Method for stabilizing the driving state of a utility vehicle combination

[0001] The present invention relates to a method of stabilizing the driving condition of a utility vehicle combination a towing vehicle and a towed vehicle (trailer).

[0002] In the future, utility vehicles will increasingly be equipped with an antilock braking system (ABS), a wheel slip control system (ASR) and an electronic stability program (ESP) in order to stabilize the vehicle or the vehicle combination in critical driving situations. By means of ABS and ASR systems, the brake pressures at the individual wheel brake cylinders are individually controlled such that a locking or a spinning of the wheels is avoided.

[0003] By means of an ESP system, electronically active brake pressures are controlled-in at one or several wheel brake cylinders of the towing vehicle and/or of the trailer in critical, that is, unstable, driving conditions, particularly when there a danger of swerving, in order to stabilize the vehicle or the vehicle combination. In this case, depending on the driving condition, also longer braking interventions may also occur at the trailer or semitrailer. Under unfavorable conditions, particularly when the tires are in poor condition or the ABS operates defectively, such longer braking interventions may result in the lateral “swinging-out” of the trailer or semitrailer.

[0004] This problem occurs particularly in the case of trailers or semitrailers which are braked when cornering. Braking then leads to a loss of the lateral control, which may cause a swinging-out. A “swinging-out” may occur during a braking by the driver as well as during an electronic braking intervention by the ESP.

[0005] It is an object of the invention to avoid the swinging-out of the trailer.

[0006] This object is achieved by a method of stabilizing the driving condition of a vehicle combination including a towing vehicle and a trailer, the method comprising the acts of a) monitoring whether a braking intervention is taking place at the trailer; b) sensing one or more driving condition quantities characterizing the momentary stability of the vehicle combination; c) determining whether an unstable driving condition is present or imminent; and d) lowering the braking torques at the trailer wheels when an unstable driving condition is detected in step c) during a braking intervention. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention are described and claimed herein.

[0007] The basic principle of the invention consists of monitoring the driving stability of the vehicle combination during the braking of the trailer vehicle and stabilizing the vehicle combination in the event of an unstable driving condition by the cyclic or clocked reduction of the wheel braking torques of the trailer or of the trailer brake pressure.

[0008] In other words, the wheel braking torques of the trailer or the brake pressure to the trailer or semitrailer are “modulated”. “Modulating” means that, during the operation of the trailer brakes, short phases are repeatedly “inserted” which have no brake pressure or only a slight brake pressure. This can take place as a function of the driving situation; that is, in the case of an unstable towing vehicle and a thereby required ESP intervention at the trailer/semitrailer, the brake pressure of the trailer or semitrailer is controlled in a clocked manner.

[0009] Preferably, a modulation or clocking of the trailer wheel braking torques takes place only in really critical driving situations. For this purpose, the “moving condition” of the vehicle combination has to be monitored. The moving condition, or the momentary stability of a vehicle combination is a complicated vector quantity, which can be approximately described by a plurality of variables.

[0010] Particularly, the vehicle speed or the rotational speeds of individual vehicle wheels, the steering angle, the articulation angle between the trailer and the towing vehicle, the articulation angle velocity, the lateral acceleration, the axle load distribution, etc. are characteristic with respect to the stability of a vehicle movement.

[0011] For measuring or determining these quantities, various sensors are provided on the towing vehicle or on the towed vehicle (trailer), such as rotational wheel speed sensors, yaw rate sensors, etc. For detecting the “swing-out danger”, sensors can also be provided for measuring or determining the articulation angle between the trailer and the towing vehicle.

[0012] The clocking or modulating of the trailer wheel braking torques can take place during braking by the driver, as well as in the case of an ESP braking intervention.

[0013] The invention is particularly suitable for a semitrailer unit with a semitrailer tractor equipped with an ESP. The semitrailer unit is preferably equipped with a sensor for measuring the articulation angle between the tractor and the semitrailer.

[0014] However, as an alternative thereto, the invention is also suitable for a semitrailer unit which is equipped with an ESP but has no articulation angle sensor. In the case of an ESP-controlled braking of the semitrailer, for example, on a road with a low coefficient of friction, the brake pressure to the semitrailer controlled in by the ESP is reduced to zero at certain time intervals. As explained above, the semitrailer is thereby stabilized and a swinging-out is avoided.

[0015] When no articulation angle sensor is present, the articulation angle can be estimated on the basis of different available driving condition quantities and of a specifically defined mathematical-physical vehicle model. For this purpose, sensors can be provided which measure the “orientation” of the tractor and of the semitrailer, from which the articulation angle can be determined. In addition, signals can be analyzed which are supplied by a navigation or communication system present in the vehicle.

[0016] On the basis of the defined vehicle-specific mathematical-physical model, the ESP determines a desired value for the articulation angle between the towing vehicle and the semitrailer.

[0017] When the amount of the determined articulation angle is clearly above the desired value, that is, when a significant deviation exists between the desired value and the actual value and the semitrailer is braked simultaneously, it is assumed there is a danger that the semitrailer may swing out.

[0018] For stabilizing this unstable driving condition, as a result of the ESP, the brake pressure to the semitrailer is reduced to zero at certain time intervals. As a result, the wheels of the semitrailer can “run up” again, that is, accelerate, whereby lateral forces are built up and the semitrailer is stabilized.

[0019] When no sensor is available for measuring the articulation angle between the trailer and the towing vehicle, and the articulation angle can also not be determined or estimated in another manner, the swinging-out problem can also be countered “preventively”. This means that the clocked controlling-in of the brake pressure or the repeated “braking force reduction” takes place in certain situations, for example, when the road is very smooth, specifically without the knowledge of the articulation angle. It may be provided that in this case only the information supplied by the towing vehicle is taken into account.

[0020] The signal for reducing the wheel braking torques or the trailer brake pressure can be transmitted, for example, pneumatically, electrically or by radio from the towing vehicle to the trailer vehicle.

[0021] In the following, the invention will be explained in greater detail by means of an embodiment in connection with the drawing.

[0023] Beginning with a starting step 1, it is constantly checked in a step 2 whether a braking intervention is taking place at the trailer. If no braking intervention is taking place, step 2 is implemented again.

[0024] However, if a braking intervention is taking place at the trailer, the “stability” of the actual driving condition is measured in step 3; for example, by measuring the articulation angle between the towing vehicle and the trailer vehicle, the rotational wheel speeds, the longitudinal and lateral accelerations, the wheel slips, the axle load distribution, the road inclination, etc.

[0025] Diverse “condition vectors”, which characterize critical driving conditions, are stored in the electronic braking system of the vehicle. Such “critical driving condition vectors” may be generated by individual quantities of the above-mentioned driving condition quantities or by combinations of the above-mentioned driving condition quantities. The stored driving conditions vectors are schematically indicated in FIG. 1 by means of block 4.

[0026] In step 5, the actual driving condition is compared with the defined critical driving condition vectors. If the comparison shows that the driving condition is not unstable, a return takes place to step 2; that is, the braking intervention by the driver or the ESP is not “modified”.

[0027] However, if the driving condition is critical, the wheel braking torques of the trailer or the trailer brake pressure are modulated, that is, clocked, in step 6. The trailer brake pressure or the wheel braking torques are therefore briefly lowered. Subsequently, a return to step 2 takes place and the entire monitoring routine is implemented again.