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
  • B60T8/00—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force
  • B60T8/32—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force responsive to a speed condition, e.g. acceleration or deceleration
  • B60T8/88—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force responsive to a speed condition, e.g. acceleration or deceleration with failure responsive means, i.e. means for detecting and indicating faulty operation of the speed responsive control means
  • B60T8/90—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force responsive to a speed condition, e.g. acceleration or deceleration with failure responsive means, i.e. means for detecting and indicating faulty operation of the speed responsive control means using a simulated speed signal to test speed responsive control means
• • 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
  • B60T13/00—Transmitting braking action from initiating means to ultimate brake actuator with power assistance or drive; Brake systems incorporating such transmitting means, e.g. air-pressure brake systems
  • B60T13/10—Transmitting braking action from initiating means to ultimate brake actuator with power assistance or drive; Brake systems incorporating such transmitting means, e.g. air-pressure brake systems with fluid assistance, drive, or release
  • B60T13/24—Transmitting braking action from initiating means to ultimate brake actuator with power assistance or drive; Brake systems incorporating such transmitting means, e.g. air-pressure brake systems with fluid assistance, drive, or release the fluid being gaseous
  • B60T13/241—Differential pressure systems
• • 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
  • B60T8/00—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force
  • B60T8/32—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force responsive to a speed condition, e.g. acceleration or deceleration
  • B60T8/34—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force responsive to a speed condition, e.g. acceleration or deceleration having a fluid pressure regulator responsive to a speed condition
  • B60T8/38—Arrangements for adjusting wheel-braking force to meet varying vehicular or ground-surface conditions, e.g. limiting or varying distribution of braking force responsive to a speed condition, e.g. acceleration or deceleration having a fluid pressure regulator responsive to a speed condition including valve means of the relay or driver controlled type

Definitions

• This invention relates to a novel arrangement for ap ⁇ plying the brakes of an automotive vehicle in response to the occurrence of a predetermined event, such as the driver leav ⁇ ing the driver*s seat.
• Typical vehicle brake systems have a master cylinder with a slidable piston whose piston rod is engaged by a shaft " extending from a power booster and operated by the brake pedal.
• the present invention comprises an actuator engaged be ⁇ tween the booster and the master cylinder and including a piston on a shaft which fits end-to-end between the pedal- • operated shaft in the booster and the piston rod in the master cylinder, so that normal braking under the control of the brake pedal takes place in the usual manner.
• a solenoid valve controls the pressure inside the actuator at the side of its piston toward the brake cylinder. This valve is under the control of a switch (such as a seat switch) so that vacuum is applied to this side of the actuator piston, causing it to apply the brakes, whenever the event monitored by the switch takes place (such as the driver leaving the driver's seat of the vehicle) .
• a principal object of this invention is to provide a novel ar ⁇ rangement for automatically applying the brakes of a vehicle at a pre- det- ⁇ rmined rate, with pre***det__rmined force whenever a certain pre-de- t___ ⁇ r_Lned event occurs while sounding an alarm, wa_ ⁇ _ing. ' the driver.
• Another object of this invention is to provide such an arrangement which does not affect normal braking operation in response to the vehicle's brake pedal.
• Another object of this invention is to provide such an arrangement which may be installed readily between the master cylinder and the power booster of a conventional braking sys ⁇ tem on an automotive vehicle.
• Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the present actuat- or between a conventional brake master cylinder and a conven ⁇ tional power booster operated by a brake pedal;
• Figure 2 is a longitudinal section taken along the line 2—2 in Figure 1 with the brakes released;
• Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 with the brakes applied;
• Figure 4 is a cross-section through the present actuator taken along the line 4—4 in Figure 1;
• Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing an automotive brake system which includes the present actuator and a seat switch for operating it.
• the brake system for a passenger car or other automotive vehicle includes a brake master cylinder 10 connected through a hydraulic brake line
• a piston in the master cylinder 10 is operated by a brake pedal 17 acting through a power booster 18 of known design, so that when the brake pedal is depressed the brakes on the front and rear wheels will be applied.
• a brake actua ⁇ tor 20 (described in detail hereinafter) is mounted between the power booster 18 and the brake master cylinder 10. As shown, the present actuator is arranged to apply the brakes when the driver of the vehicle leaves the driver's seat.
• a normally-open multi-contact switch 21 in the driver's seat is closed by the weight of the driver on the seat but when the driver gets out of the seat, switch 21 assumes its normally-open condition.
• one side of the seat switch 21 is connected through a manually operated switch 22 to the ungrounded terminal of the vehicle battery 23.
• the opposite side of switch 21 is connected through a relay coil 24 to ground.
• Relay coil 24 operates a mobile relay contact 25, which is connected to the manual switch 22.
• the mobile relay contact 25 engages a fixed contact 26.
• the mobile relay contact 25 engages an open-circuited fixed contact 27.
• the fixed relay contact 26 is connected through a sole- noid coil 28 to ground.
• Solenoid coil 28 operates the plunger 29 of a vacuum valve 30.
• Valve 30 has a vacuum port 31 connected to a vacuum source 32, such as the vehicle engine intake manifold, a vent port 33 which is open to the atmos ⁇ phere, and an actuator port 34 which is connected through an air line 35 to one side of the actuator 20, as explained hereinafter.
• the plunger 29 carries a valve member 36 slid- ably mounted inside the housing of valve 30.
• solenoid coil 28 When solenoid coil 28 is de-energized, valve member 36 is in the position shown in Figure 5, in which it blocks the vacuum port 31 and permits port 34 to communicate with the vent port 33.
• solenoid coil 28 When solenoid coil 28 is energized, it pulls plunger 29 up to a position in which valve member 36 blocks the vent port 33 and permits port 34 to communicate with the vacuum port 31.
• the air line 35 may be a short pipe which mounts the solenoid valve 30 on the back wall 37 of actuator 20.
• the vacuum port 31 is connected through an elbow 38 and a hose 39 to the engine intake manifold (not shown) , which provides the vacuum source shown schematically at 32 in Figure 1.
• the generally flat back wall 37 " is bolted in airtight fashion to the flanged end of a general ⁇ ly cylindrical side wall 40 of the actuator housing.
• the op ⁇ posite end of this side wall is joined to a generally flat front wall 41 of the actuator housing which extends parallel to its back wall 37.
• the front wall 41 of the actuator hous- ing presents a cylindrical central collar 42 which is snugly received in a complementary opening 43 formed in the back wall 44 of the casing of power booster 18.
• Bolts 45 attach the front wall 41 of the actuator housing to the back wall 44 of the booster housing, and a gasket 46 is clamped be- tween them to provide an airtight seal.
• the collar 42 de ⁇ fines a circular opening 47 which slidably receives a shaft 48 extending from the interior of the booster 18 behind the latter's flexible diaphragm 49 into the interior of the actu ⁇ ator housing.
• Shaft 48 is formed with a cylindrical recess 50 which snugly receives the reduced end of a shaft 51 inside the booster.
• the opposite end of shaft 51 is pivotally coupled at 52 ( Figure 5) to the brake pedal 17.
• the booster diaphragm 49 is engaged between the end of shaft 48 and an annular transverse flange 51a on shaft 51.
• the actuator 48 carries an O-ring 54 of rubber-like material in a peripher ⁇ al groove 55. This O-ring slidably engages the inside of the cylindrical side wall 40 of the actuator housing in airtight fashion.
• a coil spring 56 is engaged under compression be- tween the back wall 37 of the actuator housing and the pis ⁇ ton 53 to bias the piston away from the back wall 37, as shown in Figure 2.
• the back wall 37 of the actuator housing is formed with a central circular opening 57 which is the same size as, and coaxial with, the opening 43 in the back wall 44 of the booster housing.
• the housing of the brake master cylinder 10 has a cylindrical neck 58 which is snugly received in the actuator's back wall opening 57.
• the master cylinder hous ⁇ ing has a transverse annular flange 59 which is attached to the outside of the back wall 37 of the actuator housing by bolts 60, with a gasket 61 clamped between them to provide an airtight seal.
• the bolts 60 are the same size and are at the same locations as the bolts 45 attaching the actuator housing to the booster housing. If the present actuator 20 were not in place, the flange 59 on the master cylinder hous ⁇ ing would be bolted directly to the rear wall 44 of the booster housing, with the neck 58 on the master cylinder housing received in the opening 43 in the rear wall of the booster housing. This is how the master cylinder is attached to the booster in the usual brake installations which lack the present actuator 20.
• the master cylinder piston has a piston, rod 62 with a cylindrical recess 63 in its outer end which snugly receives a reduced end 64 of shaft 48 in the present actuator 20.
• Recess 63 is the same size as recess 50 in the opposite end of shaft 48. If actuator 20 were not present, the recess 63 in the end of the master cylinder piston rod 62 would re ⁇ ceive the reduced end of shaft 51 in the booster 18.
• the air line 35 is connected through the back wall 37 of the actuator housing to the in ⁇ terior of actuator 20 between its back wall 37 and its piston 53.
• this space will be vented to the atmosphere via air line 35, port 34 of solenoid valve 30 ( Figure 5) and vent port 33 of this valve.
• spring 56 will bias piston 53 away from the actuator back wall 37, to the position shown in Figure 2.
• the brake pedal 17 is depressed, its movement will be transmitted through shafts 51 and 48 to the master cylinder piston rod 62 to move the piston in the master cylinder to apply the brakes.
• the bias spring 56 does not exert a significant opposing force against this operation.
• the same operation could be achieved in response to a switch other than a seat switch.
• the seat switch 21 in Figure 5 might be replaced by a door switch which is closed when the door is closed and opens when the door is opened.
• the seat switch 21 in Figure 5 might be replaced by a switch which opens when the nozzle of the fuel hose is removed from its cradle on the truck .
• the switch could be connected to the existing warning system on the dash panel , such as engine overheating, low oil pressure , door open, low tire pressure , brake wear, brake failure , antitheft device , or electronically after the vehicle has stopped, etc .
• the seat switch in the Fig- ure 5 control system might be replaced by a radar operated switch which opens to apply the vehicle brakes whenever the vehicle is too close to another vehicle ahead of it .
• the switch-operated actuator 20 may be installed in a conventional braking system on a vehicle with very little modification. No structural change in the booster or the master cylinder is required because the actuator 20 fits them the same way they fit each other when the actuator is not present.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• Braking Systems And Boosters (AREA)
• Regulating Braking Force (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=22188562

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (5)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 1985
  • 1985-01-24 JP JP85500602A patent/JPS62501697A/ja active Pending
  • 1985-01-24 WO PCT/US1985/000113 patent/WO1986004309A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 1985-01-24 EP EP19850900912 patent/EP0210163A4/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 1985-09-20 ES ES547153A patent/ES8701633A1/es not_active Expired

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events