Tractor Trailer Braking Force Matching via Coupling Stress Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for monitoring and adjusting braking forces in articulated vehicles comprising a tractor and a trailer often fail to achieve perfect matching, leading to excessive wear, potential damage, and inefficiencies, especially at low deceleration levels, due to inaccuracies in calculation, component mismatches, and non-typical usage.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that generate and analyze braking control pressure and deceleration data during braking events, categorizing them into discrete ranges to create a histogram, which calculates a brake performance number indicative of the system's efficiency, allowing for adjustments to maintain optimal braking force distribution between the tractor and trailer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If compatibility control systems adjust braking control pressure to minimize coupling stress, then braking force matching between tractor and trailer is improved, but the system cannot eliminate significant mismatching and causes under-braking or over-braking at low deceleration levels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical adjustment methods with electronic monitoring and analysis. By using electronic sensors to measure coupling stress and brake temperatures, and processing this data through a microprocessor, the system achieves precise detection of braking mismatches that mechanical systems cannot detect, particularly at low deceleration levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring braking parameters (coupling stress, brake temperatures, deceleration rates) and using this information to identify mismatching conditions. The microprocessor analyzes this feedback data and generates diagnostic outputs that indicate the quality of braking matching, enabling operators to adjust the system for optimal performance.
2Measurement precision
If braking control pressure is increased to eliminate mismatching, then braking force matching is improved, but excessive wear and potential damage to brake components occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system enables the braking system to self-diagnose its performance by continuously tracking coupling stress and brake temperatures. When mismatching is detected, the system provides diagnostic information that allows operators to make targeted adjustments, preventing the need for excessive brake application that would cause wear and damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses electronic monitoring and data processing to detect braking mismatches early, replacing the need for mechanical trial-and-error adjustments. By substituting electronic sensing and microprocessor analysis, the system identifies optimal braking parameters without subjecting brake components to harmful excessive forces.
3Loss of information
If indirect monitoring methods compare desired deceleration with actual vehicle deceleration, then braking performance is monitored, but the system is not effective at low deceleration levels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces coupling stress measurement as an intermediary parameter to detect braking mismatches. By measuring the stress in the coupling between tractor and trailer, the system can detect even small discrepancies in braking forces that indirect methods miss at low deceleration levels. This intermediary measurement provides direct information about force distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces indirect monitoring with direct electronic sensing of coupling stress and brake temperatures. This substitution enables precise detection of braking performance parameters that mechanical indirect methods cannot detect, particularly at low deceleration levels where the signals are too weak for indirect detection.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of providing an indication of the performance of the braking system of a vehicle comprising a tractor and a trailer in which, during a braking event, a braking control pressure signal is generated in response to driver demand for braking, the braking control pressure signal indicating a braking control pressure which is representative of the degree of braking required by the driver, and is transmitted to braking systems provided on the tractor and trailer, the method including the steps of determining an average value of the braking control pressure during the braking event, determining an average value of the vehicle deceleration during the braking event, and using both the average braking control pressure and average vehicle deceleration to assign the braking event to one of a plurality of categories.