Smart braking devices, systems, and methods with signal conditioners
First Claim
1. An electrical system for generating brake pad data for a vehicle, wherein the electrical system comprises:
- a piezoelectric sensor configured to generate a sensor signal;
a passive conditioning stage configured to generate an analog conditioned signal based on conditioning the sensor signal;
an active conditioning stage configured to generate an analog output signal based on processing the analog conditioned signal; and
a control unit configured to process the analog output signal to generate brake pad data, wherein the brake pad data comprises a digital representation of the sensor signal, wherein the active conditioning stage comprises an operational amplifier configured to buffer the analog conditioned signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Various braking devices, systems, and methods are disclosed. In some embodiments, the braking device includes a support element, a block of friction material supported by the support element, at least one piezoceramic sensor supported by the support element and interposed between the block of friction material (and the support element, and a protective element located at the piezoceramic sensor and embedding the latter. The protective element can have one or more layers of resin-based material applied to protect the piezoceramic sensor and direct a predetermined part of the external compression force onto an area of the support element surrounding the piezoceramic sensor. In some embodiments, a signal transduction device is provided and includes at least one piezoceramic sensor supported on a support element and has an integral protective coating having properties of mechanical and temperature resistance.
85 Citations
14 Claims
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1. An electrical system for generating brake pad data for a vehicle, wherein the electrical system comprises:
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a piezoelectric sensor configured to generate a sensor signal; a passive conditioning stage configured to generate an analog conditioned signal based on conditioning the sensor signal; an active conditioning stage configured to generate an analog output signal based on processing the analog conditioned signal; and a control unit configured to process the analog output signal to generate brake pad data, wherein the brake pad data comprises a digital representation of the sensor signal, wherein the active conditioning stage comprises an operational amplifier configured to buffer the analog conditioned signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An electrical system for generating brake pad data for a vehicle, wherein the electrical system comprises:
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a piezoelectric sensor configured to generate a sensor signal; a passive conditioning stage configured to generate an analog conditioned signal based on conditioning the sensor signal; an active conditioning stage configured to generate an analog output signal based on processing the analog conditioned signal; and a control unit configured to process the analog output signal to generate brake pad data, wherein the brake pad data comprises a digital representation of the sensor signal, and wherein the control unit comprises a digitizer configured to generate a digital signal based on digitizing the analog output signal, a digital integration stage configured to generate a digital integrated signal based on integrating the digital signal, and a low frequency noise filtering stage configured to generate the brake pad data based on filtering the digital integrated signal. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of generating brake pad data for a vehicle, the method comprising:
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generating a sensor signal using a piezoelectric sensor of a brake pad; generating an analog conditioned signal based on conditioning the sensor signal using a passive conditioning stage, wherein the analog conditioned signal is substantially proportional to a time derivative of a charge stored in the piezoelectric sensor; generating an analog output signal based on processing the analog conditioned signal using an active conditioning stage; providing the analog output signal to a control unit that is remote from the brake pad; and processing the analog output signal using the control unit to generate brake pad data, wherein said processing the analog output signal using the control unit comprises digitizing the analog output signal to generate a digitized signal, integrating the digitized signal to generate an integrated signal, and generating the brake pad data by low frequency noise filtering of the integrated signal.
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14. A method of generating brake pad data for a vehicle, the method comprising:
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generating a sensor signal using a piezoelectric sensor of a brake pad; generating an analog conditioned signal based on conditioning the sensor signal using a passive conditioning stage, wherein the analog conditioned signal is substantially proportional to a time derivative of a charge stored in the piezoelectric sensor; generating an analog output signal based on processing the analog conditioned signal using an active conditioning stage; providing the analog output signal to a control unit that is remote from the brake pad; and processing the analog output signal using the control unit to generate brake pad data, wherein said generating the active analog output signal comprises using an operational amplifier of the active conditioning stage to buffer the analog conditioned signal.
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Specification