Method for Operating the Brake System of a Commercial Vehicle

The invention is based on a method as defined hereinafter.

Such a method is known from European Patent Application 0 189 082. This method is used to make for a uniform brake action at the friction-affected brakes of a vehicle that is also equipped with a wear-free retarder, and to protect the brakes from overload. To this end, temperature signals from the wheel brakes that characterize the brake action are detected and evaluated in a control unit. If there is an overload on the friction-affected brakes, which is exhibited by excessive temperatures of the brake linings, the control unit reduces the brake value transducer signal at the applicable brake or brakes. However, a vehicle is endangered not only by a brake overload, but also if a brake's action is inadequate. This can happen if overly slightly brake outputs cause the brake linings not to reach the temperature above which so-called glazing is prevented.

This change in the brake lining surface, which lowers the coefficient of friction .mu., occurs to an increased extent in asbestos-free brake linings, which are increasingly used in vehicle brakes. If a vehicle is equipped with a wear-free auxiliary brake, then for reasons of economy the result will be a reduced load on the friction-affected service brake, which runs the risk of glazing of the brake linings. In a vehicle with glazed brake linings, only reduced braking action is available in an emergency braking situation.

The method according to the invention has an advantage over the prior art in that the performance capacity of the service brake is maintained by avoiding glazing of the brake linings, or is reestablished by "deglazing" by braking, but at the same time the brake system remains economical, since brake lining wear is reduced by preferential triggering of the wear-free auxiliary brake.

The provisions disclosed herein has an advantage that in this kind of braking ("warm braking"), the brake lining temperature attains a level at which carbon, which has a higher coefficient of friction, or a coefficient of friction for which the brakes have been designed, builds up on the brake linings as a result of friction.

With the provisions recited herein, however, overheating and burning of the brake linings are prevented.

Recited herein are additional parameters by which a control unit can trip preferential triggering of the service brake.

The invention will be better understood and further objects and advantages thereof will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the drawing.

The single FIGURE of the drawing is a block diagram of a brake system of a commercial vehicle intended for carrying out the method of the invention.

The schematically shown electrically controlled brake system 1 shown in the drawing for a commercial vehicle has a brake value transducer 2, with which a brake value can be specified and which is actuatable by the vehicle driver. This brake value may be a setpoint value for vehicle deceleration. The brake value is transmitted to a electronic control unit 3 of the brake system 1 and evaluated in accordance with a control algorithm stored in the control unit. On the specification of the brake value transducer signal, the control unit 3 selects one or more brakes of the vehicle, in order to attain the desired deceleration. The vehicle has a friction-affected service brake 4, which has drum brakes and/or disk brakes. The vehicle is also equipped with a wear-free auxiliary brake 5. This may be a fluid brake (hydrodynamic retarder), an eddy current brake (electrodynamic retarder), or a motor brake. Whichever type of brake it is, it is preceded by a trigger unit 6, 7, with which the required actuating medium (compressed air, electrical energy, hydraulic oil) can be controlled. The brake system 1 also has a sensor 8 for detecting the braking action, for instance the actual deceleration value. The signal characterizing the braking action is carried to the control unit 3 and evaluated by it. Finally, a plurality of signal transducers 9, 10, 11 are provided, with which for instance the number of braking events performed by the service brake 4, their duration the brake pressure in the case of hydraulic or pneumatic drum or disk brakes, the distance traveled since the last actuation of the service brake, and the vehicle speed at the onset of actuation of the service brake are detected, and signals are sent accordingly to the control unit 3.

Upon a braking event tripped by the vehicle driver, the control unit 3 preferentially triggers the wear-free auxiliary brake 5. Depending on the level of the signal output by the brake value transducer 2, that is, at a high set-point deceleration value, the control unit 3 additionally triggers the friction-affected service brake 4 to attain the desired braking action. Based on the signals of the deceleration sensor 8 and the other signal transducers 9, 10, 11, the braking events performed with the service brake 4 are counted in the control unit, and their duration and action and so forth are detected, in order to ascertain the intensity of service brake actuation. If the control unit recognizes from these data that glazing of the service brake linings threatens to occur or has already begun, then upon an ensuing brake request or in a plurality of subsequent brake requests with a high brake value transducer signal level, it triggers braking with the service brake 4 exclusively, in order to eliminate the danger of glazing or the glazing itself by means of adequate "warm braking", that is, braking with an adequate rise in the brake lining temperature. The point for tripping this kind of braking can be ascertained by trial and error and can be made the basis of the control algorithm in the control unit 3. However, if in such braking the control unit 3 recognizes the danger of overheating of the brake linings of the service brake 4, then it triggers the auxiliary brake 5 additionally or exclusively.

The mode of operation of the brake system described above can be used preferentially for on-road vehicles such as tractors, trailers, or tractor-trailer combinations.

The foregoing relates to a preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention, it being understood that other variants and embodiments thereof are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention the latter being defined by the appended claims.