US 12,337,812 B2
Braking trailers in a tractor-trailer combination
Chidambaram Subramanian, Greensboro, NC (US)
Assigned to Volvo Truck Corporation, GØteborg (SE)
Filed by Volvo Truck Corporation, Gothenburg (SE)
Filed on Dec. 7, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/076,550.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/394,431, filed on Aug. 2, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0042974 A1, Feb. 8, 2024
Int. Cl. B60T 8/17 (2006.01); B60T 8/32 (2006.01)
CPC B60T 8/1708 (2013.01) [B60T 8/323 (2013.01); B60T 2230/06 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for braking one or more trailers in a tractor-trailer combination, comprising:
measuring or estimating a load of the one or more trailers;
measuring a speed of the tractor-trailer combination;
determining an understeer or oversteer gradient for the tractor-trailer combination;
establishing a maximum continuous brake pressure for trailer brakes of wheels of the one or more trailers of the tractor-trailer combination that can be continuously applied over a range of braking parameters without causing the wheels to lock up or the one or more trailers to lose stability, wherein the range of braking parameters includes the load of the one or more trailers, the speed of the tractor-trailer combination, and the understeer or oversteer gradient for the tractor-trailer combination;
establishing an on-off cycling frequency for pulsing of the trailer brakes of the one or more trailers of the tractor-trailer combination at brake pressures above the maximum continuous brake pressure over the range of braking parameters without causing the wheels to lock up or the one or more trailers to lose stability; and
applying the trailer brakes of the one or more trailers continuously at brake pressures up to the established maximum continuous brake pressure and by pulsing according to the established on-off cycling frequency at brake pressures above the established maximum continuous brake pressure.