METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR VEHICLE STABILIZATION

• US 20150232088A1
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Published: 08/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (Volvo AB)
• Original Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (Volvo AB)
• Inventors: Tagesson, Kristoffer, Laine, Leo, Kharrazi, Sogol
• Granted Patent: US 9,598,089 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2230/06 Tractor-trailer swaying
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2260/02 Active Steering, Steer-by-Wire
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1708 for lorries or tractor-trailer combinations
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1755 Brake regulation specially adapted to control the stability of the vehicle, e.g. taking into account yaw rate or transverse acceleration in a curve road vehicle drive control systems for control of driving stability otherwise than by controlling a particular sub-unit B60W30/02
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/184 with wheel brakes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/1346 about the yaw axis
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18163 Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/114 Yaw movement
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/13 Load or weight
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/148 Semi-trailers, articulated vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 13/00 Steering specially adapted for trailers combined traction and steering hitches B60D

Abstract

An arrangement for improving stability of a vehicle combination includes a towing vehicle and at least one towed vehicle, where the at least one towed vehicle includes an actively steered axle and/or individual brake on at least one axle, where the towing vehicle and the at least one towed vehicle each includes a lateral acceleration determining arrangement. A vehicle combination model is adapted for determining a desired delay value between the lateral acceleration of the towing vehicle and the lateral acceleration of the at least one towed vehicle, where the arrangement is adapted to stabilize the at least one towed vehicle by using the determined lateral acceleration of the towing vehicle and the desired delay value for the at least one towed vehicle to establish a desired lateral acceleration for the at least one towed vehicle, and to control the steered axle and/or the individual brake of the at least one towed vehicle such that the determined lateral acceleration of the at least one towed vehicle corresponds to the desired lateral acceleration of the at least one towed vehicle.

Claims

1. An arrangement for improving stability of a vehicle combination comprising a towing vehicle and at least one towed vehicle, where the at least one towed vehicle comprises at least one actively steered axle and/or an individually controlled wheel brake on at least one axle, where the towing vehicle and the at least one towed vehicle each comprises a yaw rate determining means for determining the yaw rate of the towing vehicle and the at least one towed vehicle, where the arrangement further comprises a vehicle combination model adapted for determining a desired delay value between the yaw rate of the towing vehicle and the yaw rate of the at least one towed vehicle, the arrangement is adapted to stabilise the at least one towed vehicle by using the determined yaw rate of the towing vehicle and the desired delay value for the at least one towed vehicle to establish a reference yaw rate for the at least one towed vehicle, and to control the actively steered axle and/or the individually controlled brake of the at least one towed vehicle such that the determined yaw rate of the at least one towed vehicle corresponds to the reference yaw rate of the at least one towed vehicle.

2. Arrangement according to claim 1, the yaw rate determining means comprises yaw rate estimation means.

3. Arrangement according to claim 2, the yaw rate estimation means is a software module in a control unit.

4. Arrangement according to claim 1, the yaw rate determining means comprises yaw rate measuring means.

5. Arrangement according to claim 4, the yaw rate measuring means is a yaw rate sensor.

6. Arrangement according to claim 1, the amplitude of the reference yaw rate of the at least one towed vehicle and the amplitude of the determined yaw rate of the towing vehicle are proportional.

7. Arrangement according to claim 1, the arrangement is adapted to improve the stability for a vehicle combination comprising a towing vehicle and two towed vehicles, where each towed vehicle comprise a yaw rate determining means for determining the yaw rate of respective towed vehicle, where the vehicle combination model is adapted for determining a desired delay value between the yaw rate of the towing vehicle and the yaw rate of each towed vehicle, wherein the arrangement is adapted to stabilise each towed vehicle by using the determined yaw rate of the towing vehicle and the desired delay value for respective towed vehicle to establish a reference yaw rate for each towed vehicle, and to control the steered axle and/or the individually controlled brake of each towed vehicle such that the determined yaw rate of each towed vehicle corresponds to the reference yaw rate of each towed vehicle.

8. Arrangement according to claim 1, a deadband is used, when comparing the determined yaw rate to the reference yaw rate of the towed vehicle.

9. Arrangement according to claim 8, the deadband width is absolute.

10. Arrangement according to claim 8, the deadband width is dependent on the value of the reference yaw rate.

11. Arrangement according to claim 1, the vehicle combination model is implemented in a control unit in the vehicle control system.

12. Arrangement according to claim 11, the arrangement further comprises vehicle weight measuring means adapted to measure the weight of the vehicle combination in order to adapt the vehicle combination model to the actual weight of the vehicle combination.

13. Vehicle comprising an arrangement according to claim 1.

14. Vehicle according to claim 13, the at least one towed vehicle comprises a dolly and a semi-trailer.

15. Vehicle according to claim 13, the at least one towed vehicle comprises at least one drawbar trailer.

16. Vehicle according to claim 13, the at least one towed vehicle is a dolly or a semi-trailer.

17. A method for stabilizing a vehicle combination comprising a towing vehicle and at least one towed vehicle, comprising:

establish a desired delay value for the yaw rate between the towing vehicle and the at least one towed vehicle in the vehicle combination by using a vehicle combination model,

determine the yaw rate of the towing vehicle,

establish a reference yaw rate value for each towed vehicle by using the determined yaw rate of the towing vehicle and the established delay value,

determining the actual yaw rate of the at least one towed vehicle,

comparing the actual yaw rate with the reference yaw rate,

controlling the yaw rate of the at least one towed vehicle to the reference yaw rate value by controlling steering axles and/or individual brakes on the at least one towed vehicle.

18. Method according to claim 17, where the vehicle combination model uses wheel speed, friction between road and tires, vehicle mass, vehicle length and steering frequency as inputs.

19. A computer comprising program code for performing the steps of claim 17 when the program is run on the computer.

20. A computer program product comprising program code stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for performing the steps of claim 17 when the program product is run on a computer.