Patent ID: 9132856
Filing Date: 2015-09-15
Classification: B60D,B62D

Abstract:
1. A method of controlling the direction of a towed trailer (A) that has a length that can be measured, (B) that is connected to a tow vehicle by a jointed connection, and (C) that is being pushed with the jointed connection by the tow vehicle, and where the tow vehicle (a) has a front set of wheels, (b) has a rear set of wheels, whereby (c) the two sets of wheels are separated by a distance, and (d) an angle of at least one of the two sets of wheels is changeable to effect steering, comprising the steps of: I.) determining a jointed connection angle by a hitch angle sensor, the jointed connection angle being formed at the intersection of a centerline of the tow vehicle and a centerline of the trailer, II.) determining a value representative of the turning of the tow vehicle by one of a front wheel angle sensor, steering wheel sensor or steering shaft position sensor, this turning value being related to the angle of the set of wheels that is changeable to effect steering, III.) using an electronic computing device for determining a transformed value whereby inputs to the transformation comprise (i) the determined turning value for the tow vehicle, (ii) the length of the towed trailer, and (iii) a reference trailer of known length's length, and IV.) using an electronic computing device for determining a potential change in direction of either the tow vehicle or the towed trailer by using the transformed value to look up an angular value indicating where the trailer and the tow vehicle will become generally in-line from a fixed table of angular values, whereby an angular value entry in the table is based on the length of the reference trailer, and whereby an axis of the fixed table comprises a range of values against which the transformed value can be looked up.