Trailer Braking for Vehicle Combination Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for stabilizing vehicle combinations during braking and evasive maneuvers are inadequate as they primarily focus on damping already occurring oscillations, rather than anticipating and preventing oscillation build-up by addressing the underlying steering interventions.
Innovation Solution
A method that detects steering interventions in a tractor vehicle and triggers automatic braking on the trailer based on current steering angle change, angular steering velocity, and speed, using predefined functions or look-up tables to assess the driving state and initiate braking before oscillations occur, thereby maintaining longitudinal stability and preventing trailer collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If steering interventions are made to change direction, then the vehicle combination can navigate obstacles or curves, but oscillation build-up and rolling motions are induced
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies preliminary anti-action by detecting steering interventions and proactively activating trailer brakes before significant oscillations can develop. The control system monitors steering angle changes and preemptively applies braking force to the trailer to counteract the instability that would otherwise be induced by the steering maneuver, thus allowing steering flexibility while preventing oscillation build-up
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback control by continuously monitoring steering angle, steering rate, and vehicle dynamics, then using this information to modulate trailer brake activation. The feedback loop detects when steering interventions occur and automatically adjusts trailer braking to compensate for the induced instability, maintaining overall system stability while preserving steering maneuverability
2Stability of the object's composition
If symmetric braking interventions are applied to the tractor vehicle, then rolling motion damping is achieved, but the complexity of the control system increases and longitudinal stability is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional approach by applying braking to the trailer instead of the tractor vehicle. This inversion simplifies the control logic because it eliminates the need for complex differential braking calculations on the tractor, while still achieving effective rolling motion damping through the trailer's braking action, thus reducing control system complexity while maintaining stabilization effectiveness
Data Source
AI summary
A method and device for stabilizing a vehicle combination consisting of a tractor vehicle and a trailer are provided. In an embodiment, the method includes detecting a steering intervention that acts upon the steered wheels of the tractor vehicle and determining a current steering angle change Δδ(t) caused by the steering intervention and a corresponding current angular steering velocity dδ(t)/dt. A current speed of the tractor vehicle v(t) is determined A braking intervention, by which the wheel brakes of the trailer are activated, is automatically triggered in dependence on the current steering angle change Δδ(t), the current angular steering velocity dδ(t)/dt, and the current speed v(t).