The invention relates to a method (300) for estimating a force (Fest, Fest1, Fest2, Fest3) applied by a caliper to a
brake disc of a
braking system (100) of a vehicle. The
braking system comprises: - at least one electro-hydraulic or electro-mechanical
actuator (1) of a
disc brake (2), - at least one
electronic control unit (20) connected to said at least one electro-hydraulic or electro-mechanical
actuator to receive data representative of one or more values of
electric current (I) supplied to the
electric motor associated with the electro-hydraulic or electro-mechanical
actuator and of one or more values of the current position (xp) of the motor; the
electronic control unit comprises a functional block of contact
estimation (21) between a pad of the caliper and the
brake disc and a functional block of force
estimation (22) operatively associated with the functional block of contact
estimation. The method comprises the steps of: - receiving (301) as input, by the functional block of contact estimation, the data representative of one or more values of
electric current supplied to the
electric motor and of one or more values of the current position of the actuator
piston; - detecting (302), by the functional block of contact estimation, a value of
contact position (xTD) representative of the position taken by the
piston of the electro-hydraulic or electro-mechanical actuator following the contact between a pad of the caliper and said
brake disc; - generating (303) as output, by the functional block of contact estimation, a first datum (TD) representative of a contact occurred between the pad and the brake disc and a second datum (xp – xTD) indicative of the difference between said one or more values of current position of the actuator
piston and the detected value of the
contact position; - making available (304), to the functional block of force estimation, the first and second datum; - estimating (305), by the functional block of force estimation, a value of the force (Fest) applied by the caliper to the brake disc by calculating a stiffness curve applied to the second datum.