Utilizing axle loading information to determining braking capabilities of vehicles for platooning operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11475776-B2
Application number	US-201916709134-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2019
Priority date	Dec 10, 2019
Publication date	Oct 18, 2022
Grant date	Oct 18, 2022

Abstract

Dynamic braking capability of a combination vehicle including a tractor and at least one trailer is provided based on a distribution of the load carried by the combination vehicle. Load distribution is determined directly using load sensors disposed at wheel pairs of the tractor and trailer(s) or indirectly by using a load sensor located at the drive axle of the tractor together with engine torque and vehicle speed signals for determining gross vehicle mass. A database having sub-databases therein each storing stopping distance calculation results for a corresponding combination vehicle type e.g. 5-axle single or 8-axle double, is indexed by using the determined load distributions for providing the dynamic braking capability based on the vehicle type and its load distribution. The database may also be indexed using Axle Load Allocation Factor that is calculated based on a mathematical combination of drive, steering, and gross trailer axle loading.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for determining a dynamic braking capability for providing dynamic braking control of a brake system in an associated combination vehicle including a tractor and at least one trailer, the tractor having at least one drive axle and a steering axle, and the at least one trailer having at least one trailer axle, the system comprising:
a control unit configured to be disposed in the associated combination vehicle and in operative communication with the brake system of the associated combination vehicle, the control unit comprising:
a processor;
a non-transient memory device operatively coupled with the processor;
logic stored in the non-transient memory device, the logic being executable by the processor to process one or more signals received from the combination vehicle to determine the dynamic braking capability of the associated combination vehicle; and
a vehicle stopping distance table stored in the non-transient memory device, the vehicle stopping distance table comprising table data mapping vehicle operating condition lookup data to stopping distance output data, the vehicle operating condition lookup data being representative of a vehicle operating condition of the associated combination vehicle and the stopping distance output data being representative of an estimated stopping distance required to stop the associated combination vehicle travelling having the vehicle operating condition; and

a vehicle load input operatively coupled with the control unit, the vehicle load input being operable to:
receive a vehicle load signal representative of a sensed load on one or more of the at least one drive axle of the tractor of the associated combination vehicle, the steering axle of the tractor of the associated combination vehicle, and/or the at least one trailer axle of the at least one trailer of the associated combination vehicle; and
generate vehicle load data representative of the sensed load based on the received vehicle load signal,

wherein the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to:
determine vehicle operating condition data based on the vehicle load data in accordance with a predetermined combination of the sensed load on the one or more of the at least one drive axle of the tractor of the associated combination vehicle, the steering axle of the tractor of the associated combination vehicle, and/or the at least one trailer axle of the at least one trailer of the associated combination vehicle;
apply the determined vehicle operating condition data as the vehicle operating condition lookup data to the vehicle stopping distance table stored in the non-transient memory device;
retrieve predicted stopping distance output data mapped relative to the determined vehicle operating condition data by the vehicle stopping distance table, the retrieved predicted stopping distance output data being representative of a predicted stopping distance of the associated combination vehicle based on the determined vehicle operating condition data applied to the vehicle stopping di stance table; and
determine the dynamic braking capability of the associated combination vehicle as the predicted stopping distance,

wherein the control unit is operable to communicate the determined dynamic braking capability to the brake system for effecting the dynamic braking control in the associated combination vehicle.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a vehicle speed sensor input operatively coupled with the control unit, the vehicle speed sensor input being operable to:
receive a vehicle speed signal representative of a sensed speed of the associated combination vehicle traveling on an associated roadway; and
generate vehicle speed data representative of the sensed speed based on the received vehicle speed signal; and

a vehicle torque sensor input operatively coupled with the control unit, the vehicle torque sensor input being operable to:
receive a torque signal representative of a sensed torque between the associated combination vehicle and the associated roadway during a change in speed of the associated combination vehicle relative to the associated roadway; and
generate torque data representative of the sensed torque based on the received torque signal;

wherein the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to generate combination vehicle gross mass data in accordance with a predetermined combination of the torque data with the vehicle speed data, the combination vehicle gross mass data being representative of a gross vehicle weight of the combination vehicle,
wherein the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to:
determine the dynamic braking capability of the associated combination vehicle by applying the combination vehicle gross mass data as the vehicle operating condition data to the vehicle stopping distance table.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein:
the vehicle load input comprises a drive axle load sensor operatively coupled with the control unit and being configured to be disposed at the at least one drive axle of the associated combination vehicle, the drive axle load sensor operating to:
receive a vehicle drive axle load signal representative of a sensed load on the at least one drive axle of the tractor of the associated combination vehicle; and
generate vehicle drive axle load data representative of the sensed load based on the received vehicle drive axle load signal:

the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to provide vehicle steering axle load data representative of a load on the steering axle of the tractor of the combination vehicle;
the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to determine vehicle trailer axle load data in accordance with a predetermined combination of the combination vehicle gross mass data, the vehicle drive axle load data, and the vehicle steering axle load data; and
the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to determine the dynamic braking capability of the associated combination vehicle by applying as the vehicle operating condition data a combination of: the vehicle drive axle load data; the vehicle steering axle load data; and the vehicle trailer axle load data to the vehicle stopping distance table.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein:
the vehicle load input comprises a drive axle load sensor operatively coupled with the control unit and being configured to be disposed at the at least one drive axle of the associated combination vehicle, the drive axle load sensor operating to:
receive a vehicle drive axle load signal representative of a sensed load on the at least one drive axle of the tractor of the associated combination vehicle; and
generate vehicle drive axle load data representative of the sensed load based on the received vehicle drive axle load signal;

the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to determine vehicle steering axle load data in accordance with a predetermined combination of the combination vehicle gross mass data and the vehicle drive axle load data;
the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to determine vehicle trailer axle load data in accordance with a predetermined combination of the combination vehicle gross mass data, the vehicle drive axle load data, and the vehicle steering axle load data;
the logic of the control unit is executable by the processor to determine Axle Load Allocation Factor (ALAF) data in accordance with a predetermined combination of the vehicle trailer axle load data, the vehicle drive axle load data, and the vehicle steering axle load data in accordance with:

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Assignees

• Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems Llc

Inventors

• Sasmal Subashish
• Kasper Phillip J
• Carbaugh Jeffrey M

Classifications

• B60W2756/10

  Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle · CPC title

• B60W30/0953

  the prediction being responsive to vehicle dynamic parameters · CPC title

• B60W2556/65

  Data transmitted between vehicles · CPC title

• B60W40/10

  related to vehicle motion · CPC title

• G08G1/163

  involving continuous checking · CPC title