Methods and apparatus to determine brake system health

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12325396-B2
Application number	US-202217751383-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2022
Priority date	May 23, 2022
Publication date	Jun 10, 2025
Grant date	Jun 10, 2025

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to determine brake pad wear are disclosed herein. An example vehicle disclosed herein includes a brake, memory, and a processor to execute instructions to detect the vehicle is in operation on a road, determine a deceleration capability of the brake in response to a first brake check event, compare the deceleration capability of the vehicle to a first threshold, and in response to determining the deceleration capability of the vehicle does not satisfy the first threshold, cause the vehicle to navigate to an exit of the road prior to a portion of the road with a grade higher than a threshold grade.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a brake;
a memory; and
a processor to execute instructions to:
detect that the vehicle is in operation on a road;
detect, by accessing a navigation system, a portion of the road with a grade greater than a threshold grade;
identify, by accessing the navigation system, an exit of the road prior to the portion of the road;
generate a first brake check event at a predetermined distance before the exit;
determine a deceleration capability of the vehicle in response to the first brake check event;
compare the deceleration capability of the vehicle to a first performance threshold; and
in response to determining that the deceleration capability of the vehicle does not satisfy the first performance threshold, cause the vehicle to navigate to the exit.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the exit is a last exit prior to the portion of the road.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor executes instructions to determine the deceleration capability by:
engaging the brake at a brake pressure;
comparing the actual deceleration rate of the vehicle to an expected deceleration rate of the vehicle, the expected deceleration rate based on the brake pressure; and
determining a brake capability of the vehicle based on the comparison between the actual deceleration rate and the expected deceleration rate.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the brake includes a brake component and the processor executes instructions to determine the deceleration capability by comparing a temperature of the brake component to a temperature threshold.

5. The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the processor executes instructions to:
determine a cooldown time based on the temperature of the brake component; and
in response to determining that the deceleration capability of the vehicle does not satisfy a second performance threshold:
identify an upcoming area to stop the vehicle, the upcoming area adjacent to the road; and
alert a user of the vehicle to stop the vehicle in the upcoming area, the alert including the cooldown time.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes instructions to generate a second brake check event, a duration between the first brake check event and the second brake check event based on at least one of a quality of the road, the deceleration capability of the vehicle, a load of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the road.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed, cause a processor to:
detect that a vehicle is in operation on a road;
detect, by accessing a navigation system, a portion of the road with a grade greater than a threshold grade;
identify, by accessing the navigation system, an exit of the road prior to the portion of the road;
generate a first brake check event at a predetermined distance before the exit;
determine a deceleration capability of the vehicle in response to the first brake check event;
compare the deceleration capability of the vehicle to a first performance threshold; and
in response to determining that the deceleration capability of the vehicle does not satisfy the first performance threshold, cause the vehicle to navigate to the exit.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:
engage a brake of the vehicle at a brake pressure;
compare an actual deceleration rate of the vehicle to an expected deceleration rate of the vehicle, the expected deceleration rate based on the brake pressure; and
determine a braking capability of the vehicle based on the comparison between the actual deceleration rate and the expected deceleration rate.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to determine the deceleration capability by comparing a temperature of a brake component of a brake of the vehicle to a temperature threshold.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to determine a cooldown time based on a temperature of a brake of the vehicle.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the first performance threshold is based on at least one of a magnitude of the grade, a load of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the road.

13. A method comprising:
detecting that a vehicle is in operation on a road;
detecting, by accessing a navigation system, a portion of the road with a grade greater than a threshold grade;
identifying, by accessing the navigation system, an exit of the road prior to the portion of the road;
generating a first brake check event at a predetermined distance before the exit;
determining a deceleration capability of the vehicle in response to the first brake check event;
comparing the deceleration capability of the vehicle to a first performance threshold; and
in response to determining that the deceleration capability of the vehicle does not satisfy the first performance threshold, causing the vehicle to navigate to the exit.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein determining the deceleration capability includes:
engaging a brake of the vehicle at a brake pressure;
comparing an actual deceleration rate of the vehicle to an expected deceleration rate of the vehicle, the expected deceleration rate based on the brake pressure; and
determining a brake capability of the vehicle based on the comparison between the actual deceleration rate and the expected deceleration rate.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein determining the deceleration capability includes comparing a temperature of a brake component of a brake of the vehicle to a temperature threshold.

16. The method of claim 15 , further including:
determining a cooldown time based on the temperature of the brake component; and
in response to determining that the deceleration capability of the vehicle does not satisfy a second performance threshold:
identifying an upcoming area to stop the vehicle, the upcoming area adjacent to the road; and
alerting a user of the vehicle to stop the vehicle in the upcoming area, the alert including the cooldown time.

17. The method of claim 13 , further including generating a second brake check event, a duration between the first brake check event and the second brake check event based on at least one of a quality of the road, the deceleration capability of the vehicle, a load of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the road.

18. The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the brake component is a first brake component, the temperature is a first temperature, and the processor executes instructions to further determine the deceleration capability based on the first temperature, a second temperature of a second brake component, a thermal model of the vehicle, and an ambient temperature of the vehicle.

19. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the first brake component is a brake pad and the second brake component is an electronic brake component.

20. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the processor executes instructions to determine the first performance threshold based on historic braking data of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Salter Stuart C
• Diamond Brendan
• Ogunbekun Timilehin
• O'Gorman Ryan
• Glickman David Brian
• Mchugh Kenneth Patrick

Classifications

• B60T2210/20

  Road shapes · CPC title

• B60T2250/04

  Vehicle reference speed; Vehicle body speed · CPC title

• B60T2270/88

  Pressure measurement in brake systems · CPC title

• B60T2210/36

  Global Positioning System [GPS] · CPC title

• B60T7/18

  operated by wayside apparatus · CPC title