Parallel parking for Idiots
07-08-2004, 08:45 PM
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Parallel parking for Idiots
We all know the difficulty in finding a suitable parking space and then actually manage to get the car in between two cars that are parked in line. But what if the car would tell you that it has found a suitable space and then let you reverse and not bother about steering? In the mechatronic project course of 2004 at the divison of Fluid & Mechanical Engineering Systems at Linköping University, 17 students have equipped a car with this functionality. The course is part of FluMeS effort in educating mechanical engineers in mechatronics, where primarily hydraulics, mechanics, electronics and software are combined to form an integrated solution. The students employ simulation, code generation, algorithm development, sensor fusion and network programming in order to reach the goal. All these activities are performed in a structured, colllabroative approach. In the project, four ultrasound sensors have been fitted on a Volvo S60, pointing in the directions indicated in the right figure above. When the driver initiates a parking space scan, the system fires and reads the sensors. A number of clever algorithms turn the measurement data into knowledge about the space position and size. When the space is identified and is determined to be large enough for the car, the system tells the driver that a pocket exists. The driver stops and reverses and the prototype electric power steering as well as braking is controlled by the parking computer so that the car is driven into the pocket safely, as shown in the left movie. In normal usage, though, the driver stays in the car, shown here! The human-machine interface can also guide the driver in the case where no electrical power steering exists but with maintained brake control, shown here. Electric power steering has not yet been implemented on large cars due to limitations in power compared to its hydraulic counterfit. The division has therefore developed a modified conventional hydraulic power steering system in which torque can be added to the steering mechanism. The added torque can be used for example to keep the driver on the road when the attention is occupied with something else or in assisted parking. The solution was evaluated on a test rig where road forces were computed in a vehicle dynamics simulation tool and generated to act upon an actual steering rack. This way any kind of manoeuevre can be simulated and the driver experiences the power steering characteristics as if it the car was driving in a real environment. The parking manoeuvre was successfully simulated as is shown here. Article
Mang.
07-08-2004, 09:37 PM
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