Method for operating a vehicle brake system, and brake system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12377831-B2
Application number	US-202017594446-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2020
Priority date	Apr 18, 2019
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

A method for operating a vehicle brake system, wherein the brake system has at least one friction brake and at least one regenerative brake. A defined switching pattern is specified for switching between a self-cleaning operating mode for cleaning the friction brake and a normal operating mode of the brake system. The method includes determining information describing the state of the at least one friction brake, determining the state of the at least one friction brake from the information, determining whether the state satisfies a specific switching criterion, and, if the self-cleaning operating mode is to be activated according to the switching pattern and the state of the friction brake does not satisfy the switching criterion, suppressing activation of the self-cleaning operating mode and maintaining the normal operating mode.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating a vehicle brake system comprising at least one friction brake and at least one regenerative brake, the method comprising:
determining information which describes at least one friction brake;
determining a state of at least one friction brake based on the information;
determining according to a switching pattern that the state satisfies a specific switching criterion for switching between a self-cleaning operating mode for cleaning the at least one friction brake and a normal operating mode of the vehicle brake system, wherein the switching pattern is based on at least one of a timer interval between successive activations of the self-cleaning operating mode, a maximum number of braking operations between successive activations of the friction brake, and environmental conditions in the region of the vehicle;
switching to the self-cleaning operating mode for cleaning the at least one friction brake according to defined parameters when the state of the at least one friction brake does satisfy the switching criterion, wherein the switching criterion is a threshold of a deceleration effect of the at least one brake; and
suppressing activation of the self-cleaning operating mode and maintaining the normal operating mode when the state of the at least one friction brake does not satisfy the switching criterion.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the self-cleaning operating mode specifies a fixed relationship between a deceleration torque applied by the at least one friction brake and a deceleration torque applied by the at least one regenerative brake for decelerating the vehicle.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein only the at least one friction brake is used to decelerate the vehicle in the self-cleaning operating mode.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the friction brake comprises determining the state of the friction brake based on weather information in a region of the vehicle.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the weather information is determined by at least one sensor of the vehicle.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the weather information is determined from information sources outside the vehicle.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the information describing the state of the at least one friction brake is an energy input over a defined time period into at least one of the friction partners of the friction brake.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the defined time period comprises a time period since a last activation of the self-cleaning operating mode.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the information describing the state of the at least one friction brake is a vehicle speed, a vehicle deceleration, a slope of a roadway in a region of the vehicle or a time period since a last activation of the self-cleaning operating mode.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the state of the at least one friction brake is determined individually for the at least one friction brake or axle-wise.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein determining that the self-cleaning operating mode is to be activated according to the switching pattern comprises determining individually for each friction brake among the at least one friction brake or jointly for the at least one friction brake on a vehicle axle whether the self-cleaning operating mode is to be activated according to the switching pattern.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the suppressing comprises suppression of the activation of the self-cleaning operating mode in a wheel-specific manner.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the suppressing comprises suppression of the activation of the self-cleaning operating mode axle-wise.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
braking the at least one friction brake while in the self-cleaning operating mode;
comparing the information which describes the at least one friction brake during the braking with the defined parameters of the self-cleaning operating mode; and
determining self-cleaning of the at least one friction brake is achieved when the defined parameters of the self-cleaning mode are met;
determining self-cleaning of the at least one friction brake is not achieved when the defined parameters of the self-cleaning mode are not met.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14 , further comprising continuing in the self-cleaning operating mode until the defined parameters are met.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the threshold deceleration effect is an actual deceleration value of the vehicle during a specific deceleration time period compared to a threshold deceleration value of the vehicle during the specific deceleration time period.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the threshold deceleration effect is a measure of quantity of contaminants on the surface of the brake disk.

18. A method of operating a vehicle brake system comprising at least one friction brake and at least one regenerative brake, the method comprising:
determining information which describes at least one friction brake;
determining a state of at least one friction brake based on the information;
determining according that the vehicle brake system meets a switching pattern, wherein the switching pattern is based on at least one of a timer interval between successive activations of the self-cleaning operating mode, a maximum number of braking operations between successive activations of the friction brake, and environmental conditions in the region of the vehicle;
determining the state of the at least one brake satisfies a specific switching criterion, wherein the switching criterion is a threshold of a deceleration effect of the at least one brake;
switching to a self-cleaning operating mode for cleaning the at least one friction brake according to defined parameters when the switching criterion is met; and
suppressing activation of the self-cleaning operating mode and maintaining a normal operating mode when the switching criterion is not met.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the threshold deceleration effect is an actual deceleration value of the vehicle during a specific deceleration time period compared to a threshold deceleration value of the vehicle during the specific deceleration time period.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising:
comparing the information which describes the at least one friction brake during the braking with the defined parameters of the self-cleaning operating mode; and
determining self-cleaning of the at least one friction brake is achieved when the defined parameters of the self-cleaning mode are met; and
continuing in the self-cleaning operating mode until the defined parameters are met.

Assignees

• Continental Automotive Tech Gmbh

Inventors

• Gunselmann Christian
• Rodatos Alexander
• Horstmann Nils
• Bayghra Farid Abedini
• Katchan Roman
• Jung Lukas
• Smith Scott R

Classifications

• B60T2270/604

  Merging friction therewith; Adjusting their repartition · CPC title

• B60T2250/04

  Vehicle reference speed; Vehicle body speed · CPC title

• B60T2250/00

  Monitoring, detecting, estimating vehicle conditions · CPC title

• B60T2210/30

  Environment conditions or position therewithin · CPC title

• B60T2210/20

  Road shapes · CPC title