Adaptive trailer oscillation detection and stability control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11524663-B2
Application number	US-201515323561-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2015
Priority date	Jul 8, 2014
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

A trailer oscillation and stability control device including an accelerometer and an angular rate sensor. An oscillation detection discriminator detects oscillatory lateral trailer motion in response to trailer displacement data derived from inputs from the angular rate sensor and acceleration signals received from the accelerometer, and then generates corresponding oscillatory event data. A brake controller generates a braking control signal in response to oscillatory event data received from the oscillation detection discriminator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A trailer oscillation and stability control device comprising:
an accelerometer configured to measure lateral acceleration of a trailer and to generate corresponding trailer lateral acceleration signals;
an angular rate sensor configured to measure rate of angular trailer deflection about a hitch pivot point and to generate corresponding angular trailer deflection rate signals;
an oscillation detection discriminator coupled with the accelerometer and the angular rate sensor and configured to detect oscillatory lateral trailer motion based on acceleration signals, wherein the oscillation detection discriminator is configured to detect oscillatory lateral trailer motion without taking trailer length into account
received from the accelerometer and angular trailer deflection rate signals received from the angular rate sensor, and to generate corresponding oscillatory event data; and
a brake controller configured to generate a trailer braking control signal in response to oscillatory event data received from the oscillation detection discriminator.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the oscillation detection discriminator is configured to detect oscillatory lateral trailer motion by obtaining trailer acceleration values from the acceleration signals received from the accelerometer, deriving angular trailer deflection values from the angular trailer deflection rate signals received from the angular rate sensor, and determining whether the acceleration values and angular deflection values exceed respective pre-determined threshold values.

3. The device of claim 1 in which the brake controller is configured to generate a trailer braking control signal in response to the occurrence of a predetermined number of oscillation events within a predetermined amount of time.

4. The device of claim 1 further including a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller connected between the oscillation detection discriminator and the brake controller and configured to:
populate and amend feed-forward and gain tables using data available to the brake controller; and
configure the brake activation signal to command a trailer wheel brake system to apply trailer braking for durations and magnitudes of braking force calculated at least in part by referencing values stored in the tables.

5. The device of claim 4 in which:
the device includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprising the accelerometer and the angular rate sensor and connected to the oscillation detection discriminator; and
the PID controller is configured for dynamic tuned control of weighted proportional (Kp), integral (Ki), derivative (Kd), and feed forward (Ff) constants of the PID in response to vehicle dynamic response signals received from the IMU.

6. The device of claim 1 in which:
the device comprises a brake actuation detector configured to detect trailer brake control signals generated by an external brake controller; and
the brake controller is configured to stop sending trailer brake control signals when the brake actuation detector detects trailer brake control signals from the external brake controller.

7. The device of claim 1 including a brake output modulator connected to the brake controller and configured to modulate trailer brake control signals.

8. The device of claim 7 in which:
the device includes a wheel spin detector connected to the brake output modulator and configured to receive trailer wheel spin data from trailer wheel speed sensors; and
the brake modulator is configured to provide anti-lock braking control in response to signals received from the wheel spin detector.

9. The device of claim 8 in which the device is configured to determine whether one or more trailer wheels are locked by analyzing data received from the trailer wheel speed sensors and to prevent the trailer wheels from locking by adjusting braking control signals generated by the brake controller.

10. The device of claim 1 comprising a human-machine interface (HMI) comprising an HMI indicator pod.

11. The device of claim 1 comprising a Bluetooth® radio and a remote device.

12. The device of claim 1 configured to perform automatic orientation calibration.

13. The device of claim 1 in which the device comprises:
a brake actuation detector configured to detect both tow vehicle and trailer brake control signals generated by an external brake controller; and
a hill assist connected between the IMU and the brake actuation detector and configured to command the brake controller to maintain trailer brake engagement when detecting that trailer inclination exceeds a predetermined incline threshold value based on IMU inputs, and detecting disengagement of tow vehicle brakes based on brake actuation detector inputs; and further configured to command the brake controller to release the trailer brakes when detecting that a predetermined acceleration threshold is reached or exceeded based on IMU inputs.

14. The device of claim 1 in which the device comprises:
a brake actuation detector configured to detect trailer brake control signals generated by an external brake controller; and
a brake wear estimator connected to the brake actuation detector and configured to perform estimated brake wear calculations based on brake actuation data received from the brake actuation detector and to transmit a corresponding alert when estimated brake wear exceeds a predetermined value.

15. The device of claim 1 comprising a tire pressure radio configured to receive tire pressure data from tire pressure sensors and to transmit corresponding tire pressure monitor RF data.

16. The device of claim 1 including a field bus network comprising a field bus interface configured to communicate with one or more field bus devices.

17. The device of claim 1 in which the brake controller is configured to command at least one trailer brake to engage for durations and magnitudes of braking force application determined at least in part according to at least one value selected from the group of predetermined values consisting of maximum brake application duration, minimum brake application duration, maximum braking force, minimum braking force, a data value obtained at least in part from the angular rate sensor, a data value obtained at least in part from the accelerometer, or a data value obtained at least in part from the trailer wheel speed sensors.

18. The device of claim 1 in which the oscillation detection discriminator is configured to detect oscillatory trailer motion by distinguishing a trailer oscillation event from a non-oscillatory trailer deflection, based on acceleration signals received from the accelerometer and angular trailer deflection rate signals received from the angular rate sensor during a single trailer deflection.

19. The device of claim 1 in which the brake controller is configured to send a brake activation signal to the trailer brakes in response to oscillatory event data generated by the oscillation detection discriminator in response to only a single oscillation event.

20. A trailer oscillation detection method comprising the steps of:
obtaining a trailer acceleration value from an acceleration signal received from an accelerometer carried by the trailer;
deriving an angular trailer deflection value from an angular trailer deflection rate signal received from an angular rate sensor carried by the trailer; and
detecting oscillatory lateral trailer motion by determining whether the acceleration value and the angular deflection value exceed

Assignees

• Lippert Components Inc

Inventors

• Prohaszka Thomas Herman
• Cattermole David James
• Manfreda John Peter
• Collin Matthew Allen
• Woloszyk Mark James
• Mccoy Paul Michael

Classifications

• G05B6/02

  electric · CPC title

• B60T8/1755

  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 title

• B60T8/1708 Primary

  for lorries or tractor-trailer combinations · CPC title

• B60T7/20 Primary

  specially for trailers, e.g. in case of uncoupling of {or overrunning by} trailer (inertia-actuated overrun brakes B60T13/08) · CPC title

• B60T8/171

  Detecting parameters used in the regulation; Measuring values used in the regulation · CPC title