Vehicle wheel alignment methods and systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10692241-B2
Application number	US-201916423503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 28, 2019
Priority date	Aug 16, 2016
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

A wheel alignment system includes a side-to-side reference including an active reference pod and a passive reference pod disposed on opposite sides of the vehicle. The active reference pod includes a reference image sensor fixedly attached to a reference target, for mounting on a first side of the vehicle such that the reference image sensor produces image data including a perspective representation of the passive reference pod disposed on a second/opposite side of the vehicle. In operation, alignment cameras on the opposite sides of the vehicle capture perspective representations of targets mounted to vehicle wheels and of targets of the active and passive reference pods. A computer processes the image data to compute an alignment measurement of the vehicle based on a spatial relationship between the active reference pod and the passive reference pod determined according to the image data produced by the reference image sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wheel alignment system comprising:
a pair of first and second passive heads, each for mounting in association with one wheel of a first pair of wheels disposed on first and second sides, respectively, of a vehicle that is to be measured by operation of the wheel alignment system;
a side-to-side reference system comprising a pair of reference pods mounted to a stationary reference, the pair of reference pods including a first reference pod disposed on one of the first and second sides of the vehicle, and a second reference pod disposed on the other of the first and second sides of the vehicle, wherein one of the first and second reference pods has a reference image sensor oriented to view the other of the first and second reference pods, and to produce image data of the other of the first and second reference pods;
a pair of first and second active heads, each comprising an image sensor, for mounting in association with the first and second sides of the vehicle, respectively, the image sensor of the first active head producing image data of the first passive head and of the first reference pod, and the image sensor of the second active head producing image data of the second passive head and of the second reference pod; and
a computer for processing image data from the reference image sensor to determine a spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods, and for processing image data from the image sensors of the active heads to compute at least one alignment measurement of the vehicle based on the determined spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods.

2. The wheel alignment system of claim 1 , wherein the first reference pod comprises the reference image sensor and a reference target fixedly attached to the reference image sensor; and
wherein the computer computes the spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods based on image data of the second reference pod produced by the reference image sensor, and based on a known spatial relationship between the reference image sensor and the reference target of the first reference pod.

3. The wheel alignment system of claim 1 , wherein the first reference pod comprises the reference image sensor and the second reference pod comprises first and second targets, the reference image sensor produces image data including a perspective representation of the first target of the second reference pod, and the image sensor of the second active head produces image data including a perspective representation of the second target of the second reference pod.

4. The wheel alignment system of claim 3 , wherein the first and second targets of the second reference pod have a known spatial relationship to each other, and the computer computes the spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods according to the image data produced by the image sensors and the known spatial relationship between the first and second targets of the second reference pod.

5. The wheel alignment system of claim 1 , wherein the stationary reference having the first and second reference pods mounted thereon is a ground, a rack, or a lift.

6. The wheel alignment system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second active heads are for mounting to a stationary reference.

7. The wheel alignment system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second active heads are for mounting to the vehicle that is to be measured by operation of the wheel alignment system.

8. The wheel alignment system of claim 7 , wherein the first and second active heads are for mounting in association with a second pair of wheels disposed on the first and second sides of the vehicle.

9. A method for measuring an alignment of a vehicle comprising:
attaching a pair of first and second passive heads in association with a first pair of wheels disposed on first and second sides, respectively, of the vehicle to be measured;
providing a side-to-side reference system comprising a pair of reference pods mounted to a stationary reference, the pair of reference pods including a first reference pod disposed on one of the first and second sides of the vehicle, and a second reference pod disposed on the other of the first and second sides of the vehicle, one of the first and second reference pods comprising a reference image sensor oriented to view the other of the first and second reference pods;
capturing, using the reference image sensor of the one of the first and second reference pods, image data of the other one of the first and second reference pods;
capturing, using an image sensor of a first active head mounted in association with the first side of the vehicle, image data of the first passive head and of the first reference pod;
capturing, using an image sensor of a second active head mounted in association with the second side of the vehicle, image data of the second passive head and of the second reference pod;
processing the image data from the reference image sensor to determine a spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods; and
processing the image data from the image sensors of the active heads to compute at least one alignment measurement of the vehicle based on the determined spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods.

10. The method of claim 9 , comprising providing the first reference pod with the reference image sensor and with a reference target fixedly attached to the reference image sensor;
wherein the processing comprises computing the spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods based on the image data produced by the reference image sensor, and based on a known spatial relationship between the reference image sensor and the reference target of the first reference pod.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first reference pod comprises the reference image sensor, and the second reference pod comprises first and second targets;
wherein the step of capturing image data using the reference image sensor comprises capturing image data including a perspective representation of the first target of the second reference pod, and
wherein the step of capturing image data using the image sensor of the second active head comprises capturing image data including a perspective representation of the second target of the second reference pod.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first and second targets of the second reference pod have a known spatial relationship to each other, and the step of processing the image data from the reference image sensor includes determining the spatial relationship between the first and second reference pods according to the image data produced by the image sensors and the known spatial relationship between the first and second targets of the second reference pod.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising mounting the first and second reference pods to the stationary reference prior to capturing image data using the reference image sensor and the image sensors of the first and second active heads, wherein the stationary reference is a ground, a rack, or a lift.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising mounting the first and second active heads to a stationary reference prior to capturing image data using the image sensors of the first and second active heads.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising mounting the first and second active heads in association with the vehicle that is to be measured by operation of the wheel alignment system prior to capturing image data using the images sensors of the first and second active heads.

Assignees

• Snap On Tools Corp

Inventors

• Kunert Joel A
• Chen Darwin Y
• Gill George M
• Gray Brian K
• Rogers Steven W
• Swayne Ronald D
• Jackson David A
• Harrell Rodney
• D'Agostino Robert J
• Minor Bryan C
• Sellers Eric R
• Lecrone Sean P
• Klotz Larry D
• Sperry Jonathan A

Classifications

• H04N23/90

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• G01B11/2755 Primary

  using photoelectric detection means · CPC title

• G06T2207/30252

  Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle · CPC title

• G01B2210/26

  Algorithms, instructions, databases, computerized methods and graphical user interfaces employed by a user in conjunction with the wheel aligner · CPC title

• G01B2210/143

  One or more cameras on each side of a vehicle in the main embodiment · CPC title