ASSISTED PARKING MANEUVERS FOR VEHICLES COUPLED IN A TOWED RECHARGING ARRANGEMENT

• Main Authors: Van Wiemeersch, John R, Dellock, Paul K, McHugh, Kenneth P, Phung, Peter, Salter, Stuart C, Glickman, David Brian
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 29.12.2022
• Subjects: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE ORDIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT OR PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLEDVEHICLES; ELECTRICITY; ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES, IN GENERAL; MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TOTHE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL; VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISEPROVIDED FOR; WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

Leading and trailing electrified vehicles are coupled together in a towing arrangement for in-flight transfer of an electrical charge between their battery systems. With the vehicles connected by a towing device, a parking maneuver is initiated in which the trailing vehicle leads the leading vehicle. For the parking maneuver, one of the vehicles is designated (e.g., automatically or by driver agreement) to be an active steering vehicle and the other vehicle to be a passive steering vehicle. At least the passive steering vehicle comprises an electrically-controlled steering actuator. During movement, a turning (e.g., steering angle) of the active steering vehicle is monitored. Based on the turning of the active steering vehicle, an assistive steering angle is determined for the passive steering vehicle. The electrically-controlled steering actuator is commanded according to the assistive steering angle. The parking maneuver may be reverse or forward.