Braking system
First Claim
1. A braking system for cooperation in safely reducing the speed and stopping movement of a vehicle by minimizing brake failure, said vehicle having weight supporting wheel assemblies and a plurality of said assemblies having brakes associated therewith, said system including primary and secondary brake sections associated with wheel assemblies having brakes, means for sensing the temperature of each brake section, control means for receiving the sensed temperatures and for selectively activating, individually or in combination, the primary and secondary brake sections, said control means further including means for comparing the measured brake temperature with a predetermined brake temperature and activating said system in response thereto;
- whereby the primary section is initially engaged for braking until its temperature exceeds a predetermined critical value at which point a secondary brake section is engaged, said control means senses the temperature of the secondary brake section, and if said temperature is below the critical value, disengages the primary brake section, and said sensing means senses the temperature of the secondary brake section, and if said secondary brake section is above the critical temperature, said system engages the secondary while the primary is still engaged.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
There is disclosed herein a braking system for use in safely reducing the speed and stopping movement of vehicles, such as cars or trucks, or airplanes, by minimizing brake failure due to heat build-up and by providing auxiliary braking capacity. The system includes primary and secondary brake sections associated with weight-supporting and braking wheels, temperature sensors for sensing the temperature in each brake section, friction force sensors for sensing frictional forces in each section and pressure sensors for sensing hydraulic or pneumatic pressure. Controls receive the sensed temperature, friction forces and pressures and selectively activate, individually or in combination, the primary and secondary brake sections. The controls include an apparatus for comparing the measured pressure, friction forces and brake temperatures with predetermined values and automatically operating the braking system in response to those comparisons. A manual override is provided to permit manual operation of the brake system independent of the automatic mode. A logic system is provided for determining whether the primary section operates by itself, whether operation is switched to the secondary section, or whether both the primary and secondary sections operate in combination.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A braking system for cooperation in safely reducing the speed and stopping movement of a vehicle by minimizing brake failure, said vehicle having weight supporting wheel assemblies and a plurality of said assemblies having brakes associated therewith, said system including primary and secondary brake sections associated with wheel assemblies having brakes, means for sensing the temperature of each brake section, control means for receiving the sensed temperatures and for selectively activating, individually or in combination, the primary and secondary brake sections, said control means further including means for comparing the measured brake temperature with a predetermined brake temperature and activating said system in response thereto;
- whereby the primary section is initially engaged for braking until its temperature exceeds a predetermined critical value at which point a secondary brake section is engaged, said control means senses the temperature of the secondary brake section, and if said temperature is below the critical value, disengages the primary brake section, and said sensing means senses the temperature of the secondary brake section, and if said secondary brake section is above the critical temperature, said system engages the secondary while the primary is still engaged.
- View Dependent Claims (12)
- 2. A braking system for cooperation in safely reducing the speed and stopping movement of a vehicle by minimizing brake failure, said vehicle having weight supporting wheel assemblies and a plurality of said assemblies having brakes associated therewith, said system including primary and secondary brake sections associated with wheel assemblies having brakes associated therewith, means for sensing frictional forces associated with each brake section, control means for receiving the sensed frictional forces and for activating the primary and secondary sections, said control means including means for comparing the measured frictional forces with a predetermined value and activating said sections in response to the comparison, whereby the primary section is initially engaged for braking and, in the event the measured frictional forces are less than the predetermined frictional force engaging the secondary brake section.
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3. A braking system for cooperation in safely reducing the speed and stopping the movement of a vehicle by minimizing brake failure due to heat build up and by providing auxiliary braking capacity, said vehicle having weight supporting wheel assemblies and a plurality of said assemblies having brakes associated therewith, said system including:
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primary and secondary brake sections associated with those wheel assemblies having brakes associated therewith; means for sensing the temperature of each brake section; means for sensing the frictional forces associated with each section; control means for receiving the sensed temperatures and sensed frictional forces and for selectively activating, individually or in combination, the primary and secondary sections, said control means further including means for comparing the measured frictional force and measured brake temperature with predetermined values and activating said system in response to the comparison; whereby the primary section is initially engaged for braking until its temperature exceeds the predetermined critical value at which point a secondary brake section is engaged. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification