AUTOMATIC AUXILIARY AXLE CONTROL SYSTEM

摘要

A dual trailing axle suspension system is disclosed wherein a pair of trailing axles are suspended from an auxiliary chassis with axle suspensions that provide spring action for isolating road-induced axle movement from the auxiliary chassis. And the auxiliary chassis is suspended from a chassis of a motor vehicle by an auxiliary chassis suspension adapted to deploy the auxiliary chassis from a stowed location on the motor vehicle to a deployed location at a substantial distance behind the motor vehicle chassis. And the auxiliary chassis suspension is adapted to cause the auxiliary chassis to help support the motor vehicle chassis to a variable degree by acting on the auxiliary chassis at a location between the two axles and in a manner determined by whether the spring action provided by the axle suspensions is set or variable.

主权项

1. An automatic auxiliary axle control system for a load-transporting motor vehicle wherein
the vehicle has two or more primary axles and one or more auxiliary axles, the control system is adapted to detect a noncompliant axle carrying weight condition when the weight of the vehicle acting on any primary axle exceeds a prescribed maximum allowable carrying weight assigned to that axle and also when the weight acting on any group of the axles arranged consecutively exceeds a prescribed maximum allowable carrying weight assigned to that axle group, and the control system on detecting the noncompliant axle carrying weight condition is adapted to effect auxiliary axle usage that results in no maximum allowable axle carrying weight and no maximum allowable axle group carrying weight being exceeded provided (1) the current gross vehicle weight does not exceed a prescribed maximum allowable gross vehicle weight determined by all of the axles, and (2) the current center of gravity of the vehicle is located within a compliance-manageable range determined by (a) the current gross vehicle weight, (b) the maximum allowable carrying weight of each primary axle that has a prescribed maximum allowable carrying weight, (c) the minimum allowable carrying weight of each primary axle that has a prescribed minimum allowable carrying weight, (d) the maximum allowable axle group carrying weight of each axle group that has a prescribed maximum allowable carrying weight, (e) the minimum allowable axle group carrying weight of each axle group that has a prescribed minimum allowable axle group carrying weight, (f) the maximum allowable carrying weight of each auxiliary axle that has a prescribed maximum allowable carrying weight, (g) the minimum allowable carrying weight of each auxiliary axle that has a prescribed minimum allowable carrying weight, and (h) the distance of each primary axle and each auxiliary axle from a fixed datum point on the vehicle.