METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING VEHICLE BRAKE EFFECTIVENESS

摘要

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining brake effectiveness and changes in mass of a wheeled vehicle. The apparatus comprises a means for manually or automatically inputting vehicle mass, a means for determining brake system pressure during deceleration of the vehicle in a normal operating mode, a means for determining road slope, a means to determine air friction and engine friction of the vehicle, a means for determining predicted deceleration of the vehicle, a means for determining actual deceleration of the vehicle, a calculating means for calculating, from data representing actual deceleration, road slope, air friction, engine friction, brake system pressure and mass, vehicle brake effectiveness by comparing actual deceleration with predicted deceleration for the vehicle under comparable circumstances, and generating a signal representative of vehicle brake effectiveness, and a means to record and store data.