Patent ID: 7306239

Claim:
A height control system for a vehicle comprising a suspension having an arm, with a portion thereof pivotally mounted to the vehicle, and an air spring positioned between the vehicle and another portion of the arm, and an air system for at least supplying pressurized air to the air spring, the height control system comprising: a valve to selectively fluidly connect the air spring to either the air system or the atmosphere for selectively introducing or exhausting air from the air spring to effect relative movement of the arm and the vehicle to adjust a height of the vehicle; a sensor coupled that senses rotational movement of the arm and sends an out-put signal indicative of an amount of relative pivotal movement between the arm and the vehicle; a controller coupled to the sensor and to the valve wherein the controller receives the sensor output signal and selectively actuates the valve in response to the output signal to adjust or maintain the height of the vehicle; and wherein the sensor comprises at least one of the following: a light sensor comprising a light emitter and an optical bridge, wherein the light emitter is coupled to and moves with the arm and wherein the optical bridge is coupled to the vehicle such that the light beam is moved to strike various positions on the optical bridge with varying intensities; a capacitive sensor comprising a plurality of layers of stationary plates interleaved with a plurality of layers of moveable plates so as to form a capacitive sensor defined by at least four interleaved layers of plates.