Commercial vehicle fleets frequently operate with tractors that connect to different trailers and dollies, resulting in combinations with varying brake pad wear across wheel‑ends. Traditional brake force distribution strategies whether proportioned, electronic, or load‑adaptive do not account for these pad life differences. This can lead to uneven brake utilization, irregular maintenance intervals, and increased total cost of ownership (TCO), especially in mixed‑fleet and multi‑trailer operations.
This work introduces an advanced brake force distribution function, a mechatronic brake control concept that incorporates brake pad health information into supervisory brake force allocation. In the proposed architecture, the tractor is equipped with a Brake Control ECU, which collects brake pad life status from each trailer or dolly through Pad Wear Sensing ECUs over the Tractor‑Trailer CAN (TT‑CAN) network. The Pad Wear Sensing ECUs report pad wear information only and do not host braking control logic.
Once pad‑life information is collected, the Brake Control ECU forms a digital brake‑health signature representing the condition of all connected units. During non‑priority braking or normal vehicle deceleration, the Brake Control ECU incorporates pad‑life information to bias the trailer brake pressure targets toward wheel ends with greater remaining pad life, while reducing braking demand for wheel ends approaching wear limits. All adjustments remain within stopping performance regulations, thermal limits, and stability boundaries. The Brake Control ECU then communicates the resulting trailer brake pressure requests to the Trailer ECU (e.g., TEBS), which applies the commanded pressure using its electro pneumatic valves.
During emergency braking or other safety critical conditions, the function suspends pad‑life‑based adjustments and applies full braking authority.
By integrating real‑time brake pad wear information into the supervisory brake force allocation process, this advanced function helps harmonize brake utilization across tractor and trailers, reduces uneven pad wear, supports more predictable maintenance intervals, and improves overall fleet TCO.