Trailer Limp-Home Control With Driver Consent After Fault Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current work vehicle and trailer combinations cannot distinguish between a trailer being attached or detached, leading to unnecessary activation of the limp home functionality, which limits operation and productivity when no trailer is connected, despite proper functioning of other systems.
Innovation Solution
A method and system where the electronic control unit monitors the trailer control system for faults and requires driver consent to activate the limp home functionality, allowing the driver to decide whether to engage the functionality or activate the trailer's parking brake, enabling detachment of the trailer and normal operation of the work vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the limp home functionality is activated automatically when a control system failure is detected, then safety is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to unnecessary activation when no trailer is attached
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the trailer attachment status through sensors detecting the presence of the trailer on the work vehicle. This feedback mechanism allows the control system to distinguish between actual trailer-connected failures requiring limp home mode and false failures occurring when no trailer is attached, thereby preventing unnecessary activation and maintaining productivity while ensuring safety when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The limp home functionality is designed to be dynamically activated or deactivated based on real-time trailer attachment status. When a trailer is detected as attached, the system enables limp home mode upon failure detection; when no trailer is detected, the system disables automatic activation even if failures are detected in the trailer control system, allowing normal operation to continue without limitations.
2Reliability
If the limp home functionality remains activated after trailer decoupling, then safety is maintained, but operation is unnecessarily limited
Solution Approach 1:
The control system performs periodic checks of the trailer attachment status at predetermined time intervals. When a failure is detected in the trailer control system, the system continues to monitor whether a trailer remains attached. If the periodic monitoring detects that the trailer has been decoupled, the system automatically deactivates the limp home functionality, allowing the work vehicle to resume normal operation without limitations while maintaining safety during the period when the trailer was actually connected.
Data Source
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AI summary
There is described a method for controlling a limp home functionality of a work vehicle and trailer combination (1) comprising a work vehicle (2) and a trailer (3) carried or towed by the work vehicle (2); the method comprising the following steps: monitoring the operation of said trailer control system (13) in order to detect any fault that may occur in a trailer control system (13) of said work vehicle (2); if a fault in said trailer control system (13) is detected, providing a signal adapted to inform a work vehicle driver that said failure in said trailer (3) occurred; requesting the work vehicle driver to provide control signals adapted to indicate whether or not to activate a limp home functionality on said work vehicle (2); if the control signals received in step c) indicates to activate said limp home functionality, then activating such limp home functionality; and if the control signals received in step d) indicate to not activate the limp home functionality, then leaving said limp home functionality deactivated.