Improved emergency braking performance for HGVs

Previous studies by the Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium (CVDC) have suggested that, by improving the control bandwidth of conventional pneumatic Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) brake actuators and using a ‘slip control’ braking strategy, HGV stopping distances could be reduced by up to 30% over existing systems. This paper presents results from Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) simulations and full-scale straight-line braking tests comparing a prototype slip control braking system to a commercially available HGV trailer Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). The novel braking system is shown to achieve a 14% improvement in stopping distance in preliminary braking tests from 40km/h on low adhesion surfaces with an unladen semitrailer. Air consumption is also reduced, on average, by 22% using the new system. HiL tests suggest that, with further tuning, the system could achieve reductions in stopping distance of up to 26%