Abstract:
In a motor car or other wheeled vehicle provided with electronically controlled wheel brakes, the lag or slip of the individual wheels is determined to render possible a control such that locking and skidding of the wheels is prevented. During braking, the brake of one wheel of the vehicle is intermittently released so that the wheel is intermittently free-running without slip. The speed of the vehicle is continuously measured by an accelerometer of simple type and an integrator integrating the accelerometer output. The true speed of the vehicle is intermittently measured by a speed transducer associated with said wheel and having an output representative of true speed during the free-running interval of the wheel. The approximate continuous speed value is recurrently updated by the intermittent true speed signal so that the integrator output is proportional to the ratio of the speed of the vehicle to that of the wheel and is a quantity to control the brake of the wheel in dependence of the slip of the wheel by comparison with a permissible or tolerable slip limit value.
Abstract:
In a brake control system of wheeled vehicles, particularly of motor cars, an arrangement measures the vehicle speed by means of an accelerometer of simple type to produce a signal representing the speed of a braked individual wheel relative to the vehicle speed. The wheel is intermittently braked to be temporarily freerunning without slip so that the true vehicle speed is repeatedly measured by an inductive or other speed transmitter. Furthermore, the vehicle speed is continuously, though inaccurately, measured by integration of the output of an accelerometer of a simple cheap type. This integrated output is repeatedly corrected by being updated with the true vehicle speed intermittently measured by the speed transmitter when the wheel is free-running. During those periods during which the wheel is braked and may be lagging (slipping), the measured wheel speed differs from the updated speed represented by the integrated and updated accelerometer output. By comparison of these two speed values, an electrical signal representing the slip is produced and may be used for temporarily releasing the brake means of the vehicle when slip occurs or at least when the ratio of slip to speed passes a predetermined limit value. Any accelerometer output representing a negative retardation, i.e. positive acceleration, is suppressed.