Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60T—VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL; ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OF VEHICLES; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES
  • B60T7/00—Brake-action initiating means
  • B60T7/12—Brake-action initiating means for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
  • G07C5/00—Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
  • G07C5/08—Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
  • G07C5/00—Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
  • G07C5/08—Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
  • G07C5/0816—Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
  • G07C5/00—Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
  • G07C5/08—Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
  • G07C5/0841—Registering performance data
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
  • G07C5/00—Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
  • G07C5/08—Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
  • G07C5/0841—Registering performance data
  • G07C5/085—Registering performance data using electronic data carriers
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
  • G09B9/00—Simulators for teaching or training purposes
  • G09B9/02—Simulators for teaching or training purposes for teaching control of vehicles or other craft
  • G09B9/04—Simulators for teaching or training purposes for teaching control of vehicles or other craft for teaching control of land vehicles
  • G09B9/052—Simulators for teaching or training purposes for teaching control of vehicles or other craft for teaching control of land vehicles characterised by provision for recording or measuring trainee's performance
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60T—VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL; ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OF VEHICLES; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES
  • B60T2201/00—Particular use of vehicle brake systems; Special systems using also the brakes; Special software modules within the brake system controller
  • B60T2201/04—Hill descent control
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60T—VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL; ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OF VEHICLES; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES
  • B60T2220/00—Monitoring, detecting driver behaviour; Signalling thereof; Counteracting thereof
  • B60T2220/02—Driver type; Driving style; Driver adaptive features

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a brake feedback system according to the preamble of the independent claim.
• a heavy vehicle often comprises a number of different brake systems, such as service (foot) brake, motor brake, exhaust brake, retarder and other types of auxiliary brakes. From a wear point of view, braking actions with auxiliary brakes are preferred since these usually are less stressing for the vehicle.
• auxiliary brakes By using auxiliary brakes on heavy vehicles the driver may reduce the wear on brake lining, brake drums etc. that are associated with the use of wheel brakes. If e.g. only the service brake is used when a heavily loaded vehicle is driven in a very long downhill slope, this may result in disastrous consequences because of overheated brake discs and/or drums and/or brake linings.
• the use of auxiliary brakes should thus be encouraged to make the driver's use of them more frequent.
• the international application WO 2007/139494 discloses a device for determining the ability of a vehicle driver to choose a brake system.
• the driver's use of a brake system is compared to the driver's total use of the brake systems during a braking action for assessing the driver's ability to use the brake system.
• the use of a system is measured as dissipated energy or usage time of the system.
• the US application 2006/0113833 discloses a method and apparatus for distributing brake torque between at least a first and a second braking device.
• the distribution of brake torque takes account of brake torque required and also the maximum brake torque the first braking device and the second braking device can deliver.
• the instantaneous retarder torque is measured, and this measure forms part of the calculation of the distribution of brake torque.
• the object of the present invention is to obtain an improved evaluation system of the driver's use of the auxiliary brakes to be able to evaluate the driver's way of using the brakes as correct as possible.
• a further aim of the invention is to encourage the driver to drive in an economical way.
• a brake feedback system for a vehicle comprising a brake choice evaluation means arranged to evaluate the driver's choice of braking system, e.g. retarder and other auxiliary brakes, service brakes or engine brake by comparing the driver's use of at least one braking system, with a total use of the braking systems in the vehicle during a braking action.
• the driver's use of an auxiliary brake system is determined based upon a calculated value from at least one brake power model of the auxiliary brake system, and the brake choice evaluation system is arranged to grade the driver's choice of braking system and to feedback recommendations about a preferred braking system and/or function to the driver on a presentation means.
• An auxiliary brake is a supplement to the ordinary wheel brakes of the vehicle and is configured to produce a retarding torque for decreasing the rotational speed of the engine crankshaft.
• An auxiliary brake may for instance be an engine brake, an exhaust brake, an electromagnetic retarder or a hydraulic retarder.
• the auxiliary brakes are with advantage used for constant speed keeping purposes in downhill slopes and for moderate decelerations, whereas the vehicle's ordinary wheel brakes are mainly used for powerful and sudden braking operations.
• the ordinary wheel brakes which normally constitute friction brakes of disc brake or drum brake type, are prevented from overheating with the associated risk of brake failure and the wear thereof is reduced.
• Brake blending means that the wheel brakes and the retarder are coordinated to an optimum braking effect.
• the driver demands a braking by pressing down the brake pedal, the system first starts to brake with the wheel brakes. The reason is that there is a certain delay from when the retarder is activated until it gives an actual brake torque.
• the brake blending function gradually decreases the wheel brakes and lets the retarder take over the braking. A benefit with this function is that the driver will immediately feel a braking response.
• Figure 1 schematically illustrates a control system for a vehicle where the present invention is utilized.
• FIG. 1 illustrates the relationship between energies during a brake action with a theoretically calculated value of the maximum available brake power from the auxiliary brakes.
• a control system for a vehicle with which the present invention can be utilized.
• the vehicle comprises a front shaft 1 with steering wheels 2, 3, a rear drive shaft 4 with driving wheels 5-8, and optionally a rear shaft 9 with wheels 10 and 11.
• the vehicle contains an engine 13 connected to a gear box 12, which drives the drive shaft 4 by means of an output shaft 14 from the gear box.
• Gear box 12 and motor 13 are controlled by control units 15, 16, respectively, which are controlled by a main control unit 17.
• the Engine Management System (EMS) 16 controls the motor functions of the vehicle, which, for example, can consist of fuel injection and motor-brake. The control is based on a number of input signals, which can consist of signals from (not shown) throttle controls (the position of the accelerator pedal), speed sensor and brake management system.
• the Gearbox Management System (GMS) 15 controls the gear functions, wherein, when using an automatic gearbox, the gear shifting can be controlled based on an input signal from speed sensors, in manual gear shifting the shifting can be controlled from an input signal from a gear selector (gear shift lever).
• the vehicle contains a Brake Management System (BMS) with a break control unit 17, which controls the brake functions of the vehicle, such as automatic calculation of the load so that a given pedal position always can result in the same brake effect regardless of the load.
• BMS Brake Management System
• the brake control unit controls the various brake systems of the vehicle, e.g. retarder and other supplementary brake systems, exhaust brake and service brake on the basis of commands from the driver, and sends control signals to system modules (not shown) dispersed on the chassis, where electrical control signals are used, e.g. to adjust brake pressure.
• the above described control units constitute mere examples of what can exist in a vehicle. As is appreciated by a person skilled in the art, two or more of the above described control units can, of course, be integrated in one single control unit.
• the brake feedback system 18 includes a brake choice evaluation means, and by collecting information e.g. about the applied brake torque (dissipated energy) for respective brake system, the driver's choice of brake system can be directly evaluated in the vehicle.
• the system 18 includes means for receiving brake system related signals and other vehicle related signals.
• the vehicle comprises four different kinds of brake systems, retarder, exhaust brake, service (foot) brake and motor brake, and the system 18 comprises means for receiving signals concerning these brake systems.
• the position of a brake control set by the driver for a certain brake system can by means of the construction of the vehicle be arranged to be translated to an electric signal, which then is processed by the control system of the vehicle, or a separate control unit.
• the brake choice evaluation means according to the invention is arranged to evaluate the driver's choice of braking system by comparing the driver's use of at least one braking system, with a total use of the braking systems in the vehicle during a braking action.
• the use of a braking system may according to one embodiment be represented as power dissipated during use of the braking system.
• a brake assessment value U is calculated based on the comparison, and if U exceeds a certain value, the braking action is assessed to be a good braking action, i.e. a high grade is given.
• the U value can represent a percentage of the, in theory, "perfect" 100 % braking action.
• a constant value K used in the calculations to obtain a brake assessment value can be made dependent of e.g. the inclination of the road and/or the weight of the vehicle in question.
• the system 18 may receive signals representing the applied brake torque for the brake systems, respectively, i.e. brake torque from service brakes (disc or drum brake), brake torque from retarder brake, brake torque from exhaust brake and brake torque from one or a plurality of other auxiliary brakes, such as motor brake torque.
• brake torque from service brakes disc or drum brake
• brake torque from retarder brake brake torque from retarder brake
• brake torque from exhaust brake brake torque from one or a plurality of other auxiliary brakes, such as motor brake torque.
• a brake assessment value may then be calculated as: J j J ⁇ - ( ⁇ F Retarder + F Exhaust brake + F Engine brake ⁇ / / A ⁇
• E represents the amount of energy that is used during a braking action for each respective brake system and for the entire brake action.
• a U-value can be performed for each brake system.
• U means the better usage of the brake systems during a brake action.
• Stemp-factor Ci -brake temp
• the present invention provides a system to give feedback to the driver about his/her braking behaviour, and the evaluation of the driver's use of auxiliary brake systems is improved compared to prior known system, as it is determined based upon a calculated value from at least one brake power model of the auxiliary brake systems.
• the system further gives feedback to the driver by grading the driver's choice of braking system and by giving feedback as recommendations to the driver about a preferred braking system and/or function on a presentation means.
• the driver's use of the at least one auxiliary brake is according to the invention determined by comparing used auxiliary brake power with a calculated maximum available auxiliary brake power from a brake power model.
• the evaluation must thus be established in the relationship between used auxiliary brake power and the actual accessible auxiliary brake power from the auxiliary brakes.
• the actual accessible brake power that the auxiliary brakes can deliver is dependent on various parameters, and it is not always possible to obtain the maximum braking capacity from the auxiliary brakes as e.g. the auxiliary brake power is dependent of the rotational speed of driving wheels and the auxiliary brakes requires cooling that is not always sufficient.
• A(B) is the area below the actual brake power from auxiliary brakes and engine brake i.e. the energy dissipated from the auxiliary brakes and engine brake
• A(D) is the area below the D-line.
• the driver's use of the auxiliary brake is thus determined by comparing used auxiliary brake power with the minimum of the calculated maximum available auxiliary brake power obtained from the brake power model and the total brake power. An improved evaluation and grade of the driver's way of using the auxiliary brakes is then obtained.
• the auxiliary brake power model can be any of a retarder brake power model, an exhaust brake power model or a motor brake power model.
• the brake choice evaluation means includes certain criteria and/or thresholds for evaluating and grade the use of the auxiliary brakes.
• certain criteria and/or thresholds for evaluating and grade the use of the auxiliary brakes.
• the braking action made by the driver of the vehicle is to activate a brake blending function, e.g. a mix between service brakes and an auxiliary brake.
• the brake choice evaluation means evaluates and grade the driver's use of the brake blending function based on the criteria that a brake torque parameter representing a brake torque from the retarder is sensed. As there is a certain delay between that the retarder is activated until it gives an actual brake torque, these requirements give an improved evaluation of the driver's use of the function compared to prior known evaluation methods.
• the brake choice evaluation means is thus arranged to feedback recommendations about a preferred braking system or function to the driver on a presentation means. This gives the driver the opportunity to change his/her driving behaviour.
• a preferred brake function is not activated when braking; a recommendation is shown on the presentation means after the braking to activate the preferred brake function.
• One such braking function may be the brake blending function. Because the brake blending function helps relieving the wheel brakes, the usage of the function shall be encouraged. After a performed braking with this function deactivated, a recommendation shall thus be shown to a driver, where he/she is encouraged to activate this function.
• One discriminated situation is if the temperature outside the vehicle is below a certain threshold. Then the brake choice evaluation means does not evaluate or grade the driver's use of the auxiliary brakes, and does also not recommend any preferred braking system to the driver. This situation is discriminated, as the auxiliary brakes only brakes with effect on the driving shaft. At circumstances when the state of the road is slippery, or can be assumed to be slippery (close to 0 0 C), or when the temperature is below 0 0 C, the driver shall not be demanded to use the auxiliary brakes, because a traffic dangerous situation may then occur. Consequently, no evaluation or grading shall be made and no recommendation shall be shown to the driver under these circumstances. Also, if the driver has deactivated the brake blending function because the temperature outside the vehicle is close to or below 0°C, no grading of the driver should be made, and no recommendations should be presented to the driver.
• the system 18 is arranged to evaluate and grade the driver's choice of brake system in dependence of at least one influencing parameter, e.g. a vehicle surrounding parameter.
• This vehicle surrounding parameter may be a parameter taking the type of road segments into consideration, e.g. a left-hand turn, straight stretch etc. It is thus possible to evaluate and grade how the driver has accomplished certain road segments when interaction with the brakes.
• the system 18 includes all necessary computer programs and hardware to perform the necessary steps to give feedback to the driver according to the present invention.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Educational Administration (AREA)
• Educational Technology (AREA)
• Regulating Braking Force (AREA)
• Valves And Accessory Devices For Braking Systems (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Cited By (4)

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• 2008
  • 2008-11-21 SE SE0850088A patent/SE533135C2/sv unknown
• 2009
  • 2009-11-10 EP EP09827821.1A patent/EP2359342B1/en active Active
  • 2009-11-10 BR BRPI0916017-5A patent/BRPI0916017B1/pt active IP Right Grant
  • 2009-11-10 WO PCT/SE2009/051279 patent/WO2010059108A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2009-11-10 RU RU2011125346/11A patent/RU2471240C1/ru active
  • 2009-11-10 CN CN200980146508.XA patent/CN102224527B/zh active Active

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