Sway stabilisation system

A sway stabilization system for controlling undesirable sway of a towed vehicle relative to a lead vehicle, said vehicles being coupled together by a hitch pin and a draw bar, said sway stabilization system including:

• hitch pin and draw bar follower means including a sway transmission member adapted for mounting to the towed vehicle for relative pivoting movement in parallel with the draw bar about said hitch pin and a pivotable braking surface carrier means adapted for securement to the lead vehicle, said pivotable braking surface carrier means being adapted to cooperate with said sway transmission member for pivoting movement therewith in response to movement of the draw bar relative to the hitch pin;
• brake means adapted to selectively apply a braking force to said pivotable braking surface carrier means to inhibit pivoting movement of said draw bar relative to said hitch pin;
• sway detection means for detecting relative pivoting movement of said draw bar about said hitch pin;
• and
• brake control means for automatically actuating said brake means in response to detected undesirable pivoting movement of said draw bar.

A sway stabilization system to inhibit an undesirable side-ways sway between a towed vehicle and a lead vehicle, the system having a brake assembly including brake means disposed between the vehicles, sway detection means responsive to undesirable sway and a brake control means responsive to detection of undesirable sway by the sway detection means to initiate operation of the brake means, the brake means being operable to inhibit undesirable sway and the brake control means being adapted to automatically actuate the brake means in response to detected undesirable sway while the vehicles are travelling, wherein the sway detection means includes at least one sensor from the group consisting of:

• (i) a coupling transducer adapted to monitor angular position of the towed vehicle relative to the lead vehicle;
• (ii) a steering transducer adapted to monitor vehicle steering;
• (iii) a collision transducer adapted to sense a collision condition;
• and
• (iv) a footbrake transducer adapted to monitor operation of a footbrake operated by a driver of the vehicles;
• and wherein the transducers supply data to a cab decision circuit with the steering transducer, collision transducer and footbrake transducer located on a cab of a prime mover, the cab decision circuit operating in conjunction with the data supplied from the transducers to actuate the brake means to inhibit undesirable sway, the system further comprising an independent trailer decision circuit which responds to undesirable sway being detected by the coupling transducer, where oscillation of the towed vehicle away from a predetermined position occurs more than once within a predetermined time period, by causing the application of the brake means for a short period of time, the application of the brake means being made when the coupling transducer detects the oscillation of the towed vehicle in the vicinity of the predetermined position.