DE4011560A1 - Combined altitude, inclination and distance meter for vehicle - has conventional distance meter, pendulum used for inclination measurement, computer and display - Google Patents

Abstract

The arrangement for determining the altitude traversed by a motor vehicle receives the digital output signal of a conventional electronic kilometre meter and contains a pendulum whose rotation position relative to the horizontal is detected by a conventional transducer. A computer derives the average pendulum position in multiples or fractions of time and hence the average inclination. A comparator compares all incident values with previous values and if there is a difference the altitude difference is computed and processed. USE/ADVANTAGE - Esp. for use with motorcycles used for hill climb events to give instantaneous performance information.

Description

application

The device according to the invention is primarily aimed at use on bicycles, in particular on sporty bicycles. In the sporty taut hilly Terrains, including low mountain ranges, count physiologically; H. sporty, first and foremost the increased altitude. Breaks of physical activity when driving downhill are in the Usually so short that a regenerative effect is practically irrelevant. The invention The device measures and displays the increased altitude and delivers separately the information about "fallen" meters, instant inclination and length of the distance traveled Route.

The device according to the invention can also be used in motor vehicles.

Advantages of the invention

Barometric altimeters are available on the market. About increased Height differences must be kept, because the measuring devices only the current height Show. Changing air pressure must be taken into account.

In contrast to barometric devices, the device according to the invention reacts to the smallest Slopes are precise, even in flat, hilly terrain, and add up increased meters. It works safely and reliably at all heights and at any air pressure and does not need be calibrated or zeroed.

The additional information about the kilometers covered, the slope of the road and the length of the route traveled The device according to the invention supplies the measured value acquisition and processing "free" with.

description

The device consists mechanically of a clock and a pendulum, electrical Power supply, sensors, computers, (integrators, frequency differentiators, Comparators, counters, switches etc.), possibly A / D converter, display.

1. Clock

The device according to the invention prefers the rotation of one as a clock generator  output-side element such as shaft or wheel on a bicycle one of the wheels, for. B. of Front wheel that is on a fixed radius (e.g. rim) along the circumference or has attached several permanent magnets. It is recommended to use at least 2 bikes Use magnets so that the wheel is not unbalanced. When not using Ferritic rims, the magnets are attached in the space of the rim and tire material is enveloped, d. H. "inside", visually invisible, not exposed to dirt or water. At a fixed location relative to the rotating part z. B. in the bike on the fork of the front wheel a sensor is attached which detects an electrical pulse when the magnetic field is roamed delivers. When using non-ferritic material for the fork, the sensor is "inside" attached in the fork, so that the entire clock is not visible, not dirty and not the aesthetic appearance of a racing bike or mountain bike disturbs. The cables are routed upwards in the fork through the steering head.

The incoming pulses are branched. One branch is used as an input for 2 clocks processed, the other operates an adder A₂, which counts one with each pulse.

The clock T₁ has an integrator I₁, after n pulses

• - outputs a pulse to an integrator I₂,
• - Triggers a difference between the integrators I₃ and I₄ and
• - reset itself to zero.

The clock T₂ has the integrator I₂, which after s pulses

• - operated the odometer
• - operated the height difference meter and
• - sets itself to zero.

2. The pendulum

The pendulum is a circular cylindrical body, the axis of which is low-friction and the has an eccentric mass distribution so that it acts like a rigid pendulum. His Oscillation time is t.

In claim 1 is fundamentally based on the possibility of twisting the Pendulum body to capture digitally relative to the housing. It is left open which of the known methods such as changes in resistance, magnetic digital arrangements or optical digital processes such as Moire plates with diodes, etc. are expediently used Measured values are used. For sporty bikes, weight and Energy requirements in addition to cost considerations are crucial.

With claim 3, an appropriate design is to be protected, which is a very compact Design allowed with high measurement resolution.

The term transducer is understood to mean a device on the pendulum, the one Measuring pulse triggers when the vehicle turns relative to the terrain. It can e.g. B. a Magnet or a magnetic field sensitive sensor. This is crucial for claim 3 Samples of these sensors on the pendulum jacket.

The pendulum body carries the sensors and part of the electronic ones  Components. It can therefore be designed almost as large as the outer dimensions of the housing that encloses it. As a result, the highest possible restoring torque I * M achieved where I the distance of the reduced mass from the pivot point and M the reduced Mass of the pendulum are. M should be as small as possible on sports bikes. Are also great Dimensions of measuring devices in sports bicycles unsightly. Given friction and The restoring torque determines the achievable at any good resolving transducers Resolution.

If the housing is allowed to build wider, the pendulum can be free of electrical installations being held.

Resolution can be achieved using magnetic methods and techniques such as those used in Disks used can be very high.

In claim 3, a technology is to be protected, which allows any Inclination of the vehicle out the zeroing or calibration with the measurement of the height difference to start. There are 2 rows of sensors on the cylinder jacket, one of which Row record the twist of the pendulum and the other the sense of rotation. The magnetic field sensitive Elements of both rows are made up of one or two permanent magnets activated, which are resiliently arranged on the housing surrounding the pendulum and on slide the coat of the pendulum. Of course, the roles of magnets and Sensors can be interchanged by placing permanent magnets in two rows according to a pattern attached to the pendulum and two sensors are attached to the housing.

The pattern of one row are equidistant areas of magnetic and non-magnetic or of magnetic field sensitive and intensive zones. The pattern of the other row is characterized in that the "active" areas or zones have the same width and the "inactive" areas or zones become wider in one direction of rotation. Here is the division choose at least a factor 10 smaller than in the first row. Depending on the selected one Sensors or depending on the size of the radius of the pendulum, it may be appropriate that over the division coat jumps from coarse to very fine several times to on the one hand the increase in the width of inactive zones to that of the active zone in one good maintain measurable ratio and on the other hand the inactive zones are not of similar width have to do like the division of row 1.

A pulse is generated each time a sensor interacts with a magnet. The pulses Row 1 is fed with 2 counters, row 2 with a differentiator.

Errors due to scale jump in row 2 are not effective as long as the division is designed in this way is that for constant peripheral speed of the pendulum jacket

df / dt = constant

applies, where f is the frequency generated by pulses of R₂. The division in row 2 must be so fine be that the differentiator has a positive or can determine negative value. Average errors in the reversal points of the pendulum movements from.

In the middle of the two rows of sensors there is another sensor H which activates when the pendulum swings around the horizontal rest position. The pendulum has cams that interact with the end stops without bouncing.

Determination of the inclination

After switching on the device, the pendulum is in with the start of driving Vibration offset. As soon as the pendulum has activated the H sensor, the begins Measuring process. All pulses generated by the row R₁ are fed to an integrator I₃, If the direction of rotation of the pendulum changes, all others become from the turning point Pulses that are generated by R₁, the integrator I₄ struck until the pendulum movement reverses again, etc. The pulses of series 2 become a frequency differentiator supplied with a positive with increasing pulse sequence and one with falling pulse sequence has negative value. Depending on the polarity of the output value of the frequency differentiator I₃ or I₄ acted on with the pulse sequence generated by R₁. After a certain time n * t the difference p between I₃ and I₄ is formed, which is triggered by the clock T₁.

With this difference, the value tg (p / r) is formed, where r is the radius of the pendulum cylinder is. This value is shown both after multiplication by 100 and a display as a% slope offered, as well as a comparator k₁ supplied, the last value with the has stored the correct sign and after a time smt the newly arriving value hereby compares. In the case of equality, an adder A₅ is incremented by one. In the event of of inequality is read A₅, this value with the value stored in K₁ multiplied and passed on to the height difference determiner, A₅ set to zero, the newly arriving value stored in K₁ and then to the height difference determination passed on. Follows the difference between I₃ and I₄ an H pulse, I₃ and I₄ set to zero.

Determination of the kilometers driven

The distance covered between two pulses of the clock generator is

x = 2πR / g,

where R is the radius of the rolling wheel and g is the number of equally distributed ones Transmitters (magnets) of the clock are. After h pulses the distance traveled is

z = hy2πR / g

With

xy = 1m.

The value of the adder A₂ is with

y2πR / g

multiplied when the clock T₂ triggers this process. Then this value

• - offered to the height difference meter and
• - fed to an adder A₄,

which can be read on request via an advertisement. Then A₂ is set to zero.

Determination of the height difference

T₂ activated K₁, which passes the slope value to the height difference determination, the  at the same time the odometer offers the value z, with which the value from K₁ is multiplied. This value is fed to a comparator K₂, the incoming Compare the value with the last one read. If this value is greater than that in K₂, the value on the adder A₃ and if it is smaller, it is read on the adder A₄. The new value is saved in K₂. If it is unchanged, an adder A 1 is st after each time increased by one as long as the value in the comparator matches the new one stays the same. If the value differs, the last value stored in K₂ with the content multiplied by A₁,

• - The result A₃ or A₄ added up and
• - A₁ set to zero.

The adders A₃ and A₄ are read on request via a display. You give that increased or decreased meters directly.

Claims (4)

1. A device for detecting the vertical meters traveled by a vehicle, in particular a bicycle, characterized in that an electronic odometer known per se feeds its digital output into the device according to the invention and the device according to the invention has a pendulum with oscillation time t that has its rotational position relative to the horizontal, recorded in binary form by sensors known per se, which feeds them to a computer which calculates the mean position of the pendulum over times in multiples or fractals of t, ie in times nt and the mean slope therefrom and writes these values into a comparator K 1, in which all newly arriving values are compared with the last value read in after a time smt << nt and, in the event of a deviation upwards or downwards, are fed to a further calculation step, which consists of the average gradient and the kilometers driven in time Height difference berec hnet, this feeds a further comparator, K₂, which has saved the result of the previous measurement and, depending on whether the new value is exceeded or undershot, writes it to one of two adders, which can be read out on demand via a display. 2. Device for recording the kilometers driven and the simultaneous determination of sizes n and s according to claim 1, characterized in that on one Rotation of the wheels of the vehicle defining part, especially on the rim of a bicycle, a magnet is attached, which is a magnetic field sensitive sensor activated when passing, that the pulse of the sensor is branched 3-fold, is fed to an adder on a branch, via an adder to be set from the outside Multiplier can be read out via an ad, on the second branch one Integrator I₁ is supplied, which activates the comparator K₁ after n pulses and on the third branch an integrator I₂ is supplied, which after s pulses Comparator K₂ triggers. 3. Device for detecting the slope according to claim 1, characterized in that that a magnet is rigidly connected to the housing of the device so that the surface of a rigid pendulum glides past him on this surface of the rigid pendulum body, sensitive to magnetic fields, azimuthal in two rows small transducers arranged in parallel and offset are applied in such a way that a row, R₁, equidistant transducers and the other row, R₂, the  Transducers a distance from one transducer to another with increasing Size from one end of the scale to the other and that the measured values of the Row I via a switch, S₁, two integrators I₃ and I₄ and that of the series II one Frequency differentiator are supplied, its task with increasing Frequency positive and negative decay controls the switch S₁ and that on the control pulse, which is set by the odometer after a time nt, the difference between the values of the integrators I₃ and I₄ is formed and from this value the average inclination of the vehicle in time nt is calculated by means of a computer becomes. 4. Device for detecting the inclination according to claims 2 and 3, characterized characterized that the temporal change of n by using more Magnet is increased on a circumference of the wheel and so the inclination of the Vehicle according to claim 3 at times less than 50 msec at a speed of 5 km / sec is updated and that the determined inclination after nt seconds too or only one ad is fed.