Housing device and plunger for use in a vehicle brake system, brake system and method for operating the brake system

Abstract

The housing device (110) used in the braking device (105) for the vehicle (100) has a piston chamber (117), a sensor chamber (120), and a sensor unit (125). The piston chamber (117) is configured to house a plunger (115) that is linearly movable within the piston chamber (117) by operation by a driver. The sensor chamber (120) is separated from the piston chamber (117) and has a sensor unit (125) disposed within the sensor chamber (120). The sensor unit (125) is configured to recognize the position and / or movement of the plunger (115) within the piston chamber (117) and to cause braking of the vehicle (100).

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present approach relates to a housing arrangement for use in a braking system for a vehicle, a piston for use in a braking system, a braking system including a housing arrangement and a piston, and a method for actuating a braking system.

[0002] DE 10 2014 112014 A1 describes a method for controlling a service brake system of a vehicle and a service brake valve arrangement for such a service brake system.

[0003] Against this background, the object of the present approach is to provide an improved housing arrangement for use in a braking system for a vehicle, an improved piston for use in a braking system, a braking system comprising the improved housing arrangement and the improved piston, and finally an improved method for actuating the braking system.

[0004] This problem is solved by a housing arrangement having the features of apparatus claim 1, a piston according to claim 8, a braking device according to claim 10, a method according to claim 11, a device according to claim 12 and a computer program according to claim 13.

[0005] The advantage that can be gained by the proposed approach is that the duration of activation of the braking device can be increased.

[0006] The housing device for use in a braking device for a vehicle includes a piston chamber, a sensor chamber, and a sensor unit. The piston chamber is configured to accommodate a piston that is linearly movable within the piston chamber via a plunger-spring set upon operation by a driver. The sensor chamber is separated from the piston chamber and includes a sensor unit disposed within the sensor chamber. The sensor unit is configured to recognize a position and additionally or alternatively a movement of the plunger within the piston chamber to cause a braking action of the vehicle.

[0007] The plunger-piston set is movable in the piston chamber by the driver's actuation, for example by manual pressing or foot actuation, to indicate the driver's braking intention. Depending on the intensity of the driver's actuation, i.e. depending on the resulting linear movement of the piston, the desired braking intensity by the driver can be recognized. The sensor unit is configured to detect this movement, i.e. the stroke of the plunger. Since the housing arrangement proposed herein has a chamber for the piston and a chamber for the sensor unit separated from each other, advantageously the sensor unit is not influenced by the movement of the piston. Thus, for example during the movement of the piston, lubricating grease, which may damage the function of the sensor unit, does not reach the sensor unit from the piston chamber. The durability or the operating period of this sensor unit can therefore be increased.

[0008] The sensor unit may comprise at least one Hall sensor and additionally or alternatively a reed switch configured to detect a magnetic field originating from the plunger and to recognize the position and additionally or alternatively the movement of the plunger, thus allowing a contactless, yet accurate, recognition of the position and additionally or alternatively the movement of the plunger.

[0009] The piston chamber may have a plunger opening for receiving a plunger piston section of the piston, and the sensor chamber may be arranged at the end of the piston chamber that is closer to the plunger opening. The plunger piston section means the section of the piston that is operated by the driver to indicate the braking intention, i.e. that is pressed into the piston chamber. The plunger opening may be arranged on the upper side of the piston chamber. The plunger opening may be a through opening through the upper side of the piston chamber or through a housing cover of the piston chamber. In this case, the plunger of the plunger piston section may protrude beyond the piston chamber through the plunger opening in order to enable the operation. The sensor chamber may be arranged on a side wall of the housing device that extends transversely to the upper side, so that the linear movement of the plunger piston section can be recognized from the side. The sensor chamber may be arranged inside the piston chamber or outside the piston chamber.

[0010] For example, the piston chamber and the sensor chamber may be fluidically separated from each other by a separation wall, or the piston chamber and the sensor chamber may be airtightly separated from each other by a separation wall, thereby preventing overflow of liquid, grease, or air between the piston chamber and the sensor chamber.

[0011] The wall thickness of the separation wall may be smaller than the housing wall thickness of the housing section of the housing device adjacent to the separation wall, and additionally or alternatively the separation wall may comprise a non-ferromagnetic material, so that the field lines of the magnetic field originating from the plunger can be detected through the separation wall.

[0012] Furthermore, it is advantageous if the sensor chamber according to one embodiment has a cover which constitutes an outer wall of the housing device and which is additionally or alternatively designed to be removable, so that removal or replacement of the sensor unit or further electronic devices in the sensor chamber is possible quickly and simply.

[0013] The piston chamber may have a compressed air connection opening, which may open in particular on a side wall of the piston chamber facing away from the sensor chamber. Such a compressed air connection opening may serve to enable braking of the vehicle without any action by the driver. For this purpose, the compressed air connection opening may open, for example, substantially in the center of the side wall of the piston chamber facing away from the sensor chamber, for example substantially in the center of the area of ​​the piston where the piston spring may be arranged. Thus, during the compressed air operation, the plunger can be prevented from being moved by the compressed air, and sufficient construction space remains in the side wall for the sensor chamber. In particular in the embodiment with the compressed air connection opening, the sensor chamber can be separated from the piston chamber in an advantageously gas-tight manner. Thus, the sensor unit can be protected against compressed air, and no additional reinforcement of the cover of the sensor chamber is necessary.

[0014] Furthermore, a plunger for a braking device is proposed, which is arranged or can be arranged in a piston chamber of the housing device described above and has a generator element for defining the position and additionally or alternatively the movement of the plunger in this piston chamber, in particular a piston having a plunger piston section for operation by the driver, a control piston section and additionally or alternatively a piston spring arranged between the plunger piston section and the control piston section. Such a piston is suitable for use with a housing device. The generator element of the plunger may be arranged on an outer wall of the plunger piston section and may additionally or alternatively have at least one magnet for generating a magnetic field. Thus, the above-mentioned detection of the magnetic field through the housing device is possible. The magnet may be arranged on the plunger piston section facing the sensor chamber.

[0015] The brake device has a housing device according to one of the above-mentioned variations and a plunger according to one of the above-mentioned variations that is arranged or can be arranged in the housing device. The brake device may be a foot brake device or a hand brake device for a vehicle.

[0016] A method for actuating one of a plurality of braking devices as described above, comprising: Recognizing the position or movement of a plunger within a piston chamber; utilizing the position or movement recognized in the recognizing step to output a sensor signal configured to cause a braking action of the vehicle; It has.

[0017] The method may be implemented, for example, in software or hardware or a mixture of software and hardware, for example provided in a control device.

[0018] The approach proposed herein further provides a device adapted to perform, control or realize the steps of the method variants proposed herein in a corresponding apparatus. This implementation variant of the approach in the form of a device also allows for a rapid and efficient solution of the problem underlying the approach.

[0019] For this purpose, the device may have at least one calculation unit for processing signals or data, at least one storage unit for storing signals or data, at least one interface to sensors or actuators for reading sensor signals from the sensors or outputting data or control signals to the actuators, and / or at least one communication interface for reading or outputting data embedded in a communication protocol. The calculation unit may be, for example, a signal processor, a microcontroller or the like. The storage unit may be a flash memory, an EPROM or a magnetic storage unit. The communication interface may be configured to read or output data wirelessly and / or via a wired connection. In this case, a communication interface that can read or output data via a wired connection can read or output such data, for example electrically or optically, from a corresponding data transmission line or output it to a corresponding data transmission line.

[0020] A device can be understood here as an electrical device that processes a sensor signal and outputs a control signal and / or a data signal depending on the sensor signal. The device can have an interface that can be configured by hardware and / or software. In a hardware configuration, the interface can be, for example, part of a so-called system ASIC, which includes the different functions of the device. However, it is also possible that the interface is a dedicated integrated circuit or at least partly consists of separate components. In a software configuration, the interface can be a software module, which is, for example, present in a microcontroller alongside other software modules.

[0021] In an advantageous configuration, the device controls the sensor signal to cause a braking operation of the vehicle. For this purpose, the device can, for example, recognize the position or movement of a plunger in a piston chamber and output a sensor signal using the recognized position or movement. The control is performed via an actuator, for example a sensor unit for recognizing the position or movement and an output device for outputting the sensor signal.

[0022] Several examples of the approach proposed herein are detailed in the following description in conjunction with the drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] 1 is a cross-sectional view of a vehicle equipped with a braking device according to an embodiment having a housing device and a piston; [Diagram 2] 1 is a cross-sectional view of a braking device according to an embodiment; [Diagram 3] 1 is a cross-sectional view of a braking device according to an embodiment; [Figure 4] 4 is a flow diagram of a method for actuating a braking device according to one embodiment.

[0024] In the following description of the preferred embodiment of the present approach, the same or similar reference numbers are used for elements that operate in a similar manner and are shown in different figures, without repeating the description of these elements.

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a vehicle 100 with a braking device 105 according to one embodiment having a housing arrangement 110 and a plunger 115.

[0026] By way of example only, the brake device 105 is according to the present embodiment accommodated on or in the vehicle 100 and / or configured as a foot brake device for operation by the foot. According to an alternative embodiment, the brake device 105 is configured as a hand brake device. The brake device 105 comprises a housing arrangement 110 and a plunger 115. The plunger 115 is accommodated in the housing arrangement 110 in the ready-to-operate state of the brake device 105 shown in Fig. 1. The brake device 105 is according to the present embodiment shown in a rest state in which the brake device 105 is not operated.

[0027] The housing arrangement 110 includes a piston chamber 117, a sensor chamber 120, and a sensor unit 125. The piston chamber 117 is configured to accommodate a plunger 115 that is linearly movable within the piston chamber 117 upon operation by the driver. The sensor chamber 120 is separated from the piston chamber 117 and includes a sensor unit 125 disposed within the sensor chamber 120. The sensor unit 125 is configured to recognize a position and / or a movement of the plunger 115 within the piston chamber 117 to cause a braking action of the vehicle 100.

[0028] The details of the housing arrangement 110 and / or plunger 115 described below are optional.

[0029] The plunger 115 is accommodated in the piston chamber 117 and comprises a generator element 127 for determining the position and / or movement of the plunger 115 in the piston chamber 117. According to the present embodiment, the plunger 115 comprises a plunger piston section 130 for operation by the driver, a control piston section 135, and / or a piston spring 140 arranged between the plunger piston section 130 and the control piston section 135. According to the present embodiment, the generator element 127 is arranged on an outer wall of the plunger piston section 130 and / or comprises at least one magnet for generating a magnetic field, which is arranged in the plunger piston section 130 facing the sensor chamber 120 according to the present embodiment.

[0030] The sensor unit 125 comprises at least one Hall sensor and / or a reed switch which is arranged to detect a magnetic field originating from the plunger 115 and thus to recognize the position and / or the movement of the plunger 115. The piston chamber 117 has, according to the present embodiment, a plunger opening 145 for receiving the plunger piston section 130 of the plunger 115. The sensor chamber 120 is arranged at the end of the piston chamber 117 which is closer to the plunger opening 145. A plunger 150 of the plunger piston section 130 protrudes from the piston chamber 117 according to the present embodiment, thereby allowing the plunger 115 to be operated by the driver. The plunger opening 145 is arranged, according to the present embodiment, on an upper side 152 of the piston chamber 117 and / or the sensor chamber 120 is arranged, according to the present embodiment, on a side wall 153 of the housing device 110 which extends transversely to the upper side 152. The piston chamber 117 and the sensor chamber 120 are, according to the present embodiment, separated from each other in terms of fluid by a separation wall 155. The wall thickness of this separation wall 155 is according to the present embodiment smaller than the housing wall thickness of the housing section 157 of the housing arrangement 110 adjacent to the separation wall 155 and / or the separation wall 155 comprises a non-ferromagnetic material. The sensor chamber 120 has a cover 160 in the form of an electronics cover, which constitutes an outer wall of the housing arrangement 110 and / or is configured to be removable. According to the present embodiment, the cover 160 constitutes the wall of the sensor chamber 120 facing away from the separation wall 155. The sensor unit 125 is according to the present embodiment part of a device 165, which may also be called electronics, which is also arranged in the sensor chamber 120. According to the present embodiment, the piston chamber 117 has a compressed air connection opening 170, which according to the present embodiment opens into a side wall 175 of the piston chamber 117 facing away from the sensor chamber 120 and / or the side wall 153. The compressed air connection opening 170 opens, according to the present embodiment, substantially in the center of the opposite side wall 175, i.e. substantially in the center of the piston chamber 117 in the area in which the piston spring 140 of the plunger 115 is arranged.

[0031] In the following, the details of the braking device 105 and the housing device 110 will be explained more precisely once again.

[0032] The brake device 105 has a housing arrangement 110. In this housing arrangement 110, a plunger piston section 130 of the plunger 115 with a plunger 150 protruding through a plunger opening 145 in the form of a cover opening of a housing cover 180 of the housing arrangement 110 is accommodated in an axially movable manner. According to one embodiment, the plunger 150 is connected from above, i.e. from its end arranged on the outside of the housing arrangement 110, to a service brake actuation mechanism in the form of a foot brake plate. When the driver operates the foot brake plate, the plunger 150 is thus pressed into the plunger opening 145, and the plunger piston section 130 is moved downwards by the actuation force. According to the embodiment, the plunger piston section 130 transmits the actuation force preferably via a piston spring 140, which is for example configured as a compression spring, to a control piston section 135, which is also axially movably supported in the piston chamber 117.

[0033] The braking system 105 proposed herein may also be referred to as a space-separated detection foot brake module. The challenge of the approach proposed herein is to separate the sensor chamber 120, also referred to as the "electronics chamber", from the piston chamber 117, also referred to as the "piston working chamber", in the foot brake module and still detect the stroke / movement caused in the piston working chamber by the driver.

[0034] Unlike potentiometers, possibly positionable in the electronics chamber, with a mechanical lever protruding into the piston working chamber and mechanically operated there, or Hall sensors, mechanically attached to the plunger present in the piston working chamber and arranged on a board in the electronics chamber with a generator element protruding into the electronics chamber, or possible inductive sensors with a coil positioned in the piston working chamber and contact-connected directly or via a flat connector to a board located in the electronics chamber, the sensor unit 125 of the housing device 110 proposed herein detects the position and / or movement of the plunger 115, advantageously without mechanically contacting the plunger 115, i.e. in a contactless manner, so that the grease present in the piston chamber 117 and the wear debris generated over the service life do not come into contact with the electronics. A further advantage is that in an electronically regulated foot brake module in which compressed air is supplied to the piston chamber 117 via the compressed air connection opening 170 in order to move the plunger 115 independently of the driver's will, the housing device 110 proposed in this specification ensures that the electronic device in the sensor chamber 120 is not supplied with compressed air and thus does not come into contact with the medium present in the compressed air.

[0035] Thus, the basic idea of ​​the invention is to spatially separate the sensor unit 125 in the form of a sensing element from the generator element 127 while nevertheless ensuring functionality.

[0036] In summary, the housing arrangement 110 proposed herein achieves the following advantages:

[0037] The sensor unit 125, which may comprise the board or evaluation electronics, is protected against grease present in the piston chamber 117, mechanical wear particles that occur and possible condensation.

[0038] In an electronically regulated foot brake module, where compressed air is supplied to the piston working chamber / electronics chamber in order to move the piston independently of the driver's will, on the one hand, the electronics is not supplied with compressed air and is not in contact with the media present in the compressed air, and on the other hand, no additional reinforcement of the cover 160 or the use of additional components is required to withstand the pressures that arise.

[0039] According to the present embodiment, the plunger 115 has a magnet, which acts as a generator element 127 and / or is arranged in the piston chamber 117 in the plunger piston section 130. The magnet arranged in the plunger piston section 130 is directly subjected to the driver's intention in the form of a movement or stroke. The piston chamber 117 is separated from the sensor chamber 120 by a wall thickness that is reduced to the minimum required in the region of the generator element 127, so that the field lines of the generator element 127 are also generated in the sensor chamber 120. The housing material of the housing device 110 and / or the separating wall 155 with the correspondingly reduced wall thickness are formed according to the present embodiment from aluminum and / or plastic. The sensor unit 125 according to the present embodiment comprises a Hall chip and / or a Reed switch, which is positioned in the device 165 or in a separate support element in the sensor chamber 120, and in this case utilizes these field lines, by means of which the driver's intention in the form of a stroke or movement is detected and / or a switch is operated. According to an alternative embodiment, the reduced wall thickness of the separating wall 155 is not realized in the same housing, but also as a separate component assembled in the housing between the piston chamber 117 and the sensor chamber 120.

[0040] In general, the plunger 150, plunger piston section 130 and / or plunger 115 may (but need not) be formed as one (e.g., integral) component, with the lower portion (plunger piston section 130 in this configuration) acting as the generator element or magnet-type detector.

[0041] In Fig. 2, a cross-sectional view of the braking device 105 according to an embodiment is shown. This embodiment may be the embodiment of the braking device 105 described with reference to Fig. 1, with the difference that the braking device 105 is shown in the state in which it is supplied with compressed air 200 according to the present embodiment. The position of the plunger piston section 130 as well as the generator element 127 remains unchanged with respect to the rest state of the braking device 105 shown in Fig. 1. In contrast, the control piston section 135 is moved further away from the plunger piston section 130 by the compressed air operation. The separating wall 155 is arranged in the present embodiment to separate the piston chamber 117 from the sensor chamber 120 in an airtight manner, so that the compressed air 200 cannot enter the sensor chamber 120 during the compressed air operation.

[0042] In Fig. 3, a cross-sectional view of a brake device 105 according to an embodiment is shown. This embodiment may be the embodiment of the brake device 105 described with reference to Fig. 1 or 2, with the difference that the brake device 105 is shown in a state actuated by the driver's foot actuation 300 according to this embodiment. The plunger piston section 130 as well as the position of the generator element 127 are arranged in a downwardly displaced position compared to the rest state of the brake device 105 shown in Fig. 1. The control piston section 135 is also displaced further downward via the piston spring 140.

[0043] The sensor unit 125, according to the present embodiment, recognizes the position or movement of the plunger 115 in the piston chamber 117. Besides the sensor unit 125, the device 165, according to the present embodiment, comprises an output device configured to utilize the recognized position or movement to output a sensor signal 305 representative of said recognized position or movement. The output device outputs the sensor signal 305, according to the present embodiment, to a braking mechanism 310 of the vehicle. The braking mechanism 310 is configured to utilize the sensor signal 305 to perform a braking operation.

[0044] A flow diagram of a method 400 for activating a braking device according to an embodiment is shown in Figure 4. The braking device may be one of the braking devices described with reference to one of Figures 1 to 3.

[0045] The method 400 includes a recognition step 405 and an output step 410. In the recognition step 405, a position or movement of a piston within a piston chamber is recognized. In the output step 410, a sensor signal is output using the position or movement recognized in the recognition step 405. The sensor signal is configured to cause a braking action of the vehicle.

[0046] The method steps proposed herein may be performed repeatedly and in a different order than that described.

[0047] If an example includes an "and / or" combination between a first feature and a second feature, this should be read as meaning that the example has both the first feature and the second feature according to one embodiment, and only the first feature or only the second feature according to another embodiment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0048] 100 vehicles 105 Braking device 110 Housing device 115 Plunger 117 Piston chamber 120 Sensor Room 125 Sensor Unit 127 Generator Elements 130 Plunger piston section 135 Control piston section 140 Piston spring 145 Plunger opening 150 Plunger 152 Upper 153 Side wall 155 Separation wall 157 Housing Division 160 Cover 165 devices 170 Compressed air connection opening 175 Opposite side wall 180 Housing cover 200 Compressed Air 300 foot operation 305 Sensor Signal 310 Braking mechanism 400 Method for activating a braking device 405 Recognition Steps 410 Output Step

Claims

1. A housing device (110) for use in a braking device (105) for a vehicle (100), the housing device (110) comprising: a piston chamber (117) for accommodating a plunger (115) linearly movable therein by operation by an operator; a sensor chamber (120) separated from the piston chamber (117), the sensor chamber (120) comprising a sensor unit (125) configured to recognize a position and / or a movement of the plunger (115) within the piston chamber (117) and to cause a braking action of the vehicle (100); having The piston chamber (117) has a compressed air connection opening (170) that opens into a side wall (175) of the piston chamber (117) opposite the sensor chamber (120). A housing apparatus (110).

2. The housing device (110) of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit (125) comprises at least one Hall sensor and / or a reed switch configured to detect a magnetic field originating from the plunger (115) and recognize the position and / or the movement of the plunger (115).

3. 3. The housing device (110) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the piston chamber (117) has a plunger opening (145) for accommodating a plunger piston section (130) of the plunger (115), and the sensor chamber (120) is arranged at an end of the piston chamber (117) closer to the plunger opening (145).

4. 4. The housing arrangement (110) according to claim 1, wherein the piston chamber (117) and the sensor chamber (120) are fluid-tightly and / or gas-tightly separated from each other by a separating wall (155).

5. The housing arrangement (110) of claim 4, wherein a wall thickness of the separation wall (155) is less than a housing wall thickness of a housing section (157) of the housing arrangement (110) adjacent the separation wall (155) and / or the separation wall (155) comprises a non-ferromagnetic material.

6. The housing arrangement (110) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the sensor chamber (120) comprises a cover (160) that constitutes an outer wall of the housing arrangement (110) and / or is configured to be removable.

7. A plunger (115) for a braking device (105), the plunger (115) being arranged or disposable in the piston chamber (117) of a housing device (110) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the plunger (115) having a generator element (127) for defining the position and / or the movement of the plunger (115) in the piston chamber (117), the plunger (115) having a plunger piston section (130) for operation by a driver, a control piston section (135), and a piston spring (140) arranged between the plunger piston section (130) and the control piston section (135).

8. The plunger (115) of claim 7, wherein the generator element (127) is disposed on an outer wall of the plunger piston section (130) and / or comprises at least one magnet for generating a magnetic field.

9. A braking device (105) comprising a housing arrangement (110) according to any one of claims 1 to 6 and a plunger (115) according to claim 7 or 8, which is arranged or can be arranged in the housing arrangement (110).

10. 10. A method (400) for actuating a braking device (105) according to claim 9, comprising: Recognizing (405) the position or movement of the plunger (115) within the piston chamber (117); using the position or the movement recognized in the recognition step (405) to output (410) a sensor signal (305) configured to cause a braking action of the vehicle (100); The method (400).

11. A device (165) configured to perform and / or control the steps of recognizing (405) and outputting (410) of the method (400) of claim 10 in the sensor unit (125).

12. A computer program configured to perform and / or control the method (400) of claim 10.

13. 13. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon the computer program of claim 12.

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