Granted Patent B2

US 12,668,215 · App. 18/587,179 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Inventor: Horst Eckert (Rehburg-Loccum, DE)

Assignee: ZF CV Systems Europe BV

B60T7/20B60T2201/02

Abstract

Claims (16)

1 . A method for operating a vehicle combination having a tractor vehicle and having at least one trailer vehicle, wherein a brake control unit of a tractor vehicle brake system monitors a braking behavior of the tractor vehicle or of the vehicle combination and is configured to initiate a respective brake pressure at each of a plurality of wheel brakes as well as a deceleration of the trailer vehicle, the method comprising:

monitoring at least one vehicle component of at least one of the tractor vehicle and the trailer vehicle with regard to a functionality thereof, wherein the at least one vehicle component is relevant for driving safety;

decelerating the vehicle combination via the brake control unit using a trailer brake system of the trailer vehicle in response to a detection of a limitation of the functionality of the at least one vehicle component; and,

after detecting the limitation of the functionality of the at least one vehicle component, controlling, via the brake control unit, a determined maximum speed associated with the limitation of the functionality of the at least one vehicle component by adjusting the brake pressure at the plurality of wheel brakes of the trailer vehicle.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the brake control unit of the tractor vehicle brake system adjusts a trailer brake pressure with which a braking action of the trailer brake system of the vehicle is controlled in open-loop or closed-loop fashion.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the vehicle speed to the maximum speed by closed-loop control is activatable by a driver.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the vehicle speed to the maximum speed by closed-loop control is activatable by actuation of an accelerator pedal.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the maximum speed is increasable by repeated actuation of an accelerator pedal.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the detection of the functional limitation of the vehicle component, the rotational speed of a wheel is monitored.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the detection of the functional limitation of the vehicle component, a tire pressure of a vehicle wheel is monitored.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the detection of the functional limitation of the vehicle component, the functionality of electrical connections between tractor vehicle and trailer vehicle is monitored.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the detection of the functional limitation of the vehicle component, the functionality of an axle suspension arrangement is monitored.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the detection of the functional limitation of the vehicle component, the functionality of a steering system of the tractor vehicle is monitored.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the detection of a functional limitation of a vehicle component, the functionality of the plurality of wheel brakes of the tractor vehicle is monitored.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the trailer brake system has an anti-lock brake system.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined maximum speed is read from a characteristic map memory storing empirical values.

Assignments (4)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (27)