US 6,685,281 B2Granted

Parking brake control system

Assignee55 Brake Company

InventorsG. David MacGregor, Noble Hamilton

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A brake control device prevents movement of a vehicle, when an unsafe condition exists, by automatically applying the parking or other brake. The brake control system may prevent movement should the unsafe condition exist within, on or around, a towed device such as a trailer, a trailer-house or other recreational or non-recreational equipment. The brake control system may set a brake or parking device on the towed device whenever the towed device is disconnected from the motorized vehicle, or whenever equipment on the towed vehicle is extending outward or is otherwise un-stowed in a position unsafe for traveling, whether or not the towed vehicle is connected to the towing vehicle. Interface connections from the towed device to the powered towing vehicle may include wireless, electrical wire, fiber optics, analog, digital, or others. The preferred brake control system separates the controller and electronic operator switch and light/indicia that are handled or viewed by the driver from the actuation system that applies or locks the brakes, to use space more efficiently and to improve braking response time. These signals, such as electronic/electric/optic/wireless signals, travel between the cab and the brake management equipment to apply and release the brakes, and may be much more compact and more easily routed or transmitted through a vehicle than conventional air/hydraulic lines.

Claims18

Dependent claims

In a vehicle comprising a motorized vehicle with a driver's cab and a towed vehicle being pulled by the motorized vehicle and having a parking brake, a brake control system comprising a controller system and a management system, the controller system comprising:

sensors located on or near the vehicle comprising sensors that are located on the towed vehicle;
an electronic controller located in the driver's cab adapted to receive signals from a plurality of sensors that signal conditions unsafe for vehicle movement on or near the vehicle, the controller adapted to command the management system to apply the parking brake when one or more of said sensors signal unsafe conditions;
an electronic operator switch located in the vehicle cab and accessible to a driver of the vehicle, the operator switch having an apply-brake position and a release-brake position and operatively connected to the controller to communicate apply-brake and release-brake commands to the management system via the controller;
and
the management system located in the towed vehicle comprising means for applying the parking brake in response to apply-brake signals from the controller and for releasing the parking brake in response to release-brake signals from the controller;
wherein said sensors on the towed vehicle signal the controller by means selected form the group consisting of electrical connections, electronic connections, data connections, fiber optics, wireless transmissions, and combinations thereof;
wherein the controller communicates with the management system by means selected from the group consisting of electrical connections, electronic connections, data connections, fiber optics, wireless transmissions, and combinations thereof;
wherein the motorized vehicle does not have a hand or foot operated parking brake handle in the cab that is mechanically linked to the parking brake.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/171,090Filed 11 Jun 2002 · continuation in part
Priority: 1 Jul 1998
Published: US 2003/0006644 A19 Jan 2003
Granted: 3 Feb 2004
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

B60T 17/16
Brake cylinders other than ultimate actuators: locking of brake cylinders
B60T 7/10
Hand actuated: disposition of hand control
B60T 7/12
Brake-action initiating means: for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger
B60T 13/261
Compressed-air systems: systems with both indirect application and application by springs or weights and released by compressed air

Family

Application09/108,863Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 1 Jul 1998
Application09/521,824Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 9 Mar 2000
Application09/724,761Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 28 Nov 2000
Application60/297,682Us provisional application · filed 11 Jun 2001
Application60/297,622Us provisional application · filed 13 Jun 2001
US 6,322,161 B1Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 27 Nov 2001
US 2003/0006644 A1Pre-grant publication · published 9 Jan 2003
US 6,450,587 B1Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 6,685,281 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.