Dynamic Control of Disc Brake Performance

Since the driver obtains an important feedback of vehicle dynamics and its braking capabilities depending on a brake performance change, it represents an important aspect of vehicle performance and its quality of use. Regarding modern automotive brakes, the extreme demands have been imposed on the friction couple and its tribological performance. Different sensitivity of braking torque, i.e. a disc brake performance versus the influence of the friction couple interaction, under different braking conditions (applied pressure, speed and brake interface temperature), is one of the most important the disc brake properties. That is why, control of braking performance in the sense of providing stable braking performance during a braking cycle and their dynamic adaptation to the driver demands and/or demands imposed by ABS/ESC, are very important. Investigation presented in this paper contributes to the efforts in the direction of intelligent dynamic control of automotive braking systems performance. The dynamic model has been developed in the paper in order to provide dynamic prediction and control of the disc brake performance during a braking cycle. This model provided stabilization of the brake performance and their maximization versus the brake pedal travel, selected by a driver, and influence of the current values of initial speed, the brake activation pressure, and the brake interface temperature.