Designing an automated tractor and semi-trailer exchange system for drop and pull transport

This paper aims at designing an automated exchange system for tractor and semi-trailer. The design is based on the analysis of the current exchange system and the autonomous truck system. The purpose of this design is to improve both the efficiency of exchanging and the development of drop and pull tractor. Based on the technology of sensors and information, the designed functions are realized based on two parameters reflecting errors: 1) the deviation angle between the center-line of a tractor and that of a semi-trailer; 2) the distance between the upper plane of fifth wheel and the lower plane of hauling pin. The two parameters are collected and fed into a master computer which analyzes the errors and asks automated control parts to make adjustments on the errors. The automated tractor and trailer exchange system can save the effort of manual operations, automate the complex processes, and reduce the failure rate in the exchanging process. This automated system has significant improvement on the perspectives of safety and practicality. The model simulation and analysis based on SOLIDWORKS show that the system designed in this paper is feasible and has strong practical significance in safety and practicability.