Vehicle wheel bearing and method for controlling a vehicle

Abstract

A vehicle wheel bearing includes a non-rotatable section, a rotatable section, and at least one sensor. The rotatable section is rotatably attached to the non-rotatable section. The at-least-one sensor has an output used for determining at least one component of a force applied to the rotatable section. A method for controlling a vehicle includes attaching at least one sensor to at least one of the non-rotatable and rotatable sections of the vehicle wheel bearing. At least one component of the force applied to the rotatable section is determined from the output of the at-least-one sensor, and the vehicle is controlled based at least in part on the determined at-least-one component.

1 . A vehicle wheel bearing comprising: 
 a) a vehicle-wheel-bearing non-rotatable section;    b) a vehicle-wheel-bearing rotatable section rotatably attached to the non-rotatable section, wherein at least one of the non-rotatable and rotatable sections includes an inboard bearing seal, wherein at least one of the non-rotatable and rotatable sections includes an outboard bearing seal, and wherein the outboard bearing seal is spaced apart from the inboard bearing seal;    c) rolling elements disposed between the non-rotatable and rotatable sections; and    d) at least one sensor disposed between the inboard and outboard bearing seals and having an output used for determining at least one component of a force applied to the rotatable section, wherein the determined at-least-one component is an input to the vehicle control system and wherein the at-least-one sensor includes a stress-based load sensor, a distance-measuring sensor, and/or a rolling-element-passage sensor.    
   
   
       2 . A vehicle wheel bearing comprising: 
 a) a vehicle-wheel-bearing non-rotatable section;    b) a vehicle-wheel-bearing rotatable section rotatably attached to the non-rotatable section, wherein at least one of the non-rotatable and rotatable sections includes an inboard bearing seal, wherein at least one of the non-rotatable and rotatable sections includes an outboard bearing seal, and wherein the outboard bearing seal is spaced apart form the inboard bearing seal; and    c) at least one sensor disposed between the inboard and outboard bearing seals and having an output used for determining at least one component of a force applied to the rotatable section, wherein the determined at-least one component is an input to a vehicle control system, wherein the rotatable section includes a monolithic first race, wherein the non-rotatable section includes a monolithic second race, wherein the first and second races define a raceway, wherein the vehicle wheel bearing also includes balls disposed in the raceway, and wherein the at-least-one sensor senses the passage of the balls around the raceway past the at-least-one sensor.