According to foreign media reports, Ford Motor has applied for a patent for an all-wheel drive system with traction control.
The patent application was filed on October 19, 2023 and announced on August 6, 2024.
The assigned serial number is 12054045.
, (Photo source: Ford Company) In recent months, Ford has explored several different ways of operating future all-wheel drive systems and applied for patents for related concepts, such as all-wheel drive systems with three-clutch settings, and line lock functions for all-wheel drive vehicles.
The newly announced patent is a continuation of this series.
, The patent application states that the system can exert considerable propulsive force when there is high friction between the wheels and the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling.
However, with limited friction, applying too much torque to the wheels can cause the wheels to slip (rather than increasing the speed) and the driver may lose control of the vehicle.
, This is where this patent comes into play.
The technology aims to use traction control to reduce torque when wheel slips and to better control torque applications through an all-wheel drive system.
To achieve this goal, the system will use controllers that can individually calculate wheel speeds and then adjust as needed to maintain traction.
, Specifically, this method for controlling torque in all-wheel-drive vehicles can limit the duration of loss of traction.
In a wheel slip event, the controller reduces the control torque based on the driver’s demand level.
Based on the measured yaw rate, measured wheel speed, and calculated wheel diameter, the controller is able to calculate a normalized wheel speed for each wheel and determine the end of a wheel slip event by comparing the normalized speeds of each wheel to each other.
Overall, this is a very interesting idea that will likely appear in future Ford cars.
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