WEIGHING TRUCK COMBINATIONS IN MOTION, SOLELY ON THE TRACTOR

AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WEIGHING TRUCKS WHILE IN MOTION IS PROPOSED. TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND REDUCE TIME LOST AT WEIGH STATIONS, THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEEDS TO EXCHANGE DATA, INCLUDING WEIGHT DATA, BETWEEN MOVING TRUCKS AND ENFORCEMENT FACILITIES. LEGALLY LOADED TRUCKS WOULD THEN BE ABLE TO PROCEED WITHOUT STOPPING. THIS INVOLVES WEIGH-IN-MOTION. PRESENT WEIGHING TECHNIQUES INVOLVE LOAD CELLS OR SIMILAR ANALOG DEVICES, REQUIRING THAT THE TRACTOR AND TRAILER BOTH BE EQUIPPED AND INTERCONNECTED. THE PROPOSED WEIGH-IN-MOTION SYSETM IS LOCATED ON THE TRACTOR ALONE. ANY TRAILER OR COMBINATIONS OF TRAILERS MAY BE PULLED (AND WEIGHED) WITHOUT CONCERN FOR EQUIPMENT COMPATIBILITY OR CALIBRATION. IT OFFERS PROMISE AS A MORE COST-EFFECTIVE WAY TO SENSE VEHICLE WEIGHT. UP-TO-DATE TRACEABLE CALIBRATION IS ASSURED BY REPETITIVELY COMPARING INTERNAL WEIGHT CALCULATIONS WITH DATA RECEIVED FROM THE IVHS TRANSPONDER SYSTEM.