A method for influencing the kinematic behavior of a vehicle, in particular a rail vehicle with at least one friction brake system, wherein a brake effect is generated by pressing at least one first and second friction elements against each other, where to achieve advantageous method conditions, temperatures of at least the first friction element are calculated from at least speed, brake pressure, external temperature of the vehicle and absolute times, and heat conduction through the first friction element and a speed-dependent cooling process of the first friction element are taken into consideration during the calculation, and where the kinematic behavior of the vehicle is influenced based on the calculation such that expensive fitting of the friction brake system with sensors for measuring friction element temperatures can be advantageously omitted, and the thermal state of the friction brake system can still be estimated with a high degree of precision.

Provided is an electric braking device that transmits power generated by an electric motor MTR to a pressing member PSN and causes pressing force to be generated by the pressing member PSN with respect to a friction member MSB. Hysteresis characteristics in the relation between the power supply amount to the electric motor and the pressing force of the pressing member are detected each time a predetermined point in time arrives. Upon determination of a “holding state in which the pressing force is held constant”, a minimum value for a power supply amount that makes it possible to maintain the current pressing force is obtained on the basis of the most recently detected hysteresis characteristics and the power supply amount is set to a value determined on the basis of the obtained minimum value for the power supply amount.

The force sensing device (1) comprising: a sheet (2) of piezoelectric; at least a first and a second interdigitated electrodes (5, 50) located on a first main face (3) and at least a third and fourth interdigitated electrodes (6, 60) located on a second main face (4) of the sheet (2), the first and third electrodes (5, 6) being aligned to each other along a normal stress direction (N), the second and fourth electrodes (50, 60) being aligned to each other along the normal stress direction (N); the piezoelectric material comprising first portions (100) facing the first and third electrodes (5, 6) interposed with second portions (101) facing the second and fourth electrodes (50, 60), the first portions (100) having bulk electric polarization with vector field (E) mostly oriented in alignment with the normal stress direction (N), the second portions (101) having bulk electric polarization with vector field (E) mostly oriented transversally to the normal stress direction (N).

The brake assembly includes a housing, a rotor disc. The rotor disc includes at least one internal cavity. The at least one internal cavity includes a pawl and a thermal fuse. In use, the thermal fuse is configured to maintain the position of the pawl in the at least one internal cavity when a temperature is below a predetermined threshold, and wherein the thermal fuse is configured to melt when a predetermined threshold of temperature is reached during braking to release the pawl out of the at least one internal cavity towards the housing. The housing includes at least one recess configured to receive the pawl.

A brake element is sensorized by at least one piezoceramic sensor arranged between a metallic support element and a block of friction material of a brake element, the sensor being completely embedded within the block. An electrical voltage signal generated by at least one piezoceramic sensor, without the need for a power supply, is picked up by an electrical circuit integrated into the metallic support element. The electrical voltage signal is processed in the form of equal length of samples per unit of time of the detected signal by successively processing in real time each sample of equal length of time sample of the signal by applying an algorithm. The algorithm is selected from at least one of a sequence of integrations of voltage values in the sample carried out in an interval of time in the order of milliseconds; FFT voltage data sample; and integral of the voltage data sample.

A graphite material device (1), wherein the graphite material device is provided, internally and/or externally, with at least one conductive pattern (2) and/or at least one sensor (2) and wherein the graphite material device is used as any one of a carbon brush, a brake disc, a bushing and a bearing.

A vehicle brake pad (100) comprising: a support plate (21); a friction pad (20); at least a shear force sensing device; and an electrical circuit configured to collect signals from the shear force sensing device (1); wherein the shear force sensing device (1) comprises: a sheet (2) of piezoelectric material having a first and a second main faces (3, 4) parallel to each other identifying a shear stress direction (S); at least a first digitated reading electrode (5) located on the first main face (3); at least a second digitated reading electrode (6) located on the second main face (4), the first and second reading electrodes (5, 6) having digits (5a, 6a) aligned along a reading direction (R) orthogonal to the stress shear direction (S); at least a first digitated polarizing electrode (7) located on the first main face (3) and interdigitated with the first digitated reading electrode (5); and at least a second digitated polarizing electrode (8) located on the second main face (4) and interdigitated with the second digitated reading electrode (6); and wherein the piezoelectric material has a bulk electric polarization with vector field (E) transversally oriented to the reading direction (R), each pair of aligned digits (5a, 6a) of the first and second reading electrodes (5, 6) enclosing a respective zone (2a) of the piezoelectric material having the

A vehicle includes a system and a method of monitoring a condition of a brake fluid. The system includes a first sensor configured to measure a fluid level of the brake fluid within a reservoir, a second sensor configured to measure a concentration of the brake fluid, a third sensor configured to measure a temperature of the brake fluid, and a processor. The processor is configured to estimate the condition of the brake fluid from the fluid level, the concentration and the temperature and send a signal to a display, the signal indicative of the condition of the brake fluid.

A method of controlling braking of a vehicle is provided to minimize heat generation in a brake system at a time of braking the vehicle while securing an appropriate braking force. The method includes determining whether an inclination condition for a road satisfies a preset condition, and when the inclination condition for the road satisfies the preset condition, performing cyclic brake control of alternately braking wheels of two or more different axles of the vehicle.

An indicator for monitoring temperature and wear of one or more aircraft brakes. One or more sensors are provided for sensing a parameter of usage, and an estimate of usage of the part can be determined based upon the signal indicating the sensed value of the parameter of usage of the aircraft part. A plurality of sensors can be provided for sensing usage of a plurality of parts of the aircraft, and the estimate of usage of the part can be stored for access of the estimate by ground personnel. In addition, the sensed usage data are critical inputs for the brake controller to regulate which brakes are applied.