Claims
- 1. An adjustable pedal assembly comprising;a support (12), a first pedal lever (14) pivotally supported for rotation about an operational axis (A) relative to said support (12), a first adjustment mechanism (21) including a first motor (52) for adjusting said first pedal lever (14) between a first plurality of adjusted positions relative to said support (12) upon operation of said first motor (52), a second pedal lever (34) pivotally supported for rotation about a second operational axis (B) relative to said support (12), a second adjustment mechanism (41) including a second motor (52) for adjusting said second pedal lever (34) between a second plurality of adjusted positions relative to said support (12) upon operation of said second motor (52), and a controller (56) programmed for operating said first (52) and second (52) motors to simultaneously move said first (14) and second (34) pedal levers between said adjusted positions and for detecting a stall of each of said motors (52), said assembly characterized by said controller (56) having a coordinator (66) for automatically repositioning at least one of said motors (52) to a corrected position in response to a stall by at least one of said motors (52) thereby repositioning at least one of said pedal levers (14,34) relative to the other to maintain a predetermined relationship between said pedal levers (14,34).
- 2. An assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said adjustment mechanisms (21,41) includes a screw (32) engaging said pedal levers (14,34) for moving said pedal levers (14,34) between said adjusted positions and a motor housing surrounding each of said motors (52) with said screw (32) of each of said adjustment mechanisms (21,41) extending from said motor housing.
- 3. An assembly as set forth in claim 2 wherein each of said motors (52) moves in discrete and uniform increments of movement and each of said motors (52) include a plurality of windings (54) wherein said controller sends pulses of electrical energy sequentially to said windings (54) of each of said motors (52) to incrementally rotate each of said motors (52) through a predetermined angle in response to each pulse with said predetermined angles of rotation remaining of uniform magnitude so that each adjustment of said pedal levers (14,34) includes a plurality of said pulses and a plurality of said incremental movements.
- 4. An assembly as set forth in claim 3 wherein said controller (56) includes a memory (60) for summing said pulses sent to each of said motors (52) to keep track of said first (14) and second (34) pedal levers in all adjusted positions.
- 5. An assembly as set forth in claim 4 wherein said controller (56) includes a timer (62) for measuring a time to reach a predetermined pulse width modulation sufficient to rotate each of said motors (52).
- 6. An assembly as set forth in claim 5 wherein said controller (56) includes a voltage meter (64) for determining the voltage applied during said time to reach said predetermined pulse width modulation.
- 7. An assembly as set forth in claim 6 wherein said coordinator (66) measures said time to reach said predetermined pulse width modulation to alter the pulses of electrical energy sent to at least one of said motors (52) thereby moving at least one of said first (14) and second (34) pedal levers to the desired adjusted position in response to said time being outside a predetermined limit.
- 8. A method of operating an adjustable pedal assembly comprising first (14) and second (34) pedal levers and first (52) and second (52) motors for moving the pedal levers (14,34) through a plurality of adjusted positions wherein the motors (52) are operatively connected to a controller (56) and the controller (56) is programmed to detect a stall of each of the motors (52), said method comprising the steps of;simultaneously moving the first (14) and second (34) pedal levers through the plurality of adjusted positions, and detecting a stall in at least one of the motors (52) while moving the first (14) and second (34) pedal levers through the plurality of adjusted positions, said assembly characterized by automatically repositioning at least one of the first (14) and second (34) pedal levers to a corrected position when the stall in at least one of the first (52) and second (52) motors is detected.
- 9. A method as set forth in claim 8 further including the step of summing pulses sent to each of the motors (52) to keep track of the first (14) and second (34) pedal levers in all adjusted positions.
- 10. A method as set forth in claim 9 further including the step of measuring a time to reach a predetermined pulse width modulation sufficient to rotate each of the motors (52).
- 11. A method as set forth in claim 10 further including the step of determining a voltage applied during the time to reach the predetermined pulse width modulation.
- 12. A method as set forth in claim 10 further including the step of altering the pulses of electrical energy sent to at least one of the motors (52) to move at least one of said first (14) and second (34) pedal levers to the desired adjusted position in response to the time to reach the predetermined pulse width modulation being outside a predetermined limit thereby reestablishing a predetermined relationship between the first (14) and second (34) pedal levers.
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 10/040,096, filed Jan. 1, 2002.
US Referenced Citations (23)
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10/040096 |
Jan 2001 |
US |
Child |
10/365562 |
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US |