Land vehicle suspension system having a failure detector for detecting failure of a sensor of the system

摘要

The present invention relates to a land vehicle suspension in which a plurality of wheel and hub assemblies (10,11,12,13) are each connected to the body of the vehicle by one of a plurality of actuators (26,27,28,29). The operation of each actuator (26,27,28,29) is controlled by an electronic or electrical processor (100). The processor (100) operates in response to signals received from a plurality of sensors which generate output signals indicative of the attitude of the vehicle body and forces on the body; e.g. a yaw gyrometer (200), a lateral accelerometer (300), a longitudinal accelerometer (400), a steering angle sensor (500), a vehicle speed sensor (600), load cells (45,46,47,48), hub accelerometers (49,50,51,52) and L.V.I.T.'s (53,54,55,56). The processor (100) detects failure of a sensor and a detection of the failure of the sensor operates in response to the remaining functioning sensor or functioning sensors of the plurality of sensors. Preferably the processor replaces the output signal of the failed sensor with a signal derived from an output signal of a functioning sensor or output signals of functioning sensors.