Apparatus, method and system for monitoring towed vehicles in a tractor-trailer vehicle

• US 9,227,607 B1
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC (Estate of Heinz Hermann Thiele)
• Original Assignee: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC (Estate of Heinz Hermann Thiele)
• Inventors: Ripley, John V., Hamdan, Majed M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pipala, Edward
• Application Number:
  US14/470,934
• Time in Patent Office: 496 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/18 Safety devices; Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/22 Devices for monitoring or checking brake systems; Signal devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2230/06 Tractor-trailer swaying
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2250/02 Vehicle mass
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2270/88 Pressure measurement in brake systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/20 specially for trailers, e.g. in case of uncoupling of or overrunning by trailer inertia-actuated overrun brakes B60T13/08
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1708 for lorries or tractor-trailer combinations
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1806 characterised by the calibration process or the means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1887 especially adapted for tractor-trailer combinations
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0082 for initialising the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2300/14 Tractor-trailers, i.e. combinations of a towing vehicle and one or more towed vehicles, e.g. caravans; Road trains
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2300/145 Semi-trailers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/12 related to parameters of the vehicle itself , e.g. tyre models

Abstract

Various examples of a controller, method and system for monitoring a tractor-trailer vehicle train are disclosed. In one example a tractor controller is manually-initiated or a user-initiated tractor controller and includes an electrical control port for receiving an electrical sync signal and an electrical start signal, and a communications port for receiving data. A processing unit of the tractor controller includes control logic and is in communication with the electrical control port. The control logic is capable of receiving a data signal at the communications port which includes a time value and a unique identification which corresponds to the towed vehicle in response to the electrical start signal. At a predetermined response time, the tractor controller determines the position of the towed vehicle in the tractor-trailer vehicle train based on the data received from the towed vehicles.

Claims

1. A tractor controller of a tractor in a tractor-trailer vehicle train comprising:

an electrical control port for receiving an electrical sync signal and an electrical start signal;

a communications port for receiving data from a towed vehicle of a tractor-trailer vehicle train that receives the electrical sync signal and the electrical start signal;

a processing unit comprising control logic, wherein the processing unit is in communication with the electrical control port and the communications port, wherein the control logic is capable of;

receiving a data signal at the communications port in response to the towed vehicle receiving the electrical start signal, wherein the data signal comprises a time value that corresponds to the towed vehicle and a unique identification that corresponds to the towed vehicle; and

calculating the position, at a predetermined response time, of a towed vehicle in the tractor-trailer vehicle train based on the first data signal received.

2. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the control logic determines the length of the towed vehicle based on the data signal received.

3. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the electrical sync signal, the electrical start signal, and an electronic pressure signal are received by a towed-vehicle controller of the towed vehicle.

4. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the electrical start signal and a pneumatic signal are transmitted to the first towed vehicle at a predetermined time period following transmission of the sync signal to the towed vehicle.

5. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the time value received by the tractor controller is a time stamp indicating the elapsed time the towed vehicle received an electronic pressure signal from an electric-pneumatic source in the tractor, wherein the elapsed time starts from a time the electronic start signal is received by the towed vehicle.

6. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the time value received by the tractor controller is the time difference, Δ

t, between a time the towed vehicle receives the electrical start signal and the time the towed vehicle receives an electronic pressure signal from a pneumatic source of the tractor.

7. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the electrical start signal and a pneumatic signal are transmitted to the tractor controller and towed vehicle at a predetermined time period following transmission of the sync signal to the tractor controller and the towed vehicle.

8. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the predetermined response time at which the position of the towed vehicle is calculated ranges from about 0.1 seconds to about 5 seconds.

9. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the time value received is the only time value received by the tractor controller at the expiration of the predetermined response time, and the control logic calculates the position of the first towed vehicle to be in a position adjacent to the tractor of the tractor-trailer vehicle train.

10. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the control logic is further capable of:

receiving a second data signal associated with a second towed vehicle, the second data signal comprising a second time value different than the time value and a second unique identification different than the unique identification; and

calculating the position, at the predetermined response time, of the second towed vehicle based on the second time value received by the tractor controller.

11. The tractor controller of claim 10, wherein:

the control logic calculates the position of the towed vehicle and the second towed vehicle by ranking the time value and second time value from highest to lowest, and determining that a towed vehicle having a lowest time value ranking has a position that is closest to the tractor and a towed vehicle having a highest time value ranking has a position that is farthest from the tractor.

12. The tractor controller of claim 10, wherein the control logic calculates the length of the second towed vehicle based on the second time value.

13. The tractor controller of claim 10, wherein the electrical start signal and an electronic pressure signal are transmitted to the second towed vehicle at a predetermined time period following transmission of the sync signal to the second towed vehicle.

14. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the communications port is electrically connected to a hard wired serial communications bus.

15. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the communications port is configured to receive wireless communication.

16. The tractor controller of claim 10, wherein the electrical sync signal, the electrical start signal, and an electronic pressure signal are received by a towed-vehicle controller of the second towed vehicle.

17. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein the tractor controller receives the electronic sync signal and the electronic start signal from a stoplight switch.

18. The tractor controller of claim 1, wherein:

the electrical sync signal is transmitted from a tractor stoplight switch to a towed-vehicle controller and a second towed-vehicle controller of tractor-trailer vehicle train; and

the electrical start signal, and an electronic pressure signal are transmitted to a towed-vehicle controller of the tractor-trailer vehicle train.

19. A tractor controller comprising:

an electrical control port for transmitting an electrical control signal to a tractor pneumatic source;

a communications port for receiving data;

a processing unit comprising control logic, wherein the processing unit is in communication with the electrical control port and the communications port, wherein the control logic is capable of;

transmitting an electrical sync signal to the towed vehicle train;

transmitting, an electrical start signal and an electronic pressure signal to a tractor pneumatic source at a predetermined time period after transmitting the sync signal;

receiving a first data signal comprising a first time value and a first unique identification at the communications port from the towed vehicle in response to transmitting the electrical start signal and the electronic pressure signal;

calculating, at a predetermined response time, the position of the first towed vehicle in the tractor-trailer vehicle based on the first time value received.

20. The tractor controller of claim 19, wherein the control logic determines the length of the first towed vehicle based on the data signal received.

21. A towed-vehicle controller of a tractor-trailer vehicle comprising:

a first electrical control port for receiving an electrical sync signal and an electrical start signal from a tractor;

a second electrical control port for receiving an electronic pressure signal from a pneumatic source of the tractor;

a communications port for transmitting data;

a processing unit comprising control logic wherein the processing unit is in communication with the first electrical control port and the second electrical control port and the communications port, and includes control logic capable of;

transmitting a data signal comprising a time value and a unique identification to the tractor in response to receiving an electronic pressure signal from the pneumatic source of the tractor.

22. The towed-vehicle controller of claim 21, wherein the time value transmitted by the towed-vehicle controller is a time stamp of the elapsed time the towed vehicle receives an electronic pressure signal from the pneumatic source of the tractor, wherein the elapsed time starts from the time the electronic start signal is received by the towed vehicle.

23. The towed-vehicle controller of claim 21, wherein the time value is determined by the difference in time that the towed-vehicle controller receives the electronic start signal and the time that the towed-vehicle controller receives the electronic pressure signal.

24. The towed-vehicle controller of claim 21, wherein the first data signal is transmitted to the tractor controller comprising control logic, and the control logic calculates the position of the towed-vehicle based on the time value.

25. The towed-vehicle controller of claim 21, wherein the communications port is electrically connected to a hard-wired serial communications bus.

26. The towed-vehicle controller of claim 21, wherein the communications port is configured to receive wireless communication.

27. A method for monitoring a vehicle train of a tractor-trailer vehicle, the method comprising:

transmitting an electronic sync signal from a tractor vehicle to a first towed vehicle of the tractor-trailer vehicle;

transmitting an electrical start signal and an electronic pressure signal to the first towed vehicle at a predetermined time period from the sync signal;

transmitting a first data signal from the first towed vehicle to the tractor vehicle, the first data signal comprising a first time value and a first unique identification in response to transmission of the electrical start signal and the electronic pressure signal;

determining, at a predetermined response time, the position of the towed vehicle based on the first time value received.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

determining the length of the first towed vehicle based on the time value received.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

transmitting a second data signal from a second towed vehicle to the tractor vehicle, the second data signal comprising a second time value and a second unique identification in response to transmission of the electrical start signal and the electronic pressure signal; and

determining, at a predetermined response time, the position of the second towed vehicle based on the second time value received.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein determining the positions of the first towed vehicle and the second towed vehicle is achieved by ranking the first time value and second time value from lowest to highest, and assigning the positions such that the lowest time value is assigned a location that is the closest distance to the tractor and the highest time value is assigned a location that is furthest distance from the tractor.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises determining the length of the second towed vehicle based on the second time value received.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the first time value is the time stamp of the time the first towed vehicle receives the electronic pressure signal or the time difference, Δ

t, between the electronic start signal and the time the first towed vehicle receives the electronic pressure signal.

33. A system for monitoring a tractor-trailer vehicle comprising:

a pneumatic control valve;

a stoplight switch in communication with the manually-operated pneumatic control valve and a towed vehicle of the tractor-trailer vehicle;

a tractor pneumatic source which is in communication with the pneumatic control valve and the towed vehicle of the tractor-trailer vehicle;

a tractor controller comprising;

an electrical port for receiving an electrical sync signal and an electrical start signal;

a communications port for receiving data from a towed vehicle of a tractor-trailer vehicle that receives the electrical sync signal and the electrical start signal;

a processing unit comprising control logic, wherein the processing unit is in communication with the communications port, wherein the control logic is capable of;

receiving a first data signal comprising a first time value and a unique identification which corresponds to the towed vehicle at the communications port from the towed vehicle that responds to the electrical start signal;

determining, at a predetermined response time, the position of a towed vehicle in the tractor-trailer vehicle based on the data signal received.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the tractor controller determines the length of the towed vehicle based on the data signal received.