DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
This invention relates to the field of mechanical engineering.

Particularly, this invention relates to a system for synchronizing movement between a driver component and a driven component.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing power source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, the load anything that can be pulled.

These may be joined by a chain, rope, bar, hitch, three-point, fifth wheel, coupling, drawbar, integrated platform, or other means of keeping the objects together while in motion.

A trailer, coupled to the towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle, is a driven component while the towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle is a driver component. The driver component and the driven component are not necessarily, always, in sync.

In case of towing of a trailer in hilly area, due to presence of U bends, short turns and narrow road width, the towing vehicles face problems while negotiating the turns. The minimum turning circle radius possible for a tractor – trailer system of prior art is much higher and hence, results in a lot of to and fro motion to negotiate turns with frequent hooking – unhooking and slow movement of the unit which results in more time requirement.
Figure 1 illustrates a configuration of the prior art where equipment (10) is towed by a vehicle / semi-trailer (12) with rear axle wheels in non-steered mode.

It was noticed that the achieved turning circle radius and road width, in this configuration of the prior art, was more than what was generally found in hilly areas with U bends and short turns. This issue needs to be solved.

Therefore, an intelligent assembly is required to synchronise movements of driver component and driven component; with the driver component leading the driven component.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
An object of the invention is to synchronise movements of a driver component and a driven component.

Another object of the invention is to synchronise movements of a driver component and a driven component; with the driver component leading the driven component.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
According to this invention, there is provided a system for synchronizing movement between a driver component and a driven component, said system comprises:
- a steerable axle being provided on said driven component, with rear wheels of said driven component being coupled to said steerable axle;
- an ‘A’ frame configured to be coupled to a tow hook, said tow hook provided at a towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle end, said A-frame being configured to be coupled to a driven component, said ‘A’ frame having multiple degrees of freedom with respect to said tow hook;
- a guide / U-clamp mounted on an angle measuring rod, said guide / U-clamp and said angle measuring rod interfacing with said ‘A’ frame; and
- a gear box on which an encoder is mounted, said gear box being coupled with said angle measuring rod, said encoder being configured to provide an electrical output corresponding with sensed angular displacement obtained via said angle measuring rod, said encoder being configured to provide steering angle as a function of movement of said angle measuring rod; in order to ensure steering, correlative to said steering angle, in a defined range, thereby avoiding oversteering or understeering.

In at least an embodiment, said ‘A’ frame comprises:
- a base,
- an eye on one side of the base;
- a middle shaft member / tube configured to move up and down, back and forth, and roll between guide arms of said U-clamp, said movement being translated to guide arms of said U-claim and further being translated to said angle measuring rod;
- at least two members extending from said base, on its other side in an ‘A’ shaped format, in that one of the members extending in an angularly displaced manner, in a first direction, with respect to a middle shaft member / tube that also extends from said base and one of the other members extending in an angularly displaced manner, in a second direction, with respect to said middle shaft member / tube.

In at least an embodiment, said angle measuring rod extends outwardly from a base of said encoder towards said guide / U-clamp’s operative upper end and is substantially parallel to said ‘A’ frame but spaced apart vertically from said ‘A’ frame.

In at least an embodiment, said angle measuring rod transfers angular motion from said A-frame to said encoder through said gear box and said encoder measures angle of angular displacement, in that, as said A-frame angularly displaces, said guide / U-clamp correspondingly displaces angularly, said angle measuring rod correspondingly displaces angularly, said encoder captures the angular displacement of said angle measuring rod, and transfers it, correspondingly, to said encoder which converts the sensed mechanical angular displacement into a corresponding electrical signal.

In at least an embodiment, said guide / U-clamp, remains perpendicular to a centreline, defined by a middle shaft member / tube, of said ‘A’ frame, thereby allowing centreline of said angle measuring rod and said middle shaft member / tube to remain parallel to each other, in that, as said guide / U-clamp moves, said angle measuring rod moves through the same angle as said ‘A’ frame.

In at least an embodiment, angle measurement, by said encoder, is a part of a steer-by-wire system which enables tactile feedback control to avoid conventional mechanical feedback force to regulate motors that are mounted on a steering column, of said driven component, by input signal from said encoder.

In at least an embodiment, said encoder is one of a single-turn encoder, a multi-turn encoder, or an analog encoder.

In at least an embodiment, an eye of the ‘A’ frame pivots about a hook mounted on a driver component, in that, motion is transferred from said guide / U-clamp to a connecting rod and then to an angle measurement rod through gear arrangements inside said gear box, said gear box being configured to transfer motion in 1:1 ratio, thereby configuring said angle measurement rod to map same degree of angle incurred between said driver component and said driven component.

In at least an embodiment, said ‘A’ frame pivots about said hook, which passes through its eye, a middle shaft member / tube, of said ‘A frame, makes contact with a guide arm of said guide / U-clamp and generates force to move said angle measurement rod at the end of which said guide /U-clamp is attached.

In at least an embodiment, said angle measurement rod, along with said guide / U-clamp, is kept free to angularly displace along its longitudinal axis inside said gear box’s guide shaft, said guide / U-clamp being free to slide along a middle shaft member / tube of said ‘A’ frame.

In at least an embodiment, the guide arms of said U-clamp are always tangent to a middle shaft member / tube of the ‘A’ frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTON OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
Figure 1 illustrates a configuration of the prior art where equipment (10) is towed by a vehicle / semi-trailer (12) with rear axle wheels in non-steered mode;

The invention will now be described in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIGURE 2 illustrates a configuration of a driver component (12) (i.e. a vehicle / semi-trailer / tractor) and a driven component (20) (i.e. equipment / trailer) according to this current invention;
FIGURE 3 illustrates this assembly for synchronizing movement between a driver component and a driven component;
FIGURES 4a illustrates a top view, 4b illustrates a front view, 4c illustrates an isometric view; of the assembly, of this invention, when the driver component and the driven component are worked on terrain condition having 0° GRADIENT, 0° TURNING, AND 0° SIDE SLOPE;
FIGURE 5a illustrates a top view, 5b illustrates a front view, 5c illustrates an isometric view; of the assembly, of this invention, when the driver component and the driven component are worked on terrain condition having 20° GRADIENT, 75° TURNING, AND 6° SIDE SLOPE; and
FIGURE 6 illustrates an exploded view of the assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTON OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
According to this invention, there is provided a system for synchronizing movement between a driver component and a driven component.

To overcome issues of the prior art, a new configuration is proposed, wtih respect to a trailer, in which a highly loaded axle is taken in front side and a rear light axle with low loads is converted to a steerable axle. In at least an embodiment, a steerable axle is provided on said driven component (20).

FIGURE 2 illustrates a configuration of a driver component (12) (i.e. a vehicle / semi-trailer / tractor) and a driven component (20) (i.e. equipment / trailer) according to this current invention.

In at least an embodiment, the rear wheels, of the driven component (20) are made steerable and are steered with an assembly of this invention by measuring included angle, steering angle (ST) (refer Figure 2), between driver component (12) and driven component (20) to maintain instantaneous centre to fulfill Ackerman steering geometry.

The term, ‘steering angle’ (ST), as shown in Figure 2, is defined as an angle between a median of a driver component (12) and a median of a driven component (20).

FIGURE 3 illustrates this assembly for synchronizing movement between a driver component (12) and a driven component (20).

In at least an embodiment, a tow hook (11) is provided at a towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle end (12). The towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle (12) is a driver component and a trailer attached to this tow hook (11) is the driven component.

In at least an embodiment, an ‘A’ frame (14) is coupled to the tow hook (11) to connect to the driven component. This ‘A’ frame typically comprises a base (14a), an eye (19) on one side of the base (14a), and at least two members extending (14b, 14c) from this base (14a), on its other side in an ‘A’ shaped format, in that one of the members (14b) extends in an angularly displaced manner, in a first direction, with respect to a middle shaft member / tube (15) that also extends from the base (14a) and one of the other members (14c) extends in an angularly displaced manner, in a second direction, with respect to the middle shaft member / tube (15).

In at least an embodiment, a guide / U-clamp (16) is mounted on an angle measuring rod (18); both of which interface with the ‘A’ frame (14) of the driven component through the driver component end (12). The angle measuring rod (18) is connected to a gear box (25) on which an encoder (20) is mounted. The angle measuring rod (18) extends outwardly from the base of the encoder (20) towards the guide / U-clamp’s (16) operative upper end and is substantially parallel to the ‘A’ frame (14) but spaced apart vertically from the ‘A’ frame (14). An encoder is a sensing device that provides feedback. In this case, the encoder (20) is configured to provide steering angle (ST) as a function of movement of said angle measuring rod (18), the steering angle being correlative to a first angle (i.e. angle of rear operative inner wheel of driven component (20)) and to a second angle (i.e. angle of rear operative outer wheel of driven component (20)) Encoders convert motion to an electrical signal that can be read by some type of control device in a motion control system. The encoder sends a feedback signal that can be used to determine position, count, speed, or direction. The encoder (20) measures angular movement. The angle measuring rod (18) transfer angular motion from the A-frame (14) to the encoder (20) through the gear box (25) and the encoder (20) actually measures the angle; as the A-frame (14) angularly displaces, the guide / U-clamp (16) correspondingly displaces angularly, the angle measuring rod (18) correspondingly displaces angularly, the encoder (20) captures the angular displacement of the angle measuring rod (18), and transfers it, correspondingly, to the encoder which converts the mechanical angular displacement into a corresponding electrical signal. A prong, of this guide / U-clamp (16), remains perpendicular to the centreline of middle shaft member / tube (15) of ‘A’ frame (14). In this manner, centreline of angle measuring rod (18) and middle shaft member / tube (15) of ‘A’ frame (14) remains, substantially, parallel to each other; as the guide / U-clamp (16) moves, the angle measuring rod (18) moves, through the same angle as the middle shaft member / tube (15) of ‘A’ frame (14). The middle shaft member / tube (15) of ‘A’ frame (14) has multiple degrees of freedom; it can move up and down, forward and backward, roll between the guide / U-clamp (16). Neither the towing loads nor the load due to bounding of trailer are transmitted to angle measuring rod (18), in all conditions stated above.

Angle measurement, by encoder (20), is a part of a steer-by-wire system which enables tactile feedback control to avoid conventional mechanical feedback force to regulate motors that are mounted on the steering column by this input signal from encoder (20).

When towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle (driver component) is steered, there is relative movement between ‘A’ frame (14) and tow hook (11) causing change in angle between them. The assembly, of this invention (as discussed, above), causes angular displacement of the encoder (20) mounted on the gearbox (25). Thus, a tactile feedback is measured by the encoder (20). The digital control algorithms sets set-point for trailer (driven component) rear wheel and embedded controller gives electrical output signal based on this input sensed by the encoder (20) and it operates motor on steering columns resulting in turning of trailer’s rear wheels in sync with towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle (driver component) to negotiate the turn in any terrain conditions.

The encoder may be a single or multi-turn / analog encoder. Once the steering angle is ascertained by the encoder system, the angle of turning of the rear wheels (i.e. di and do) is taken from the lookup table given below. The steering motors on the steering columns of the trailers rear wheel are then activated in such a way that the rear wheels are turned by the required angle (i.e. di and do).

Here, di is the angle of turning of the inner wheel (refer Figure 2) and do is the angle of turning of the outer wheel (refer figure 2). In case of a right turn the right wheel is the inner wheel while the left wheel is the outer wheel. Similarly, during a left turn (which is shown in Figure 2), the left wheel is the inner wheel while the right wheel is the outer wheel.
Steering Angle (ST) Turning angle of Rear outer wheel of Trailer (do) Turning angle of Rear inner wheel of Trailer (di)
[Deg] [deg] [deg]
0 0 0
5 4.09 4.14
10 8.22 8.40
15 12.33 12.75
20 16.40 17.13
25 20.38 21.50
30 24.24 25.80
35 27.95 29.99
40 31.48 34.04
45 34.83 37.90
50 38.00 41.57
55 40.96 45.02
60 43.74 48.26
65 46.34 51.28
70 48.75 54.08
75 51.00 56.69
80 53.10 59.11
85 55.05 61.35
90 56.86 63.42
95 58.55 65.35
100 60.13 67.13
105 61.59 68.78
110 62.97 70.32
115 64.25 71.75
120 65.45 73.08
125 66.57 74.32
130 67.63 75.48
135 68.62 76.57
140 69.55 77.58
145 70.43 78.54
150 71.26 79.43
155 72.05 80.27
160 72.79 81.07
165 73.49 81.82
170 74.15 82.52

In at least an embodiment, eye (19) of the ‘A’ frame (14) pivots about a hook (17) mounted on the towing power source’s / towing vehicle’s / tractor’s end (12). The motion is transferred from the guide / U-clamp (16) to a connecting rod and then to angle measuring rod/an encoder shaft (18) through gear arrangements inside the gear box (25). The gear box (25) transfers motion in 1:1 ratio. Hence, the angle measuring rod/encoder shaft (18) will map same degree of angle which is incurred by power source / towing vehicle / tractor with trailer during turning.

When the ‘A’ frame (14) pivots about its hook (17); the middle shaft member / tube (15) makes contact with the guide arm of a long U-clamp (16) and generates force to move the angle measurement rod (18) at the end of which U-clamp (16) is attached. Though axis of rotation for eye (19) and hook (17) is kept inline, it frequently gets changed as some clearance is required in their assembly to accommodate the angles generated while turning under different terrain conditions. A movement / play is always present between eye (19) and hook (17). To mitigate this, the angle measurement rod (18) along with U-clamp (16) is kept free to angularly displace along its longitudinal axis inside gear box guide shaft (25a) (Refer Figure 6) and guide arm of long U-clamp (16) are free to slide along the middle shaft member / tube (15) of ‘A’ frame (14). Thus, the guide arms of long U-clamp (16) are always tangent to the middle shaft member / tube (15) of the ‘A’ frame (14). Because the middle shaft member / tube (15) of the ‘A’ frame (14) can move up and down, back and forth, and roll between the guide arms of long U-clamp (16); neither towing load nor the loads due to bouncing of the trailer are transmitted to the gearbox and encoder assembly.

FIGURES 4a illustrates a top view, 4b illustrates a front view, 4c illustrates an isometric view; of the assembly, of this invention, when the driver component and the driven component are worked on terrain condition having 0° GRADIENT, 0° TURNING, AND 0° SIDE SLOPE.

FIGURE 5a illustrates a top view, 5b illustrates a front view, 5c illustrates an isometric view; of the assembly, of this invention, when the driver component and the driven component are worked on terrain condition having 20° GRADIENT, 75° TURNING, AND 6° SIDE SLOPE.

FIGURE 6 illustrates an exploded view of the assembly.

REFERENCE NUMERALS COMPONENTS
39 Mounting plates
25 Gear box
20 Encoder
25a Gear Box Guide Shaft
18 Angle Measurement Shaft
31 Brass bushes
16 U-clamp
33 Spacers
35 Circlips
37 Nuts, bolts, and washers

The assembly working is checked for all extreme terrain conditions mentioned below.
1. Plain Road
2. Up/Down Slope
3. Up/Down Slope in turning
4. Hairpin Bend curve with Up/Down Slopes
5. Side slopes/twists in all above conditions

The TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT of this invention lies in providing an assembly for synchronizing movement between a driver component and a driven component.

The above description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments of the invention to the precise forms disclosed above. Although specific embodiments and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes and to allow others skilled in the art to comprehend their teachings, various equivalent modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art.
,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM,

1. A system for synchronizing movement between a driver component (12) and a driven component (20), said system comprising:
- a steerable axle being provided on said driven component (20), with rear wheels of said driven component (20) being coupled to said steerable axle;
- an ‘A’ frame (14) configured to be coupled to a tow hook (11), said tow hook (11) provided at a towing power source / tractor / towing vehicle end (12), said A-frame (14) being configured to be coupled to a driven component (20), said ‘A’ frame (14) having multiple degrees of freedom with respect to said tow hook (11);
- a guide / U-clamp (16) mounted on an angle measuring rod (18), said guide / U-clamp (16) and said angle measuring rod (18) interfacing with said ‘A’ frame (14); and
- a gear box (25) on which an encoder (20) is mounted, said gear box (25) being coupled with said angle measuring rod (18), said encoder (20) being configured to provide an electrical output corresponding with sensed angular displacement obtained via said angle measuring rod (18), said encoder (20) being configured to provide steering angle (ST) as a function of movement of said angle measuring rod (18); in order to ensure steering, correlative to said steering angle (ST), in a defined range, thereby avoiding oversteering or understeering.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said ‘A’ frame comprising:
- a base (14a),
- an eye (19) on one side of the base (14a);
- a middle shaft member / tube (15) configured to move up and down, back and forth, and roll between guide arms of said U-clamp (16), said movement being translated to guide arms of said U-claim (16) and further being translated to said angle measuring rod (18);
- at least two members extending (14b, 14c) from said base (14a), on its other side in an ‘A’ shaped format, in that one of the members (14b) extending in an angularly displaced manner, in a first direction, with respect to a middle shaft member / tube (15) that also extends from said base (14a) and one of the other members (14c) extending in an angularly displaced manner, in a second direction, with respect to said middle shaft member / tube (15).

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said angle measuring rod (18) extending outwardly from a base of said encoder (20) towards said guide / U-clamp’s (16) operative upper end and is substantially parallel to said ‘A’ frame (14) but spaced apart vertically from said ‘A’ frame (14).

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said angle measuring rod (18) transfers angular motion from said A-frame (14) to said encoder (20) through said gear box (25) and said encoder (20) measures angle of angular displacement, in that, as said A-frame (14) angularly displaces, said guide / U-clamp (16) correspondingly displaces angularly, said angle measuring rod (18) correspondingly displaces angularly, said encoder (20) captures the angular displacement of said angle measuring rod (18), and transfers it, correspondingly, to said encoder (20) which converts the sensed mechanical angular displacement into a corresponding electrical signal.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said guide / U-clamp (16), remains perpendicular to a centreline, defined by a middle shaft member / tube (15), of said ‘A’ frame (14), thereby allowing centreline of said angle measuring rod (18) and said middle shaft member / tube (15) to remain parallel to each other, in that, as said guide / U-clamp (16) moves, said angle measuring rod (18) moves through the same angle as said ‘A’ frame (14).

6. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, angle measurement, by said encoder (20), is a part of a steer-by-wire system which enables tactile feedback control to avoid conventional mechanical feedback force to regulate motors that are mounted on a steering column, of said driven component, by input signal from said encoder (20).

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said encoder (20) being one of a single-turn encoder, a multi-turn encoder, or an analog encoder.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, an eye (19) of the ‘A’ frame (14) pivots about a hook (17) mounted on a driver component, in that, motion is transferred from said guide / U-clamp (16) to a connecting rod and then to an angle measurement rod (18) through gear arrangements inside said gear box (25), said gear box (25) being configured to transfer motion in 1:1 ratio, thereby configuring said angle measurement rod (18) to map same degree of angle incurred between said driver component (12) and said driven component (20).

9. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said ‘A’ frame (14) pivots about said hook (17), which passes through its eye (19), a middle shaft member / tube (15), of said ‘A frame (14), makes contact with a guide arm of said guide / U-clamp (16) and generates force to move said angle measurement rod (18) at the end of which said guide /U-clamp (16) is attached.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said angle measurement rod (18), along with said guide / U-clamp (16), is kept free to angularly displace along its longitudinal axis inside said gear box’s guide shaft (25a), said guide / U-clamp (16) being free to slide along a middle shaft member / tube (15) of said ‘A’ frame (14).

11. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the guide arms of said U-clamp (16) are always tangent to a middle shaft member / tube (15) of the ‘A’ frame (14).

DATED THIS 27TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 2020

CHIRAG TANNA
OF NOVOIP
APPLICANT’S PATENT AGENT
REGN. NO. IN/PA - 1785