Patent ID: 7357462

Claim:
A hydraulic brake system for braking a moving component in a wind energy plant, comprising at least one piston/cylinder unit for activating and releasing a brake, the piston being biased into a braking position for activating the brake and the cylinder comprising a volume adapted to have a pressurized working fluid supplied thereto for moving the piston from the braking position into a release position for releasing the brake, a first supply line connected to the volume of the at least one piston/cylinder unit for the supply of working fluid from a reservoir, a pump arranged in the first supply line, a discharge line for the discharge of working fluid from the volume of the at least one piston/cylinder unit, a first valve and an element arranged in the discharge line for determining the flow resistance, a bypass line provided with a second valve and arranged for a flow in parallel to the discharge line, and a third valve for the selective interruption or maintenance of a fluid connection between the pump and the volume of the at least one piston/cylinder unit, and a drive unit for the first, second, and third valves wherein, at the start of a braking process, the drive unit closes the third valve and among the first and second valves in the discharge line and the bypass line, which in the released condition of the brake are in the closed condition, opens the first valve and, upon lapse of a presettable first time period from the opening of the first valve, opens the second valve.