Patent ID: 6179390
Filing Date: 2001-01-30
Classification: B60T

Abstract:
An electronic brake controller for a towing vehicle for controlling actuation of electric wheel brakes of a towed vehicle in response to actuation of brakes of the towing vehicle, comprising:a force sensor disposed at a brake pedal of said towing vehicle in a manner to sense a braking force applied by a driver to said brake pedal of said towing vehicle, said sensor being positioned to receive the braking force applied by the driver by pressing on said brake pedal and to exhibit a change in electrical conductance or resistance that is proportional to said braking force,a brake actuation signal generator responsive to the driver pressing on said brake pedal to provide a brake actuation signal,an electronic control unit connected to said brake actuation signal generator and to said force sensor, said control unit including a microprocessor for determining an initial signal of said force sensor representative of initial electrical conductance or resistance thereof when there is no brake actuation signal and storing said initial signal in a memory of said microprocessor, said microprocessor being responsive to said brake actuation signal for receiving a subsequent braking force signal from said force sensor representative of a subsequent electrical conductance or resistance thereof when the driver presses on said brake pedal, comparing said initial signal and said subsequent braking force signal to provide an output signal equal to a difference between said initial signal and said subsequent braking force signal proportional to braking force applied by the driver to said brake pedal, and providing said output signal to said electric wheel brakes of said towed vehicle.