By wire control of braking and acceleration

• Main Authors: LORING PETER A, FEENY STEVEN V, ERKO ROBERT J, GROSCHEN PAUL, MILUN RICHARD
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.09.2005
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OFVEHICLES; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

A rider surface maintenance vehicle with variable dynamic braking, in contrast to a mechanically-engaged braking system that uses a brake cable. A brake pedal engages a sensor that encodes the pedal position as an electronic signal. The electronic signal, along with the vehicle velocity, determines a machine deceleration rate, or braking rate, either by calculation, lookup table, or a combination of the two. The braking rate may be tuned so that the of the brake mimics or approximates the feel of a conventional mechanically-engaged brake that uses a brake cable. During stopping, once the vehicle passes below a threshold velocity, a parking brake is automatically engaged. The braking rate is converted to a duty cycle, and the braking is preferably accomplished by pulse width modulation (PWM) of an electrical load applied in parallel to the motor.