A brake system for controlling a brake of a unit hauled by a vehicle, the brake system including a first pedal for braking a right rear wheel of the vehicle through a first braking circuit, a second pedal for braking a left rear wheel of the vehicle through a second braking circuit, an input line arrangement including a first input line for receiving a fluid from the first braking circuit and a second input line for receiving a fluid from the second braking circuit, at least one output line for sending a fluid to the brake of the hauled unit, and a selective connector for selectively connecting the input line arrangement to the output line by setting a first connection configuration when the vehicle has a speed greater than a threshold value and a second connection configuration when the vehicle has a speed lower than the threshold value, whereby in the first connection configuration pushing any of the pedals activates the brake of the hauled unit, and in the second connection configuration pushing only one of the pedals leaves the brake of the hauled unit inactive, so that the vehicle can be steered by braking.

The present invention relates to a brake controller for an accelerometer based towed vehicle braking system and a method of operating the brake controller.

An electric system of a vehicle including an electronically controlled braking system. The electric system has a steering angle sensor unit, at least one control module, at least one first inertia sensor and an electronic braking system central control unit EBS ECU. The at least one control module is external to the steering angle sensor unit. The at least one control module is also external to the EBS ECU. At least one of the at least one control module has mounted within it one of the at least one first inertia sensor.

Systems for detecting movement of a trailer having a rearward facing camera and linked to a tow vehicle. The systems include taking a first image and a second image with the camera and comparing the images. A first amount of trailer movement is determined between the second image and the first image. The systems may also take additional images and determine a second amount of trailer movement occurring between the additional images. Tracking the first amount and the second amount of trailer movement determines an amount of trailer sway. The determined trailer sway may be compared to a maximum allowable sway and, if the movement is greater than the maximum allowable sway, mitigating sway of the trailer with the tow vehicle.

A towing device operably provided on a trailer for powering and controlling the trailer. The towing device has an actuator operably connected with the trailer during a towing operation. The towing device also has at least one switch provided in the actuator and operable to variably control at least one motor/generator provided on the trailer. The at least one switch is also operable to send a first signal to the at least one motor/generator via a first force exerted on the actuator by a vehicle, and wherein a first torque is applied to at least one wheel on the trailer via the at least one motor/generator being operably engaged with the at least one wheel. In addition, the towing device may include a controller operably connected to the at least one switch and to the at least one motor/generator, to control the torque applied by the at least one motor/generator.

A traction saddle disposed on a tractor for connection with a traction pin of a trailer, is provided. The traction saddle includes a base, a gear set, and a damper. A gear carrier of the gear set fixes axial centers of the planetary gears of the gear set, the planetary gears are meshed with an inner ring gear of the gear set, and the inner ring gear is fixed to the base. The gear carrier is used for fixing the traction pin to rotate with the traction pin. The planetary gears are meshed with one end of a sun gear of the gear set to drive the sun gear to rotate, and the damper is connected to the other end of the sun gear to apply resistance to rotation of the sun gear. In addition, a traction pin, a tractor, a trailer, and a truck are also provided.

A wireless vehicle trailer monitoring system comprising: a monitoring circuit operatively coupled to a trailer controller, the monitoring circuit configured to detect a fault condition with an associated trailer; a trailer wireless transceiver operatively coupled to the monitoring circuit; and a towing vehicle wireless transceiver operatively coupled to an associated towing vehicle, wherein the trailer wireless transceiver is configured to communication wirelessly with the towing vehicle wireless transceiver

A trailer includes a battery and an axle or a tandem axle with wheels driven by way of electric motors. The battery supplies electricity to the electric motors during trailer travel, and a sensor detects forces on a coupling of the trailer in at least one of the following directions: longitudinal direction of the trailer and/or transverse direction of the trailer and/or perpendicular direction, and a controller controls the electric motors, so that a minimum and/or a maximum limit value is adhered to.

A method for brake control of a vehicle combination (1) having a tractor vehicle (2) and a trailer vehicle (3) with an electrically controllable trailer control valve (9) changes an assigned trailer control valve characteristic curve (p_normal) stored in an electronic controller (6) for normal operation of the vehicle combination (1) or replaces it with a trailer control valve characteristic curve for special operation (p_special) in the event that a special operation of the vehicle combination (1) is detected or predicted, which special operation, under consideration of relevant parameters, differs from the normal operation or is evaluated as being potentially impermissible.

A brake controller system includes a trailer mounted brake controller and a towing vehicle mounted brake controller, where the controllers exchange signals and data via a communication network so that braking actions of each of the trailer and the towing vehicle can be coordinated based on current driving statuses of the other, and where the trailer mounted brake controller includes a first interface receiving trailer status signals from sensors of the trailer; a second interface for receiving towing vehicle status signals, relating to a status of the towing vehicle and/or its mounted controller, from sensors and/or controllers in the towing vehicle; a third interface for transmitting brake control signals to brakes of the trailer; and a signal processor for generating the brake control signals based on the trailer and towing vehicle status signals.