DE-102022126735-B4 - METHOD FOR IMPROVING TRAILER BRAKES AND CORRESPONDING VEHICLE

DE102022126735B4DE 102022126735 B4DE102022126735 B4DE 102022126735B4DE-102022126735-B4

Abstract

Method (200) for improving a trailer brake, comprising: Receiving sensor data from one or more sensors (130, 132, 133, 134, 136) of a vehicle (100) coupled to a trailer (160), wherein the sensor data include: a measure of actuation of a brake pedal (107) of the vehicle (100); and deceleration (250) of the vehicle (100); and dynamic control of braking of the trailer (160) via instructions provided by a processor (142) of the vehicle (100) to a braking system (166) of the trailer (160), based on both the degree of actuation of the brake pedal and the deceleration of the vehicle (100); wherein the step of obtaining the sensor data further includes obtaining the sensor data including a percentage of the brake pedal position (260) of the brake pedal (107) of the vehicle (100); The acquisition of sensor data further includes the acquisition of sensor data including a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle (100), a speed of the vehicle (100) and a gradient of a road on which the vehicle (100) is traveling; the dynamic control of the braking of the trailer (160) further includes the control of the braking of the trailer (160) via instructions provided by the processor (142) of the vehicle (100) to the braking system (166) of the trailer (160), based on each of the following: the percentage of the brake pedal position (260), the deceleration of the vehicle (100), the steering angle of the vehicle (100), the speed of the vehicle (100) and the gradient of the road on which the vehicle (100) is traveling; and wherein the dynamic control of the trailer braking (160) further comprises the dynamic control of a trailer braking cycle such that it is proportional to the percentage of the brake pedal position (260) up to a predetermined percentage of the brake pedal position (260), with a gradient that depends on the deceleration of the vehicle (100), provided that each of the following conditions has been met: The steering angle is smaller than a first predetermined threshold; The vehicle's speed (100) is less than a second predetermined threshold; and The gradient of the path is less than a third predetermined threshold.

Inventors

Manvir Dulai
Michael Alarcon
Ralph David Schlottke

Assignees

GM Global Technology Operations LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20221013
Priority Date: 20220420

Claims (3)

Method (200) for improving trailer braking, comprising: obtaining sensor data from one or more sensors (130, 132, 133, 134, 136) of a vehicle (100) coupled to a trailer (160), wherein the sensor data include: a measure of the actuation of a brake pedal (107) of the vehicle (100); and a deceleration (250) of the vehicle (100); and dynamically controlling braking of the trailer (160) via instructions provided by a processor (142) of the vehicle (100) to a braking system (166) of the trailer (160), based on both the measure of actuation of the brake pedal and the deceleration of the vehicle (100); wherein the step of obtaining the sensor data further comprises obtaining the sensor data including a percentage of the brake pedal position (260) of the brake pedal (107) of the vehicle (100); The acquisition of sensor data further includes the acquisition of sensor data including the steering angle of the vehicle's steering wheel (100), the vehicle's speed (100), and the gradient of the road on which the vehicle (100) is traveling; the dynamic control of the trailer's braking (160) further includes controlling the braking of the trailer (160) via instructions provided by the vehicle's processor (142) to the trailer's braking system (166) based on each of the following: the percentage of the brake pedal position (260), the vehicle's deceleration (100), the vehicle's steering angle (100), the vehicle's speed (100), and the gradient of the road on which the vehicle (100) is traveling; and wherein the dynamic control of the trailer braking (160) further comprises the dynamic control of a trailer braking cycle such that it is proportional to the percentage of the brake pedal position (260) up to a predetermined percentage of the brake pedal position (260), with a slope that depends on the deceleration of the vehicle (100), provided that each of the following has occurred: the steering angle is less than a first predetermined threshold; the speed of the vehicle (100) is less than a second predetermined threshold; and the gradient of the road is less than a third predetermined threshold.
Procedure (200) according to Claim 1 , further comprising: determining a trailer brake boost by the processor (142); wherein the step of dynamically controlling the trailer brake cycle comprises dynamically controlling the trailer brake cycle such that it is proportional to the percentage of the brake pedal position (260) up to the predetermined percentage of the brake pedal position (260) to achieve a maximum trailer brake cycle, the slope depending on the deceleration of the vehicle (100), and wherein the maximum trailer brake cycle is based on the trailer brake boost.
Vehicle (100), comprising: a body (164) configured to be a trailer (160) with a trailer braking system (166); a brake pedal (107); one or more sensors (130, 132, 133, 134, 136) configured to receive sensor data for the vehicle (100), the sensor data comprising: a measure of actuation of a brake pedal (107) of the vehicle (100); and deceleration of the vehicle (100); and a processor (142) coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to enable at least dynamic control of braking of the trailer (160) via instructions provided by the processor (142) to a braking system (166) of the trailer (160), based on both the measure of actuation of the brake pedal (107) and the deceleration of the vehicle (100); wherein the measure for actuation of the brake pedal comprises a percentage of the brake pedal position (260) of the brake pedal (107) of the vehicle (100); the one or more sensors (130, 132, 133, 134, 136) are further configured such that the sensor data comprise a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle (100), a speed of the vehicle (100) and a gradient of a road on which the vehicle (100) is traveling; the processor (142) is configured to allow dynamic control of trailer braking (160) via instructions provided by the processor (142) to a trailer braking system (166) based on each of the following: the percentage of the brake pedal position (260), the deceleration of the vehicle (100), the steering angle of the vehicle (100), the speed of the vehicle (100), and the gradient of the road on which the vehicle (100) is traveling; and wherein the processor (142) is configured to allow dynamic control of a trailer braking cycle such that it is proportional to the percentage of the brake pedal position (260) up to a predetermined percentage of the brake pedal position (260), with a gradient that depends on the deceleration of the vehicle (100), provided that each of the following has occurred: the steering angle is less than a first predetermined threshold; The speed of the vehicle (100) is less than a second predetermined threshold; and the gradient of the road is less than a third predetermined threshold.

Description

The technical field generally relates to vehicles and in particular to methods and systems for controlling the braking of a trailer coupled to a vehicle. Certain vehicles today have towing capabilities. Some of these vehicles also have braking controls for the attached trailer. However, these existing vehicles do not always optimally control the trailer's braking, for example, to provide the driver with optimal comfort and ease of use at different speeds and under varying conditions. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved methods and systems for controlling the brakes of a trailer coupled to a vehicle. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description and the attached claims in conjunction with the attached drawings and the preceding technical field and background. JP 2011 - 79 470 A This describes a behavior control device for suppressing a swaying state of a connected vehicle comprising a tractor and a trailer pulled by the tractor. The behavior control device is characterized in that it generates a yaw moment to suppress a swaying state by means of a brake force distribution control at each wheel when a swaying state occurs, and exerts a driving force on a drive wheel, which is determined based on a deceleration amount of the vehicle by a braking force generated in each wheel by the brake force distribution control. US 2018/0339685A1 describes a vehicle braking system. The system includes a brake control device, a vehicle acceleration sensor, and a trailer brake control device. The trailer brake control device outputs an initial trailer braking torque requirement based on an input received from the brake control device and adjusts the initial trailer braking torque requirement to converge a signal from the vehicle acceleration sensor to an expected negative acceleration value that correlates with the input from the brake control device. US 2015/0336548A1 describes a method for controlling the braking process of a semi-trailer combination. The semi-trailer includes a drivetrain with an engine and at least one ground contact element connected to it; at least one ground contact element of the semi-trailer includes at least one semi-trailer brake; and at least one ground contact element of the trailer includes at least one additional trailer brake, the operation of which depends at least partially on the operating state of the at least one semi-trailer brake. The method comprises the following steps: When the operation of the at least one semi-trailer brake and the at least one trailer brake to brake the semi-trailer combination begins, the operation of a timer is started, which measures the operating time of the at least one semi-trailer brake and/or the at least one trailer brake. If a parameter relating to the duration of the braking effect measured by the timer reaches or exceeds a threshold value, the procedure includes adjusting the braking effect exerted by the at least one trailer brake in order to achieve or maintain a selected braking performance of the tractor-trailer combination. The object of the invention can be considered to be to provide an improved method for controlling the brakes of a trailer. According to the invention, this problem is solved by the features in claims 1 and 3. According to the invention, a method for improving trailer braking is described. The method comprises: obtaining sensor data from one or more sensors of a vehicle coupled to a trailer, wherein the sensor data includes: a measure of the actuation of a brake pedal of the vehicle; and a deceleration of the vehicle; and dynamically controlling the braking of the trailer via instructions provided by a processor of the vehicle to a braking system of the trailer, based on both the measure of the actuation of the brake pedal and the deceleration of the vehicle. According to the invention, the step of obtaining the sensor data also includes obtaining the sensor data including a percentage of a brake pedal position of the vehicle. According to the invention, the step of obtaining the sensor data further comprises obtaining the sensor data including a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle, speed of the vehicle and gradient of a road on which the vehicle is traveling; and the step of dynamically controlling the braking of the trailer includes controlling the braking of the trailer via instructions supplied by the processor of the vehicle to the braking system of the trailer, based on each of the following aspects: the percentage of brake pedal position, the deceleration of the vehicle, the steering angle of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle and the gradient of the road on which the vehicle is traveling. According to the invention, the step of dynamically controlling the braking of the trailer also includes the dynamic control of a trailer braking cycle such that it is proportional to the percentage of the bra