Trailer brake control
First Claim
1. An electronic braking system for a motor vehicle having a tractor towing a trailer, comprising:
- a brake input corresponding to a requested deceleration;
a load sensor measuring a generally vertical load on said tractor from a portion of said trailer;
a deceleration device determining an actual deceleration of said motor vehicle;
a processor having an adaptive routine comparing said actual deceleration to said requested deceleration and calculating first and second adaptive control loops for setting tractor and trailer braking levels, respectively, said tractor and trailer braking levels being partially determined by said mass of said portion of said trailer; and
first and second errors generated by differences between said actual and said requested decelerations with said first and said second errors adjusting said first and second adaptive control loops, respectively.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic braking system (WBS) suitable for commercial vehicles which tow trailers, which has on the towing vehicle, braking control of all the axles and a device for setting the braking demand for the trailer which is so adjusted as to equalize the utilization of adhesion between said towing vehicle and trailer. The system includes two adaptive control loops (30a, 30b) which are adjusted sequentially in a co-ordinated manner in order to set respectively the towing vehicle and trailer braking to levels where overall train mean decelerations approximate closely to those corresponding levels demanded by the driver and at the same time set the distribution of braking to seek to achieve equal utilization of adhesion between the tractor and trailer. The system also uses deceleration errors to sequentially adjust the two adaptive control loops.
80 Citations
29 Claims
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1. An electronic braking system for a motor vehicle having a tractor towing a trailer, comprising:
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a brake input corresponding to a requested deceleration;
a load sensor measuring a generally vertical load on said tractor from a portion of said trailer;
a deceleration device determining an actual deceleration of said motor vehicle;
a processor having an adaptive routine comparing said actual deceleration to said requested deceleration and calculating first and second adaptive control loops for setting tractor and trailer braking levels, respectively, said tractor and trailer braking levels being partially determined by said mass of said portion of said trailer; and
first and second errors generated by differences between said actual and said requested decelerations with said first and said second errors adjusting said first and second adaptive control loops, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of distributing a braking force between a tractor and a trailer of a motor vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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a) requesting a deceleration;
b) calculating a first adaptive control loop corresponding to a tractor braking level;
c) braking the motor vehicle with the tractor only;
d) comparing the requested deceleration to an actual deceleration;
e) generating a first error corresponding to a tractor braking error defined by differences between the requested and actual decelerations; and
f) calculating a second adaptive control loop factoring said tractor braking error corresponding to a trailer braking level. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification