US 12,065,042 B2
Tow bar arrangement for control of a self-propelled trailer
Roland Andersson, Lidingö (SE); Anders Nordzell, Spånga (SE); and Ludger Sommer, Bissendorf (DE)
Assigned to Electro Mobility Europe AB, Spanga (SE)
Appl. No. 17/793,838
Filed by ELECTRO MOBILITY EUROPE AB, Spånga (SE)
PCT Filed Jan. 20, 2021, PCT No. PCT/SE2021/050031
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 19, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/150160, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 29, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2050047-6 (SE), filed on Jan. 21, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0051354 A1, Feb. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. B60L 15/20 (2006.01); B60D 1/24 (2006.01); B62D 59/04 (2006.01); B62K 27/00 (2006.01); B62K 27/12 (2006.01)
CPC B60L 15/2009 (2013.01) [B60D 1/249 (2013.01); B62D 59/04 (2013.01); B62K 27/003 (2013.01); B62K 27/12 (2013.01); B60L 2200/28 (2013.01); B60L 2240/12 (2013.01); B60L 2240/421 (2013.01); B60L 2240/423 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A tow bar arrangement for interconnection of a vehicle and a trailer for pulling the trailer by the vehicle,
wherein the tow bar arrangement comprises a control device in turn comprising a force sensor arranged to sense an instantaneous pulling or pushing force with respect to the vehicle in relation to the trailer,
wherein the control device is arranged to read said instantaneous force from said force sensor and to produce a control signal for an electric motor arranged to propel the trailer so that a force developed by said motor counteracts said measured force,
wherein the control device is arranged to measure said measured force to produce a first time series, of force measurement values,
wherein the control device comprises a low-pass filter arranged to filter a force time series produced based on said first time series as well as upon a desired force value Fd to produce a second time series, of low-pass filtered force measurement values, said low-pass filter being a FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filter designed with a cut-off frequency being between 25% and 75% horizontal resonance frequency of a system comprising the trailer, the tow bar arrangement and an interconnected vehicle, the control device truncating the first time series so that the FIR filter only uses between 1-10 s and/or at the most 200 samples of said first time series, the FIR filter furthermore being time shifted at least 50% of this truncation,
and wherein the control device furthermore comprises a digital PI or PID regulator, arranged to produce said control signal based on said second time series.