ELECTRIC BRAKE APPARATUS

• US 20150274139A1
• Filed: 03/25/2015
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Astemo Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.), Mazda Motor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.), Mazda Motor Corporation
• Inventors: HASHIDA, Kenji, YOKOYAMA, Wataru, MATSUBARA, Kenichiro, OKADA, Michiharu, UEHARA, Shigeyuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,714,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 13/741 acting on an ultimate actuator
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2270/402 Back-up
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/10 Disposition of hand control
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/17 Using electrical or electronic regulation means to control braking detecting or indicating faulty operation B60T8/885
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/172 Determining control parameters used in the regulation, e.g. by calculations involving measured or detected parameters B60T8/17551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/885 using electrical circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2121/24 using motors
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 55/226 in which the common actuating member is moved axially , e.g. floating caliper disc brakes

Abstract

An electric brake apparatus includes an electric actuator configured to actuate a brake mechanism according to an actuation request signal, and an actuator controller configured to control an operation of the electric actuator with use of a power source mounted at a vehicle to perform control of holding and a release of braking by the brake mechanism. When a system recovers and the actuator controller detects that the control of the holding or the release has been interrupted with an uncompleted control state since system down occurred in the middle of the control of the holding or the release of the braking by the brake mechanism, the actuator controller maintains the interrupted state until a new actuation request signal is issued, and controls the operation of the electric actuator according to the content of the new actuation request signal.

Claims

1. An electric brake apparatus comprising:

an electric actuator configured to actuate a brake mechanism according to an actuation request signal; and

an actuator controller configured to control an operation of the electric actuator with use of a power source mounted at a vehicle to perform control of holding and a release of braking by the brake mechanism,

wherein, when a system recovers and the actuator controller detects that the control of the holding or the release is interrupted with an uncompleted control state after system down occurs in the middle of the control of the holding or the release of the braking by the brake mechanism, the actuator controller is configured to maintain the interrupted state until a new actuation request signal is issued, and is configured to control the operation of the electric actuator according to a content of the new actuation request signal when the new actuation request signal is issued.

2. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the actuator controller is configured to restart the control according to the content indicated by the new actuation request signal regardless of whether the content of the new actuation request signal is the same as or different from the control state of the uncompleted control.

3. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the vehicle is stopped and the content of the new actuation request signal indicates the holding, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the holding in progress or the release in progress, the actuator controller is configured to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to hold the braking.

4. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the vehicle is stopped and the content of the new actuation request signal indicates the release, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the holding in progress or the release in progress, the actuator controller is configured to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to release the braking.

5. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the actuator controller is configured to restart the control according to the new actuation request signal if the content of the new actuation request signal is the same as the control state of the uncompleted control, and is configured to prohibit a restart of the control according to the content indicated by the new actuation request signal if the content of the new actuation request signal is different from the control state of the uncompleted control.

6. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the vehicle is stopped and the new actuation request signal indicates the holding, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the release in progress, the actuator controller is configured not to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to hold the braking.

7. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the vehicle is stopped and the new actuation request signal indicates the release, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the holding in progress, the actuator controller is configured not to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to release the braking.

8. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the vehicle is running, the actuator controller is configured to prohibit a restart of the control according to the content indicated by the new actuation request signal that is the actuation request signal for the holding by the brake mechanism even if the actuator controller detects that the control of the holding or the release is interrupted without being completed.

9. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, when the vehicle is running and the content of the new actuation request signal indicates the release, the actuator controller is configured to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to release the braking regardless of whether the content of the new actuation request signal is the same as or different from the control state of the uncompleted control.

10. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, the actuator controller is configured not to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to hold the braking if the control state of the uncompleted control is unknown.

19. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, the brake mechanism further includes a memory for storing a control state of the brake mechanism,

when a system recovers from the system down, if the control state stored in the memory represents that the holding or the release is interrupted in the middle of the control, the actuator controller is configured to maintain the interrupted state in the middle of the control of the holding or the release until a new actuation request signal is issued, and is configured to control the operation of the electric actuator according to a content of the new actuation request signal when the new actuation request signal is issued.

11. An electric brake apparatus comprising:

an electric actuator configured to actuate a brake mechanism according to an actuation request signal; and

an actuator controller configured to control an operation of the electric actuator with use of a power source mounted at a vehicle to perform control of holding and a release of braking by the brake mechanism,

wherein, when a system recovers and the actuator controller detects that the control of the holding or the release is interrupted with an uncompleted control state after system down occurs in the middle of the control of the holding or the release of the braking by the brake mechanism, if the vehicle is stopped, the actuator controller is configured to maintain the interrupted state until a new actuation request signal is issued, and is configured to control the operation of the electric actuator according to a content indicated by the new actuation request signal when the new actuation request signal is issued regardless of whether the content of the new actuation request signal is the same as or different from the control state of the uncompleted control.

12. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, the actuator controller is configured to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to hold the braking, when the vehicle is stopped and the content of the new actuation request signal indicates the holding, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the holding in progress or the release in progress.

13. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, the actuator controller is configured to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to release the braking, when the vehicle is stopped and the content of the new actuation request signal indicates the release, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the holding in progress or the release in progress.

14. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, the actuator controller is configured not to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to hold the braking if the control state of the uncompleted control is unknown.

15. An electric brake apparatus comprising:

an electric actuator configured to actuate a brake mechanism according to an actuation request signal; and

an actuator controller configured to control an operation of the electric actuator with use of a power source mounted at a vehicle to perform control of holding and a release of braking by the brake mechanism,

wherein, when a system recovers and the actuator controller detects that the control of the holding or the release is interrupted with an uncompleted control state after system down occurs in the middle of the control of the holding or the release of the braking by the brake mechanism, if the vehicle is stopped, the actuator controller is configured to maintain the interrupted state until a new actuation request signal is issued, and is configured to control the operation of the electric actuator according to a content of the new actuation request signal if the content of the new actuation request signal is the same as the control state of the uncompleted control while prohibiting a restart of the control according to the content indicated by the new actuation request signal if the content of the new actuation request signal is different from the control state of the uncompleted control, when the new actuation request signal is issued.

16. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 15, wherein, when the vehicle is stopped and the content of the new actuation request signal indicates the holding, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the release in progress, the actuator controller is configured not to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to hold the braking.

17. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 15, wherein, when the vehicle is stopped and the new actuation request signal indicates the release, if the control state of the uncompleted control indicates the holding in progress, the actuator controller is configured not to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to release the braking.

18. The electric brake apparatus according to claim 15, wherein, the actuator controller is configured not to cause the electric actuator to actuate the brake mechanism to hold the braking if the control state of the uncompleted control is unknown.