Determining the center of gravity of a vehicle

The lower the center of gravity of a vehicle, the better it will be able to navigate a bend. You can consult the dedicated article Vehicles – Center of gravity – Center of inertia.

The center of gravity is on the vehicle’s center, the vehicle is considered symmetrical. To know its height, it is enough to determine the angle of the vehicle when it tilts.

To do this, we make an assembly. The vehicle rests on a plate (with a hole to let the braids and guide pass through. So the car rests on its 4 wheels. Fixed on an axis to make it rotate, the objective is to give an angle to the car and when it tilts, note the angle. How to know the angle in real time? No question of using a protractor, we need a more reliable solution. So I used a gyroscope as a sensor. The same element that is found on drones. It allows you to know all the angles of the sensor. Connected to a raspberry pi, we have the angle of the plate in real time on the screen.

On the side of the tires, a bar or stop prevents the vehicle from sliding but forces it to tip over. The tipping point is shifted, so we must remember to take it into account in our calculations.

Below is live angle information.

So here is the result. Thanks to the angle, and the width of the vehicle, with some calculations, we find the height of the center of gravity.