Platoon Brake Performance Exchange for Safe Time Headway

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional techniques fail to safely and reliably reduce following distances between vehicles in a platoon, as they lack a robust estimation of maximum brake power and its influencing factors, leading to complex and ineffective control of vehicle longitudinal motion.

Innovation Solution

A vehicle longitudinal motion control system equipped with a processor that derives current gross combination weight values and communicates maximum and minimum brake performance values between leading and following vehicles, calculating a safe following distance or time headway based on these values to simplify platoon control and ensure safety.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional techniques are used to control platoon following distances, then the control system becomes complex and unreliable, but the following distance cannot be safely reduced to the desired level

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafe following distanceVSAvoidcontrol system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the parameter representation from complex raw brake data to simplified brake performance estimation values (minimum and maximum). This transformation allows the control system to work with standardized parameters that are easier to process while maintaining safety, directly resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces brake performance estimation values as an intermediary between the complex brake system and the platoon control system. These estimation values act as a mediator that simplifies the information exchange while preserving the essential safety characteristics, reducing control system complexity without compromising reliability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Length of moving object

If maximum brake power estimation is performed robustly considering all external conditions, then the following distance can be safely minimized, but the estimation process becomes very difficult and complex

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefollowing distanceVSAvoidbrake power estimation difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
Length of moving objectVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses lookup tables containing pre-calculated brake performance estimation values for different gross combination weights. Instead of performing complex real-time calculations considering all external conditions, the system retrieves pre-computed values from the lookup table, making the estimation process simple and efficient while still accounting for varying conditions through the weight parameter

Inventive Principle:
Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent performs brake performance estimation in advance by pre-calculating minimum and maximum values for different gross combination weights and storing them in lookup tables. This preliminary action eliminates the need for complex real-time estimation during platoon operation, simplifying the measurement process while ensuring accurate following distance calculation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP4136519B1Method of controlling a platoon combination by exchanging brake performance estimation values
Publication Date: 2024.05.15 DAF TRUCKS NV
  • EP4136519B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4136519B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4136519B1 patent drawingFigure 3A~3B

AI summary

It is aimed to provide a method of controlling a platoon combination of a leading vehicle immediately preceding a following vehicle, comprising equipping said leading and following vehicles with a vehicle longitudinal motion control system and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system, wherein the vehicle longitudinal motion control system of each vehicle comprises a processor configured to execute a computer program product and thereby direct the performance of operations comprising: deriving for each vehicle a current gross combination weight value; relating the current gross combination weight of said each vehicle to a maximum brake performance value and to a minimum brake performance value derived from a lookup table; said vehicle-to-vehicle communication system communicating the maximum brake performance value of the leading vehicle from the leading vehicle to the following vehicle; wherein the vehicle longitudinal motion control system is further configured to calculate a safe following distance and/or time headway of the following vehicle with respect to the leading vehicle in the platoon, using the maximum brake performance value communicated by the vehicle-to-vehicle system of the leading vehicle; and the minimum brake performance value of the following vehicle; wherein the minimum brake performance value of the following vehicle is maximized at the maximum brake performance value of the leading vehicle.