US 12,420,867 B2
Estimating hydraulic flow in a steering system of an articulated vehicle
Craig Cox, Sheffield (GB); Niall McNamee, Guildford (GB); Arick Bakken, Broughton Astley (GB); and Paul Cairns, Leicester (GB)
Assigned to Caterpillar SARL, Geneva (CH)
Filed by Caterpillar SARL, Geneva (CH)
Filed on Nov. 11, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/985,207.
Prior Publication US 2023/0150577 A1, May 18, 2023
Int. Cl. B62D 15/02 (2006.01); E02F 9/26 (2006.01); G01C 21/16 (2006.01)
CPC B62D 15/024 (2013.01) [E02F 9/26 (2013.01); G01C 21/16 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of estimating hydraulic flow in a steering system of an articulated vehicle, the articulated vehicle comprising articulated front and rear parts with the front part and/or rear part being steerable, the method comprising:
a) sensing a yaw rate of the front part of the articulated vehicle via a yaw rate sensor in the front part of the articulated vehicle;
b) sensing a velocity of the articulated vehicle via a velocity sensor;
c) calculating, via a controller, an estimated steering angle rate of the front part of the articulated vehicle using the yaw rate and the velocity;
d) calculating, via a controller, the hydraulic flow in the steering system of the articulated vehicle using the estimated steering angle rate and one or more geometrical parameters of the steering system.