Towing Coupling Sensor Adjustment for Driver Contact Mobility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sensor apparatuses for towing vehicle couplings have complex kinematics, limiting the mobility of the driver mounting device and impeding its ability to maintain contact with the mating coupling element, especially during deflection and coupling processes.
Innovation Solution
The sensor apparatus introduces an adjustment device that remains out of engagement with the retaining device in the working position, allowing the driver mounting device to move freely with additional degrees of freedom beyond rotation, ensuring surface contact and ease of coupling by reducing mechanical loading and enhancing the driver's mobility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the adjustment device is in engagement with the retaining device in the working position, then the driver mounting device is constrained and guided, but the mobility of the driver mounting device is limited and additional degrees of freedom are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment device is separated into distinct functional components: the adjustment element that provides guidance during adjustment, and the retaining device that maintains position during operation. By disengaging the adjustment device from the retaining device in the working position, the system segments the guidance function from the retention function, allowing the driver mounting device to maintain its detected position while gaining additional mobility degrees of freedom.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static engagement state to a dynamic disengaged state. The adjustment element can move between an adjustment position (where it engages with the retaining device) and a working position (where it is disengaged). This dynamic configuration allows the driver mounting device to have constrained mobility during adjustment but free mobility during normal operation, optimizing both adjustment precision and operational flexibility.
2Manufacturing precision
If the adjustment device engages with the retaining device to guide movement, then positioning accuracy is improved, but mechanical loading and stress on components increase
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment device provides guidance and positioning accuracy only when needed during the adjustment phase, rather than maintaining continuous engagement during all operations. The adjustment element temporarily engages with the retaining device to establish precise positioning, then disengages to allow free operation without imposing continuous mechanical stress on the components.
Solution Approach 2:
The guiding function is extracted as a temporary, intermittent action rather than a continuous constraint. The adjustment element provides guidance only when the driver mounting device needs to be repositioned, and is removed from engagement during normal operation, thereby eliminating unnecessary mechanical stress while preserving positioning accuracy when required.
3Ease of operation
If the driver mounting device is constrained by the adjustment device, then control during adjustment is improved, but the ability to maintain surface contact with mating coupling element during deflection is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts its constraint level based on operational phase. During adjustment, the adjustment element engages with the retaining device to provide controlled positioning. During normal operation and deflection, the adjustment device disengages, allowing the driver mounting device to freely maintain surface contact with the mating coupling element while the retaining device continues to provide necessary retention.
Solution Approach 2:
The control function is segmented into two distinct phases: adjustment control provided by the adjustment element engaging with the retaining device, and operational freedom provided by the disengaged state. This segmentation allows precise control during positioning while maintaining reliability of surface contact during actual coupling operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A sensor apparatus for a towing vehicle coupling, by means of which a trailer vehicle can be coupled to a towing vehicle, wherein the towing vehicle coupling has a coupling element for the releasable coupling of a mating coupling element, which elements are or can be fastened to the towing vehicle and the trailer vehicle and, in the mutually coupled state, forming a coupling joint, can be rotated about a coupling joint rotational axis relative to one another, wherein the sensor apparatus has a driver which is mounted on a driver mounting device so as to be rotatable about a drive rotational axis relative to the coupling element and which can be rotationally driven about the drive rotational axis by the mating coupling element upon rotation about the coupling joint rotational axis in order to record a rotation of the mating coupling element about the coupling joint rotational axis relative to the coupling element, and wherein the sensor apparatus has a sensor for recording a particular rotational position of the driver.