brake pedal of the vehicle.
With reference to the Figures, wherein like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, an acceleration and braking mechanism kit 10 is generally shown in
Since the support bracket 112 is alternately engageable with both the mounting feature 128 of the first base bracket 22 and the mounting feature 128 of the second base bracket 24, the support bracket 112, the bell crank 114, and the actuator 120 are interchangeable between the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24. As such, the first base bracket 22 may be mounted to the first vehicle 26 and the second base bracket 24 may be mounted to the second vehicle, and the support bracket112, bell crank 114, and actuator 120 may be moved between the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24, i.e., between the first vehicle 26 and the second vehicle. The first vehicle 26 and the second vehicle may be different types, models, etc.
While
The kit 10 may be used to autonomously control the acceleration pedal 16 and the brake pedal 18 of the vehicle to which the kit 10 is mounted. For example, the vehicle may be an automobile, such as the first vehicle 26 shown in
The first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24 are shown in
With continued reference to
Each of the flanges 36 and second flanges 38 may define holes 40, 42 for receiving fasteners 44, e.g., threaded fasteners, to connect the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24, respectively, to the first vehicle 26 and the second vehicle, respectively. The flanges 36, 38 may be connected to a base 46 of a seat 48 of the vehicle, as shown in
The hole of the base of the seat of the first vehicle 26 and the second vehicle may be the same hole to which a seat track 50 is connected with the fastener 44, as shown in
As set forth above, the kit 10 includes the support bracket 112 and the bell crank 114 supported on the support bracket 112 for connection to one of the acceleration pedal 16 and the brake pedal 18. With reference to
With continued reference to
The mounting bases 130 of the support bracket 112 includes holes 56. The mounting feature 128 of the first base bracket 22 includes holes 58 corresponding to holes 56 of the support bracket 112, and the mounting feature 228 of the second base bracket 24 includes holes 58 corresponding to holes 56 of the support bracket 112. The holes 56 of the support bracket 112 may be aligned with the holes 58 of the first base bracket 22 or the holes 58 of the second base bracket 24 to receive fasteners 60 to alternately engage the mounting base 130 to the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24. The relative location of the holes 56 in the support bracket 112 match the relative location of the holes 58 in both the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24 so that the support bracket 112 may be alternately engaged with the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24.
Similarly, the mounting base 230 of the second support bracket 212 includes holes 56. The mounting feature 228 of the first base bracket 22 includes holes 58 corresponding to holes 56 of the second support bracket 212, and the mounting feature 228 of the second base bracket 24 includes holes 58 corresponding to holes 56 of the second support bracket 212. The holes 56 of the second support bracket 212 may be aligned with the holes 58 of the first base bracket 22 or the holes 58 of the second base bracket 24 to receive fasteners 60 to alternately engage the mounting base 230 to the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24. The relative location of the holes 56 in the second support bracket 212 match the relative location of the holes 58 in both the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24 so that the second support bracket 212 may be alternately engaged with the first base bracket 22 and the second base bracket 24. The holes 58 of the base brackets 22, 24 are defined in the ears 54. The mounting bases 130, 230 and the mounting features 128, 228 may include any suitable number of holes 56, 58.
The support brackets 112, 212 may each include the mounting base 130, 230 and a platform 64. The mounting base 130, 230 is configured to be mounted to the base brackets 22, 24. For example, the holes 56 are defined in the mounting base 130, 230. The platform 64 supports the bell crank 114, 214, as set forth further below.
With reference to
With continued reference to
A pusher 170 is connected to the bell crank 114 and a second pusher 270 is connected to the second bell crank 214. The pusher 170 and the second pusher 270 may have an identical construction. The pusher 170 extends from the bell crank 114 to the brake pedal 18. The second pusher 270 extends from the second bell crank 214 to the accelerator pedal 16.
The pusher 170 and second pusher 270 each include a cylinder 72 extending along an axis A and a rod 74 extending from the cylinder 72 along the axis A. The cylinder 72 may define a bore (not numbered) that receives the rod 74. The rod 74 is adjustable relative to the cylinder 72 along the axis A. For example, bore and the rod 74 may be threaded such that the rod 74 may be adjustable relative to the cylinder 72 by rotation.
The pushers 170, 270 may be mounted to the bell cranks 114, 214 with a universal joint 78 that allows for rotation of the pushers 170, 270 in multiple degrees of freedom. Alternatively, the pushers 170, 270 may be mounted to the bell cranks 114, 214 in any suitable manner.
The pushers 170, 270 may be removably connected to the bell cranks 114, 214. Specifically, a pin 80 removably connects the pusher 170, 270 to bell crank 114, 214. The universal joint 78 may define a cup 82 that receives the cylinder 72 of the pusher 170, 270. The cylinder 72 of the pusher 170, 270 and the cup 82 may each define a hole 84 that removably receives the pin 80. When engaged in the holes 84, the pin 80 retains the pusher 170, 270 to the universal joint 78. The cylinder 72 may be removed from the cup 82 when the pin 80 is removed from the holes 84.
As shown in
As set forth above, the actuator 120 is connected to the bell crank 114. A second actuator 240 connected to the second bell crank 214 for moving the second bell crank 214. The actuators 120, 220 may be supported by the support brackets 112, 212. For example, as shown in
The actuators 120, 220 may be linear actuators, each including a cable 96 connected to the bell cranks 114, 214 and a mechanism 98 connected to the cable 96 for extending and retracting the cable 96. The mechanisms 98 are supported by the support brackets 112, 212. The linear actuator may be of any type, for example, electro-mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, etc. The electro-mechanical linear actuator, for example, may include a lead nut (not shown) attached to a motor (not shown) and a rod (not shown) threadedly engaged with the lead nut. The rod is connected to the cable 96 such that, when the nut is rotated by the motor, the rod pulls the cable 96 into the actuator 120, 220 or feeds the cable 96 out of the actuator 120, 220.
The kit 10 may include a control system in communication with actuator 120, 220 for controlling the actuator 120, 220. The control system may remotely the actuator 120, 220 or at least a portion of the control system may be connected to the actuator 120, 220 with a wired connection.
In operation, the kit 10 may be alternately assembled to a plurality of vehicles. For example, the first base bracket 22 may be mounted to the first vehicle 26, the second base bracket 24 may be mounted to the second vehicle, and additional base brackets may be mounted to additional vehicles. As one example, the first base bracket 22 may be mounted to the base 46 of the seat 48 of the first vehicle 26 and the second base bracket 24 may be mounted to the base of the seat of the second vehicle, as set forth above. To autonomously operate the first vehicle 26, the support bracket 112 and the second support bracket 212 may be mounted to the first base bracket 22, as set forth above, and the pusher 170 and the second pusher 270 are engaged with the brake pedal 18 and the accelerator pedal 16 of the first vehicle 26. In such a configuration, the actuators 120, 220 may be actuated by the control system to autonomously control the accelerator pedal 16 and the brake pedal 18 of the first vehicle 26.
If an operator of the first vehicle 26 desires to manually operate the accelerator pedal 16 and the brake pedal 18, i.e., operation by foot, the pins 80 may be removed from the pushers 170, 270 to disengage the pushers 170, 270 from the bell cranks 114, 214, and the pins at the ends 86 of the pushers 170, 270 may be disengaged with the brake pedal 18 and the accelerator pedal 16, respectively, to remove the pushers 170, 270. In such a configuration, the operator may have access to the accelerator pedal 16 and the brake pedal 18 for operation by foot.
To autonomously operate the second vehicle, the support bracket 112 and the second support bracket 212 may be removed from the first base bracket 22 and mounted to the second base bracket 24, as set forth above, and the pusher 170 and the second pusher 270 are engage engaged with the brake pedal 18 and the accelerator pedal 16 of the second vehicle. In such a configuration, the actuators 120, 220 may be actuated by the control system to autonomously control accelerator pedal 16 and brake pedal 18 of the second vehicle.
A second embodiment of the kit 10 is shown in
With reference to
The first base brackets 312 are configured to mount to a first vehicle (not shown). In
The pair of first base brackets 312 may be connected to the base of the seat (not shown in
The disclosure has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is to be understood that the terminology which has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation. Many modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible in light of the above teachings, and the disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.
