Parking brake apparatus for a vehicle and method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12319253-B2
Application number	US-202117557149-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2021
Priority date	Dec 21, 2021
Publication date	Jun 3, 2025
Grant date	Jun 3, 2025

Abstract

A parking brake apparatus is provided for a vehicle including a vehicle drive train that extends between a vehicle propulsion engine and a vehicle wheel. The parking brake apparatus comprises a wheel drum located away from the vehicle wheel and fixedly attached to a drivetrain shaft that extends along a portion of the vehicle drive train between the vehicle propulsion engine and the vehicle wheel. The parking brake apparatus also comprises activatable drum brake components disposed in an interior chamber of the wheel drum. When activated, the drum brake components apply a clamping force to the wheel drum to prevent the wheel drum and the drivetrain shaft fixedly attached thereto from rotating and thereby preventing the vehicle wheel from rotating to provide the vehicle with a parking brake functionality.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A parking brake apparatus for a vehicle including a vehicle drive train that extends between a vehicle propulsion engine and a vehicle wheel, the parking brake apparatus comprising:
a wheel drum located away from the vehicle wheel and fixedly attached to a drivetrain shaft that extends along a portion of the vehicle drive train between the vehicle propulsion engine and the vehicle wheel;
activatable drum brake components disposed in an interior chamber of the wheel drum and for, when activated, applying a clamping force to the wheel drum to prevent the wheel drum and the drivetrain shaft fixedly attached thereto from rotating and thereby preventing the vehicle wheel from rotating to provide the vehicle with a parking brake functionality; and
an activatable shaft lock for, when activated, locking drivetrain shafts along the vehicle drive train together as a unit, wherein the shaft lock and the wheel drum are enclosed in a common housing.

2. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the wheel drum is located along the vehicle drive train between the vehicle propulsion engine and a vehicle differential.

3. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the wheel drum is fixedly attached to a rotor shaft of the vehicle propulsion engine.

4. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the drum brake components are activated, the clamping force applied to the wheel drum is based upon a gear-ratio relationship between the vehicle propulsion engine and the vehicle wheel.

5. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the activatable shaft lock, when activated, maintains the clamping force of the drum brake components applied to the wheel drum to maintain the vehicle in the parked position until the shaft lock is deactivated.

6. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the wheel drum and the drum brake components disposed within the interior chamber of the wheel drum comprise an S-cam type of drum brake assembly.

7. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein (i) the wheel drum is fixedly attached to a wheel shaft of the vehicle and is located outside of a wheel hub of the vehicle wheel, and (ii) the wheel drum is spaced apart from the wheel hub of the vehicle wheel along the wheel shaft.

8. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the activatable shaft lock, when activated, provides the vehicle with a secondary brake functionality when the vehicle is in motion and service brakes of the vehicle are unavailable to stop the vehicle.

9. A parking brake apparatus for a vehicle including a wheel shaft, a drivetrain shaft having a portion which is other than an end portion of the wheel shaft on which a vehicle wheel is mounted, and a service brake for applying a braking force to the wheel shaft to reduce rotational speed of the vehicle wheel when the vehicle is in motion, the parking brake apparatus comprising:
a parking brake mechanism for, when the vehicle is stationary, activating a drum brake assembly to apply a clamping force to wheel drum that is fixedly attached to the drivetrain shaft portion to prevent rotation of the wheel drum and the drivetrain shaft, and thereby to provide the vehicle with a parking brake functionality;
a secondary brake mechanism for, when the vehicle is in motion, activating the service brake to apply a braking force to the wheel shaft to reduce rotational speed of the vehicle wheel, and thereby to provide the vehicle with a secondary brake functionality; and
a hand control unit for allowing a vehicle driver to activate the service brake to apply a braking force to the wheel shaft to reduce rotational speed of the wheel;
an electronic braking system (EBS) controller electronically coupled to the hand control unit and responsive to a first brake request signal from the hand control unit to provide the vehicle with the secondary brake functionality; and
an electronic brake module (EBM) electronically coupled to the hand control unit and responsive to a second brake request signal from the hand control unit to provide the vehicle with the secondary brake functionality when the EBS controller is unable to respond to the first brake request signal from the hand control unit to provide the vehicle with the secondary brake functionality.

10. The parking brake apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the secondary brake mechanism further comprises:
a redundant foot brake module for providing the vehicle with the secondary brake functionality; and
a booster electrically coupled to the hand control unit and responsive to a second brake request signal from the hand control unit to activate the redundant foot brake module to provide the vehicle with the secondary braking functionality when the EBS controller is unable to respond to the first brake request signal from the hand control unit to provide the vehicle with the secondary brake functionality.

Assignees

• Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems Llc
• Knorr Bremse Systeme Fuer Nutzfahrzeuge Gmbh

Inventors

• Plow William
• Baumgartner Hans
• Gyorke Zsombor
• Tóth János
• Krueger Sven
• Hos Levente
• Blessing Michael
• Buch Andreas

Classifications

• F16D65/12

  Discs; Drums for disc brakes · CPC title

• F16D2125/18

  Mechanical mechanisms · CPC title

• B60Y2200/141

  Light trucks · CPC title

• B60Y2400/81

  Braking systems · CPC title

• F16D2065/13

  Parts or details of discs or drums · CPC title