Brake-by-wire system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10144402-B2
Application number	US-201615250346-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2016
Priority date	Aug 29, 2016
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle includes a plurality of brake assemblies and a plurality of electronic brake system (EBS) controllers. The brake assemblies each include an electro-mechanical actuator configured to adjust a torque force applied to a wheel of the vehicle. The EBS controllers are located remotely from one another. Each EBS controller has integrated therein an electronic actuator driver unit that includes an electronic power circuit configured to drive at least one of the electro-mechanical actuators. A first EBS controller is configured to drive a first group of electro-mechanical actuators, and a second EBS controller is configured to drive a second group of electro-mechanical actuators that exclude the electro-mechanical actuators of the first group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle including a fault tolerant electronic brake-by-wire (BBW) system, the vehicle comprising:
a plurality of brake assemblies, each brake assembly including an electro-mechanical actuator configured to adjust a torque force applied to a wheel of the vehicle;
a plurality of electronic brake system (EBS) controllers located remotely from one another, each EBS controller selectively operable in a split-topology mode and a full-topology mode, and having, integrated therein, an electronic actuator driver unit that includes an electronic power circuit configured to drive at least one of the electro-mechanical actuators,
wherein, in the split-topology mode, a first EBS controller of the plurality of EBS controllers is configured to drive a first group of electro-mechanical actuators, and a second EBS controller of the plurality of EBS controllers is configured to drive a second group of electro-mechanical actuators that exclude the electro-mechanical actuators of the first group,
wherein, in the full-topology mode, one of the first EBS controller and the second EBS controller is deactivated, and a remaining non-faulty EBS controller is in electrical communication with the electro-mechanical actuator included in each brake assembly among the plurality of brake assemblies, and
in response to detecting a faulty EBS controller among the first and second EBS controllers, the non-faulty EBS controller deactivates the faulty-controller and switches from the split-topology mode to the full-topology mode to control each electro-mechanical actuator included in each brake assembly among the plurality of brake assemblies.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the electronic actuator driver unit includes a pulse-width modulation (PWM) circuit in signal communication with a power amplifier circuit so as to generate a high-frequency switching high-power signal that drives an electro-mechanical actuator included in at least one of the first and second groups.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the first group of electro-mechanical actuators is controlled independently from the second group of electro-mechanical actuators.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the first EBS controller is in electrical communication with first and second electro-mechanical actuators, and the second EBS controller is in electrical communication with third and fourth elector-mechanical actuators.

5. The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the first EBS controller is configured to control the first electro-mechanical actuator independently from the second electro-mechanical actuator, and the second EBS controller is configured to control the third electro-mechanical actuator independently from the fourth electro-mechanical actuator.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the first EBS controller is in electrical communication with the second EBS controller, wherein the first EBS controller is configured to determine that the second EBS controller is the faulty EBS controller in response to diagnostic results received from the second EBS controller, and wherein the second EBS controller is configured to determine that the first EBS controller is a faulty EBS controller in response to diagnostic results received from the first EBS controller.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the first EBS controller communicates with the second EBS controller via a communication bus operating according to a message-based communication protocol.

8. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the communication bus is at least one of controller area network (CAN) bus, a time-triggered protocol bust capable of supporting both static and dynamic frames, and an Ethernet interface.

9. A vehicle including a fault tolerant electronic brake-by-wire (BBW) system, the vehicle comprising:
a plurality of brake assemblies, each brake assembly including an electro-mechanical actuator configured to adjust a torque force applied to a wheel of the vehicle;
a plurality of electronic brake system (EBS) controllers located remotely from one another, each EBS controller having integrated therein an electronic actuator driver unit that includes an electronic power circuit configured to drive at least one of the electro-mechanical actuators,
wherein each EBS controller among the plurality of EBS controllers is in electrical communication with the electro-mechanical actuator included in each brake assembly,
wherein the plurality of EBS controller includes a first EBS controller and a second EBS controller remotely located from the first EBS controller, the first and second EBS controllers configured to selectively operate in a split topology mode and a full topology mode based on diagnostic results generated by at least one of the first and second EBS controllers.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the electronic actuator driver unit includes a pulse-width modulation (PWM) circuit in signal communication with a power amplifier circuit so as to generate a high-frequency switching high-power signal.

11. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein any electronic actuator driver unit integrated in a respective EBS controller among the plurality of EBS controllers is configured to output the high-frequency switching high-power signal to drive an electro-mechanical actuator included in any of the brake assemblies.

12. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein when operating in the split topology mode, the first EBS controller controls a first group of brake assemblies among the plurality of brake assemblies and the second EBS controller controls a second group of brake assemblies among the plurality of brake assemblies.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein when operating in the full topology mode, one of the first EBS controller and the second EBS controller is deactivated, and a remaining activated EBS controller maintains a current operation of both the first group of brake assemblies and the second group of brake assemblies.

14. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein:
the first EBS controller performs a first self-diagnostic operation and communicates first diagnostic results to the second EBS controller;
the second EBS controller performs a second self-diagnostic operation and communicates second diagnostic results to the first EBS controller; and
at least one of the first and second EBS controllers initiate the full topology mode when at least one of the first and second diagnostic results indicate an error.

15. A method of controlling a fault tolerant electronic brake-by-wire (BBW) system, the method comprising:
detecting, via at least one electronic brake system (EBS) controller among a plurality of EBS controllers, a brake request to brake at least one wheel coupled to a brake assembly of the vehicle;
in response to detecting the brake request, initiating a first electronic actuator driver unit integrated in a first EBS controller of the plurality of EBS controllers and a second electronic actuator driver unit integrated in a second EBS controller of the plurality of EBS controllers located remotely from the first EBS controller; and
controlling at least one electro-mechanical actuator included in the brake assembly based on at least one of a first high-power drive signal and a second high-power drive signal so as to brake the at least one wheel according to the brake request,
selectively operating the first and second EBS controllers in a split topology mode and a full topology mode based on diagnostic results generated by at least one of the first and second EBS controllers, wherein in the split topology mode the first EBS controller controls only the first electro-mechanical actuator and the second EBS controll

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Pennala Brandon C
• Chappell Christopher C
• Kilmurray Paul A
• Monsere Patrick J
• Krueger Eric E
• Houtman Alan J
• Kidston Kevin S
• Roberts Michael C
• Weber Steven J

Classifications

• B60T2270/414

  Power supply failure · CPC title

• B60T2270/40

  Failsafe aspects of brake control systems · CPC title

• B60T17/18

  Safety devices; Monitoring · CPC title

• B60T13/662

  characterised by specified functions of the control system components · CPC title

• B60T2270/402

  Back-up · CPC title