Abstract: A brake controller is connected downstream of a primary vehicle dynamics computer and has a channel for controlling the yaw velocity at a desired value, and a channel for limiting the sideslip angle. The computer prescribes the desired value and the limit value, and determines which channel is effective on the basis of the driving situation. The two channels generate a control signal which is routed via a control amplifier having a proportional component and a differential component. An actuating signal which is used to input braking pressure at the wheel brakes is formed from the resulting signal components, the instantaneous driving situation being assigned in both cases to one of a plurality of classes, and this assignment being co-used to determine the wheels at which braking pressure is input.

Abstract: System for controlling yawing moment in a vehicle equipped with ABS and rear wheel steering includes a controller which generates a compensation steering angle for the rear wheels based on the difference between brake pressures at the front wheels. The difference is filtered so that the angle is zero up to a minimum pressure threshold and thereafter consists of a constant portion added to a variable portion which decreases with time. The compensation steering angle so generated may be modified by a correction factor dependent on the transverse acceleration of the vehicle and a further correction factor dependent on the velocity.

Abstract: The goal of this concept is to adjust a wheel slip value, during a controlled braking of a vehicle wheel, at which, on the one hand, the coefficient of adhesion .mu. in the longitudinal direction is near the maximum attainable value, and on the other hand, an adequate coefficient of adhesion is available in the transverse direction. This slip value is below the value at which the coefficient of adhesion in the longitudinal direction is at a maximum. While at the maximum coefficient of adhesion in the longitudinal direction the wheel slip curve .mu. (.lambda.) has a slope of zero, .mu. (.lambda.) assumes positive slopes at the slip value to be adjusted. In addition to the advantage of greater cornering forces, the concept presented offers the opportunity of purposefully limiting the yawning moments engaging the vehicle during controlled braking and thereby improving control of the vehicle.

Abstract: A brake pressure booster and modulator for vehicle brake systems, in which a displaceable part is disposed in a pressure chamber that is acted upon by a master cylinder and communicates with the wheel brake cylinders, this part being in turn part of a permanent magnet, so that with increasing or decreasing pressure from the master brake cylinder, a transfer storage of potential energy takes place to a simultaneously increasing extent in one or the other direction by a magnetic operative connection with a second magnet. To effect pressure modulations when anti-skid functions are realized, the second permanent magnet is in operative magnetic communication with the first magnet and simultaneously is subjected to the movement of this second permanent magnet to open a relief pressure chamber while simultaneously closing the primary pressure chamber.

Abstract: A spark plug for internal combustion engines comprises a center electrode enclosed in an insulating body enclosed in a metal housing, and a ground electrode. The insulating body has an end portion which faces the combustion chamber. An electrical field develops, resulting in a surface spark gap between two electrodes on the surface of the insulating body at the end portion thereof. The insulating body is transversely divided into the upper portion and the lower portion, of which the lower portion facing the combustion chamber is made of a material having dielectric constant 5-50 times higher than that of the upper portion.

Abstract: In an apparatus for damping courses of movement of two bodies or masses moving at variable velocities relative to one another and in their absolute positions, in particular for damping resilient wheel suspension systems in vehicles, in which a piston dividing a cylinder into two work chambers is dampingly affected in its particular movement direction (tension stage, compression stage) by controlled hydraulic throttle valves connected in series or in parallel with one another, parallel to the throttle valves, respective check valves opening in the opposite direction are provided, wherein the connections of all the valves remote from the work chamber connections are joined together and that a separate passive and (semi-) active damping effect be initiated. The necessary bandwidth of the frequency response of the electrohydraulic valves of apparatuses of this kind can be reduced drastically as a result.

Abstract: A method for ascertaining an optimal slip value .lambda. at at least one wheel of a vehicle, in order to be able to regulate the braking force optimally. To this end, at least the wheel speed is measured, and the vehicle speed is ascertained. By varying the braking pressure and the slip during driving, signal combinations for the wheel speed, the vehicle speed, the braking pressure and the tire/road contact force are ascertained and inserted into a given function V.sub.R (K+1). For the resultant equation system, the coefficients .alpha..sub.n can then be ascertained from which the coefficients a.sub.n of a general description of the .mu. slip curve can be ascertained. With these coefficients a.sub.n, the .mu. slip curve and its maximum, from which the optimal slip .lambda. can then be ascertained, are then clearly defined.

Abstract: A pressure modulator for anti-skid systems in vehicle brake systems, including a plunger/cylinder assembly actuatable merely by supplying electrical auxiliary energy and in the form of a linear actuator is incorporated into a hydraulic or pneumatic pressure line between a master brake cylinder and at least one associated wheel brake cylinder in such a way that upon the onset of ABS functions a pump plunger is displaced by a linear motor action in such a way that fluid pressure arriving from the master brake cylinder is counteracted while the wheel brake cylinder pressure is simultaneously relieved. By appropriate design including a double check valve, ASR functions (anti-slip regulation) are also attainable, for which the pressure modulator can be mounted directly in an appropriately shaped housing recess of a brake caliper such as that of a disk brake.

Abstract: A brake pressure booster for vehicle brake systems, which can also be used to realize anti-skid functions, including a displaceable element, in the form of a permanent magnet, disposed in a pressure chamber and acted upon indirectly by the master brake cylinder to apply pressure to a brake fluid communicating with a wheel brake cylinder. The pressure chamber is embodied such that with increasing or decreasing brake pressure of the master brake cylinder, a transfer storage of potential energy that simultaneously increases in one or the other direction takes place, whereby it becomes possible to raise or lower the pressure of the wheel brake cylinders in the manner of boosting. Furthermore, by providing an electrical exciter coil, influence can also be exerted upon the boosting action of the brake pressure booster by an additional influence upon a magnetic position in order to generate anti-skid functions.

Abstract: A method is described for ascertaining the set-point braking moment for the various wheels of a vehicle, in which to this end, signals dependent on the wheel speeds V.sub.Ri and the vehicle speed V.sub.F are used. The signals from which the set-point braking moments are ascertained are obtained by sending the signals corresponding to the wheel speeds and the vehicle speed through an especially embodied Kalman filter.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a method for the formation of an air-fuel mixture for an internal combustion engine, including an oxygen sensor exposed to the exhaust gas and responsive to the oxygen content of the exhaust gas, a signal-processing unit processing the output signals of the oxygen sensor, and a memory store for storing a set of characteristic curves dependent on at least one operating parameter of the internal combustion engine, the characteristic values thereof (F.sub..lambda.) determining the amount of fuel to be metered. In this method, a time-variable perturbation (.DELTA.F.sub..+-.) is superposed on the characteristic values (F.sub..lambda.), the oxygen sensor output signals (U.sub..lambda.) are evaluated with regard to their change due to the perturbation (.DELTA.F.sub..+-.), and the characteristic values (F.sub..lambda.) are suitably corrected to achieve an optimum air-fuel ratio. In this arrangement, the modulation frequency of the characteristic values (F.sub..lambda.

Abstract: The initiation and end of the application of a jolt control system to the internal combustion engine during gearshift operations is matched to then-present operating conditions by determining the engine speeds at which the control is to be initiated and ended as a function of the engine speed at the start of the gearshifting. For this purpose, the initial speed is digitalized and used as an address for a storage which contains the desired values. In a second embodiment, the speed at the end of the gearshift is determined and the values read out from storage are speed increment values which are added to the speed at the start of the gearshifting and subtracted from the speed at the end of the gearshift during downshift operations, and vice versa during upshift operations, to determine the engine speeds at which the jolt control is to be initiated and terminated.