Patent ID: 7353101

Claim:
A method of controlling a brake actuator having a piston to contact a brake member without determining an absolute position of the piston or the brake member, by utilizing a velocity of the piston relative to the brake member which has a non-constant contact position relative to the piston, comprising: receiving a velocity signal representative of a velocity of a piston associated with a brake actuator relative to a brake member for a wheel; determining continuously an estimated velocity signal of the piston relative to the brake member; determining a difference between the received velocity signal and the estimated velocity signal; updating continuously the estimated velocity signal based on the difference; determining an estimated position signal representative of an estimated position of the piston relative to the brake member based on the updated estimated velocity signal; and combining the received velocity signal and the estimated position signal of the piston to determine a control input signal to adjust a force applied by the brake actuator to brake the wheel.