Control device for a tractor provided with a system for detecting pivoting and articulating angles between said tractor and a trailer

• US 7,648,153 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2004
• Issued: 01/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Saf-Holland SA
• Original Assignee: Georg Fischer Verkehrstechnik GmbH (SAF-HOLLAND SE)
• Inventors: Lüders, Karsten, Metternich, Heinz-Rüdiger
• Primary Examiner(s): Boehler; Anne Marie M.
• Application Number:
  US10/562,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20060145450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,093 Days
• Field of Search: 280/426, 280/432, 280/433, 280/446.1, 280/511, 324/207.2, 324/207.25
• US Class Current: 280/433
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/02 Steering position indicators ; Steering position determination; Steering aids

Abstract

A control device for an articulated road train provided with a system for detecting pivoting and articulating angles between the central longitudinal axes of the tractor and a semi-trailer coupled thereto by a coupling pin during coupling and parking and/or a control device for an articulated road train provided with a system for detecting pivoting and articulating angles between the central longitudinal axes of a drawbar and a trailer which is coupled by the drawbar during coupling and parking. The system has a plurality of Hall sensors (21) arranged side-by-side on the arc of a circle and a constant magnet (30) interacting therewith in such a way that it acts on the nearest Hall sensor according to the radial position thereof, a required angle (α) being determined on the basis of the excited Hall sensor position.

Claims

1. Control device for a tractor having a longitudinal geometrical center axis and a system for detecting pivoting or articulating angles between the longitudinal geometrical center axis of the tractor and a longitudinal geometrical center axis of a semitrailer coupled by way of a kingpin when the semitrailer is being coupled and being pulled into and out of parking places, the semitrailer having an underside, characterized

by a configuration (20) of a plurality of Hall sensors (21) located next to each other in an area which encloses a receiving opening (11) of the tractor for a fifth-wheel kingpin concentrically on a partial circular arc around the vertical geometrical center axis of the receiving opening;

by at least one permanent magnet (30) which is located on the underside of the semitrailer at a radial distance (r_m) from the geometrical vertical axis (13) of the kingpin and with a distance to the Hall sensors such that with its magnetic field the at least one permanent magnet acts on and excites only the most closely adjacent Hall sensor of the configuration, and

by electrical output lines of the Hall sensors (21), which lines are connected to an evaluation circuit that determines from the location of the excited Hall sensor an angle α

between the longitudinal geometrical center axis of the tractor and the longitudinal geometrical center axis of the semitrailer.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the evaluation circuit supplies the angle and/or angles to a remote control unit for an unmanned tractor as an input quantity or as input quantities.

2. Control device for a tractor having a longitudinal geometrical center axis and a system for detecting pivoting or articulating angles between a longitudinal geometrical center axis of a drawbar having a vertical geometrical pivoting axis (13) and a longitudinal geometrical center axis of a trailer coupleable by way of the drawbar when the trailer is being coupled and pulled into and out of parking places, the trailer having an underside, characterized

by a configuration (20) of a plurality of Hall sensors (21) located next to each other in an area which concentrically encloses the vertical geometrical pivoting axis of the drawbar;

by at least one permanent magnet (30) which is located on the underside of the trailer at a radial distance r_m from the vertical geometrical pivoting axis (31) and with a distance to the Hall sensors such that with its magnetic field the at least one permanent magnet acts on and excites only the most closely adjacent Hall sensor of the configuration, and

by electrical output lines of the Hall sensors (21), which lines are connected to an evaluation circuit that determines from the location of the excited Hall sensor an angle α

between the longitudinal geometrical center axis of the drawbar and the longitudinal geometrical center axis of the trailer.

4. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the evaluation circuit supplies the angle and/or angles to a remote control unit for an unmanned tractor as an input quantity or as input quantities.