A method for controlling a vehicle combination includes receiving a request that a desired force imparted on the vehicle combination should be provided by the set of motion support devices of a unique dedicated unit of the vehicle combination, the unique dedicated unit being either the tractor or the trailer. Upon determining that the desired force imparted on the vehicle combination can be provided by the set of motion support devices of the unique dedicated unit whilst fulfilling each safety requirement in a predetermined set of safety requirements of the vehicle combination, the predetermined set of safety requirements includes at least one safety requirement, operating the set of motion support devices of the unique dedicated unit only so as to provide the desired force, otherwise operating one or more of the tractor motion support devices as well as one or more of the trailer motion support devices in order to provide the desired force imparted on the vehicle combination.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electric brake device capable of accurate control at low cost. The present invention includes a motor control device 11 that controls rotation of an electric motor 8 for pressing brake pads 5a, 5b. The motor control device 11 is provided with: a motor position-current relationship generation portion 43 that acquires a relationship between the rotational position and the current of the electric motor 8; a braking torque estimation portion 41 that estimates braking torque pressing the brake pads 5a, 5b, on the rotational position of the electric motor 8; and a braking torque-position relationship portion generation portion 42 that acquires a relationship between the rotational position and the braking torque of the electric motor 8 on the basis of information from the motor position-current relationship generation portion 43 and the braking torque estimation portion 41. The rotation of the electric motor 8 is controlled on the basis of information from the braking torque-position relationship portion generation portion 42.

A method for controlling wheel slip in a braking system of a vehicle includes receiving, by an input interface module of a slip control module, information representative of the vehicle and information representative of an estimate of the status of the vehicle, outputting, by the input interface module, input wheel slip control information, determining, by a parameter self-loading module, based on information representative of the vehicle and information representative of an estimate of the status of the vehicle, wheel slip control parameters, determining, by a plurality of wheel slip control enabling modules of the slip control module, a plurality of enabling signals of the wheel slip control, and determining, by each closed-loop wheel slip control module of a plurality of closed-loop wheel slip control modules of the slip control module a setpoint value of a control variable to be applied to a respective corner of the vehicle to minimize error between the defined slip setpoint and the estimated wheel slip value.

Methods, apparatuses, and systems for monitoring traction for a single-track motor vehicle are provided. A PID drive slip regulator regulates the drive slip of at least one driven wheel. An actual wheel slip and a target wheel slip are used as input variables of the PID drive slip regulator. The PID drive slip regulator ascertains a wheel drive torque from the sum of a P component, an I component, and a D component of the PID drive slip regulator and provides the wheel drive torque back to the at least one driven wheel. A transverse force potential, which constitutes the maximally transmissible transversal force of the at least one driven wheel onto a lane under current operating conditions, is determined using the I component of the PID drive slip regulator. The target wheel slip is determined using the transverse force potential.

A computer implemented method for controlling at least one driven and/or braked wheel of a heavy-duty vehicle. The method includes obtaining a motion request indicative of a desired longitudinal acceleration and/or longitudinal force associated with the vehicle, and configuring a wheel slip limit value indicative of a maximum allowable wheel slip by the at least one driven and/or braked wheel at a nominal value, and increasing the wheel slip limit value from the nominal value to a boost wheel slip value in response to detecting a boost signal, as well as controlling the at least one driven and/or braked wheel in dependence of the motion request and subject to the wheel slip limit value.

An overall weight (m.sub.tot) of a rail vehicle (100) is estimated by obtaining a power signal (P.sub.m) indicating an amount of power produced by a set of drive units (101, 102, 103) to accelerate the rail vehicle (100) between first and second speeds (v.sub.1; v.sub.2). Then, the following steps are executed: (a) obtaining wheel speed signals indicating respective rotational speeds (.sub.1, .sub.2, .sub.3) of the wheel axles in the driving subset of the wheel axles (131, 132, 133); (b) producing an acceleration control signal (A1) to a specific drive unit (101) in the set of drive units such that this drive unit applies a gradually increasing traction force to a specific wheel axle (131) of the wheel axles in the driving subset of the wheel axles (131, 132, 133); (c) repeatedly determining, during production of the acceleration control signal (A1), an absolute difference (|.sub.1.sub.a|) between the rotational speed of the specific wheel axle (131) and an average rotational speed (.sub.a) of the wheel axles (132, 133) in the driving subset of the wheel axles except the specific wheel axle; and in response to the absolute difference (|.sub.1.sub.a|) exceeding a threshold value; (d) determining a parameter (.sub.m) reflecting a friction coefficient (.sub.e) between a pair of wheels (121a, 121b) on the specific wheel axle (131) and a pair of rails (191, 192) upon which the rail vehicle (100) travels. Steps (a) to (c) are repeated for each of the wheel axles in the driving subset of the wheel axles, and based thereon, a respective fraction (m.sub.1, m.sub.2, m.sub.3) of the overall weight (m.sub.tot) carried by each of wheel axles in the driving subset of the wheel axles (131, 132, 133) is estimated.