Patent ID: 6633006
Filing Date: 2003-10-14
Classification: B60T,B60W,F16H,G01G

Abstract:
The method for determining a mass of a vehicle driven by at least one prime mover having a power shiftable stepped variable speed transmission with several gear steps which, on one side, are connectable to said prime mover via a power shiftable clutch serving as a starting element and, on another side, is operatively connected with input gears of the vehicle, a the method comprising the steps of:performing at least first and second measurements, offset in time, during a measuring period, and the first and second measurements respectively determining at least one traction variable produced by the prime mover and indicating traction acting upon the input gears of the vehicle in a direction of vehicle movement and at least one movement variable indicating movement of the vehicle; taking the first measurement during a traction-free phase when the clutch is disengaged to facilitate a gear shift of the stepped variable speed transmission, and performing the second measurement during a traction phase when the clutch is engaged and traction is transmitted to the input gears; calculating an actual mass of the vehicle from the variables determined by the first and second measurements offset in time, and the first measurement comprising a first data collection period and the second measurement comprising a second data collection period with a duration of both the first and second data collection periods including (a) the first measurement period starting at a time t0 when a prime mover first transmits traction to the input gears of the transmission and ending at a time t1 at an initiation of a clutch disengagement period starting a gear shift phase, (b) the clutch disengagement period starting at time t1 and ending at a time t2 at an end of the clutch disengagement period time when the clutch is disengaged and no further traction is transmitted to the transmission input gears by the prime mover, and (c) the second data collection period starting at the time t2 at the start of an initiation of a clutch engagement period at which and ending at a time t3 at which time the gear shift phase is complete and the clutch is again engaged so that traction is again transmitted to the transmission input gears in a new speed and the traction variable corresponds to a timed integral of the traction acting during the respective data collection periods and the movement variable corresponds to a change in speed of the vehicle occurring during the respective data collection periods.