Abstract: An apparatus for use in an active suspension system includes a mass damper for damping a first vertical resonance of a wheel having vertical and horizontal diameters. The wheel defines a wheel plane that passes through a center of the wheel and the wheel's vertical and horizontal diameters. The wheel also defines a transverse wheel plane that is perpendicular to the wheel plane and that intersects the wheel-plane along the vertical diameter. The mass damper includes a damping mass coupled to the wheel. The damping mass is constrained from motion relative to the wheel in all but a vertical direction and has a mass distribution that is asymmetric relative to the transverse wheel plane.

Abstract: A disc brake having a rotor and a caliper is provided and includes a first and second brake pad situated on the same side of the rotor whereby in a non-braking state the first brake pad is in contact with the rotor and the second brake pad is offset from the rotor. In a light braking state the first pad acts against the rotor with additional force to thereby slow or stop the vehicle. In a heavier braking state both the first and second brake pads act against the rotor to thereby slow or stop the vehicle.

Abstract: An electronic control unit which includes: a sensor board to which a sensor for detecting a predetermined physical quantity is attached; a control board which controls an operation of an electric part based on the physical quantity detected by the sensor; and a housing which accommodates the sensor board and the control board, wherein the housing has a first room for accommodating the electric part, a second room for accommodating the sensor board and the control hoard in a stacked condition, and a partition portion for separating the first room and the second room from each other, wherein a recess which is opened to the second room is formed in the partition portion, and a sensor accommodating portion for accommodating the sensor is formed using the recess.

Abstract: A vehicle disc brake includes pad retainers. The pad retainer includes retainer portions disposed on torque bearing faces, pad spring-back pieces projected from radially inner sides of the retainer portions and disposed on lug piece movably supporting faces, and a connecting piece connecting radially outer sides of the retainer portions. The pad spring-back piece includes a spring-back portion extended from a base end portion thereof and inclined gradually radially inwards from the base end portion towards a distal end portion, so that the distal end portion is allowed to be brought into abutment with the lug piece movably supporting face, in such a state that the lug piece is assembled to the pad guide portion via the pad retainer and a pad abutment portion extended radially outwards from the spring-back portion to be brought into abutment with a radially inner face of the lug piece.

Abstract: A hydraulic brake lever apparatus is provided with a brake lever housing, a piston, a mounting structure, a brake lever and a fluid reservoir. The brake lever housing includes a cylinder having the piston movably disposed within the cylinder. The mounting structure mounts the brake lever housing to a bicycle handlebar. The brake lever pivotally is mounted to the brake lever housing and moves the piston within the cylinder in response to pivotal movement of the brake lever relative to the brake lever housing. The fluid reservoir fluidly communicates with the cylinder via a port that communicates hydraulic fluid therebetween. The fluid reservoir has a cylindrical shape and lies in a side by side relationship with the cylinder to prevent gas bubbles that have moves from the cylinder to the fluid reservoir via the port from flowing back to the cylinder.

Abstract: A colloidal damper includes: a cylinder; a piston guided and supported by the cylinder and defining a closed space in association with the cylinder; a porous body having a multiplicity of first pores and being housed in the closed space; a liquid contained in the closed space together with the porous body, the liquid flowing into the first pores of the porous body when pressurized, and flowing out from the first pores of the porous body when the pressure is relieved. The damper may include a partition wall which has a multiplicity of second pores and which isolates the porous body from a frictional area, each of the second pores having a diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the porous body. The porous body may have an outer diameter larger than the size of the gap formed between the cylinder and the piston.

Abstract: The invention relates to a pneumatic brake cylinder including a housing, a piston that can be moved in the housing and is used to transfer the pneumatic pressure to a brake, and a device for automatic adjustment in the event of wear of the brake linings, the device including a spindle, an adjusting nut, and a piston tube that can be engaged with the adjusting nut. According to the invention, a torque applied to the piston tube by the adjusting nut is introduced by the piston tube directly into elements connected to the housing in a fixed manner.

Abstract: A controller for controlling braking of a wheel of a vehicle. The controller includes a first connection to a friction brake, a second connection to a motor/generator, a third connection to a plurality of sensors, and a fuzzy logic module. The motor/generator is configured to drive the wheel in a driving mode and to brake the wheel in a regenerative braking mode. Operating parameters of the vehicle are sensed by the plurality of sensors. The fuzzy logic module is configured to determine a stability of the vehicle and the wheel based on data from the plurality of sensors. The fuzzy logic module allocates braking force between the friction brake and the motor/generator operating in the regenerative braking mode based on the stability of the vehicle and the wheel.

Abstract: A rotary damper 1 includes a synthetic resin-made accommodating case 4 for accommodating in its interior 2 a viscous fluid 3 which is constituted by silicone oil or the like and whose viscosity declines with a temperature rise, and a synthetic resin-made rotor 9 which is disposed in the interior 2 of the accommodating case 4 rotatably, i.e., so as to be rotatable in R1 and R2 directions about an axis O, and which partitions the interior 2 of the accommodating case 4 into at least two chambers, i.e., in this embodiment, two chambers consisting of chambers 5 and 6 and two chambers consisting of chambers 7 and 8, in cooperation with the accommodating case 4.

Abstract: A damping mechanism (1) generates a damping force in response to movement of a fluid between a first fluid chamber (R1) and a second fluid chamber (R2) of a fluid pressure shock absorber. The damping mechanism (1) comprises a partition wall member (2) that defines the first fluid chamber (R1) and the second fluid chamber (R2), and a plurality of chokes (4) provided in parallel, which penetrate the partition wall member (2) to connect the first fluid chamber (R1) and the second fluid chamber (R2). A leaf valve (8, 9) having a valve body that is constituted by only a single leaf is preferably provided in an opening portion of the chokes (4). The chokes (4) generate a damping force that is substantially commensurate with a speed of the fluid passing therethrough, and the damping mechanism (1) exhibits a linear damping force characteristic while having a simple and compact constitution.

Abstract: A parking brake system for a motor vehicle comprising a control element and at least two electromechanical actuators. Each electromechanical actuator is configured for generating a parking brake force at one wheel of the motor vehicle. The electromechanical actuators are each provided with wheel electronic systems. The control element is connected via a brake controller to the wheel electronic system of a first electromechanical actuator by at least a first signal line. The control element is connected via a brake controller to the wheel electronic system of a second electromechanical actuator by a second signal line. At least a third signal line connects the control element directly to the wheel electronic systems or to one of the electromechanical actuators to convey a driver's request.

Abstract: In a vehicle capable of performing regenerative braking and fluid pressure braking, in changing from the regenerative braking to the fluid pressure braking in response to a decrease of a vehicle speed due to braking, a fluid pressure braking force is increased from 0 at a first increasing rate when the vehicle speed falls to or below a first threshold value (V1), and the fluid pressure braking force is increased at a second increasing rate, which is higher than the first increasing rate, when the vehicle speed falls to or below a second threshold value (V2), which is smaller than the first threshold value (V1). With this configuration, while occurrence of a squeal noise of a wheel cylinder can be prevented by setting the first increasing rate of the fluid pressure braking force at a small value, a required braking force can be generated without any problem by setting the second increasing rate, to be used subsequently thereto, of the fluid pressure braking force at a large value.

Abstract: When an EPB performs a locking operation of operating a parking brake, a pressure-decreasing limit control is performed until a driving shaft contacts a piston. Accordingly, even when the time of decreasing the W/C pressure by a service brake is equal to the time of brining the driving shaft having moved by the motor driving of the EPB into contact with the piston are equal to each other, it is possible to prevent the piston, which has been urged to the driving shaft with the decreasing of the W/C pressure, from colliding with the driving shaft with a great impact, thereby preventing a large load from being applied to the driving shaft.

Abstract: A linear guide with a guide carriage longitudinally movably arranged on a guide rail, which is preferably U-shaped and a braking device effectively arranged between the guide rail and the guide carriage. An actuator for actuating the braking device is provided and the actuator has an electro-active polymer effectively arranged in the longitudinal axis of the linear guide which engages around the guide rail for actuating the braking device.

Abstract: A wear adjustor adjusts the wear of brake pads and a brake disc of a pneumatic disc brake having a rotary lever brake application device. The wear adjustor is insertable into an adjusting spindle and attached to a caliper of the disc brake by a bearing disc. An axial bearing is formed axially on a side of a drive ring, and a ball ramp coupling with a freewheel function is formed axially on the opposite side of the drive ring. The ball ramp coupling includes balls and a drive socket which is arranged axially, on the drive side, between the axial bearing and the balls thereof, a cone coupling being arranged between the coupling ring on the output side and an elastic sleeve for a cylinder spring. The output-side coupling ring is designed for a working rotational angle defined by at least one fixed abutment.

Abstract: A brake master cylinder of the invention is to dispose a main oil cylinder and an oil storing space on a handlebar base. In addition, a sleeve engaged with the main oil cylinder is disposed in the oil storing space. The one end of the oil storing space has a fastening seat passed by a draw bar linked to the brake handlebar, and a positioning sheath of the fastening seat is utilized to engage with the sleeve. A leakage prevention component is disposed between the fastening seat and the handlebar base. A bushing integrally extended from the leakage prevention component is utilized to encapsulate the positioning sheath of the fastening seat and the sleeve. Accordingly, the brake master cylinder having convenient assembly and better sealing effect for hydraulic oil is obtained.

Abstract: A stationary shaft supports a fluid-tight rotatable drum which receives an elongated flexible restraining member. The shaft has a threaded portion which receives an actuating nut connected to rotate with the drum through a detent mechanism. Spaced compression springs extend axially between the nut and a stack of interfitting annular brake disks and brake plates, with the disks splined to the shaft and the plates rotatable with the drum. The stack is immersed in an oil-shear cooling fluid that contacts the drum, and the nut and springs are effective to compress the stack with increasing force in response to rotation of the drum for progressively increasing the resistance torque on the drum as the restraining member is pulled from the drum. The detent mechanism limits the compression force on the stack and the tension force on the restraining member while the drum continues to rotate.

Abstract: In a brake control device and a brake control method, when a shift to a brake mode for backup involving separation of a supply path of working fluid is performed at the time of detection of an abnormality during braking, a differential pressure acting between an outlet opening and an inlet opening of an open-close valve which is provided between a hydraulic pressure source that is used during the backup brake mode and wheel cylinders and which needs to be opened during the backup brake mode is lessened prior to the separation of the supply path of working fluid so that the open-close valve is opened in accordance with a valve-opening command. Therefore, at the time of switch of the control mode, the confinement of wheel cylinder pressure is avoided.

Abstract: A brake cylinder for a pneumatic vehicle brake, particularly for a commercial vehicle includes a spring-loaded brake section for performing parking brake operations by a spring-loaded spring, and a service brake section for performing compressed air-actuated service brake operations. The spring-loaded brake section and the service brake section are combined in a structural unit in a housing. The housing is divided by a piston into a pressure chamber to which compressed air can be applied and a further space. The pressure chamber serves the actuation of the service brake section in the pressure space and the spring-loaded spring of the spring-loaded section being disposed in the additional space on the opposite side of the piston. The spring-loaded spring acts on an additional spring-loaded piston in the space. The piston is lockable in relation to the piston by a pneumatically operable locking mechanism and releasable from the same by releasing the locking mechanism.

Abstract: The present invention makes it possible to increase safety of parts and ensure durability and smooth operability in braking by increasing axial stiffness of a motor while keeping the spring effect of connecting springs driving an upper wedge with force from the motor.