Patent ID: 7325884

Claim:
A vehicle braking system comprising: a manually-operated master cylinder; a first brake module, said brake module comprising: a motor-driven pump supplying pressurized fluid; a first circuit of fluid supplied by said pump; a pressure regulating valve arrangement selectively supplying fluid from said pump to said first circuit so as to control the pressure of said fluid in said first circuit; a second circuit of brake fluid supplied by said master cylinder; and a third circuit of brake fluid supplied by said master cylinder; a first pair of brake actuators operated by the application of pressurized brake fluid in said second circuit; a second pair of brake actuators operated by the application of pressurized brake fluid in said third circuit; a first fluid separator unit coupled to said first circuit and said second circuit for substantially preventing the intermixing of pressurized brake fluid between said first circuit and said second circuit, said first fluid separator unit having a moveable pressure boundary which enables, through movement thereof said second circuit of pressurized brake fluid to selectively act upon said first pair of brake actuators in response to said first circuit of pressurized brake fluid acting upon said first fluid separator unit; a second fluid separator unit coupled to said first circuit and said third circuit for substantially preventing the intermixing of pressurized brake fluid of said first circuit and said third circuit, said second fluid separator unit having a moveable pressure boundary which enables, through movement thereof said third circuit of pressurized brake fluid to selectively act upon said second pair of brake actuators in response to said first circuit of pressurized brake fluid acting upon said second fluid separator unit; and a second brake module formed separately from the first brake module, said second brake module comprising fluidic components to provide secondary braking functionality to said first pair of brake actuators and said second pair of brake actuators; wherein said first brake module and said second brake module cooperate to selectively apply a braking torque to one brake actuator of said first pair and said second pair of brake actuators.