Patent ID: 7530649

Claim:
A brake apparatus for a vehicle comprising: a master cylinder having a master piston moved in response to operation of a manually operated braking member, and a master pressure chamber defined ahead of said master piston for generating hydraulic pressure according to an amount of advancing operation of said manually operated braking member including a stroke of said manually operated braking member; wheel brake cylinders operatively mounted on wheels of said vehicle for applying braking force to said wheels, with the hydraulic pressure fed from said master pressure chamber; an atmospheric pressure reservoir for storing brake fluid to supply the brake fluid to said master cylinder, said master pressure chamber being communicated with said atmospheric pressure reservoir when the stroke of said manually operated braking member is equal to or smaller than a predetermined stroke; an electromagnetic valve disposed in a passage between said master pressure chamber and said wheel brake cylinders; braking operation detection means for detecting the amount of operation of said manually operated braking member; a hydraulic pressure pump with an output port thereof connected to a passage between said electromagnetic valve and said wheel brake cylinders; control means for controlling said electromagnetic valve and said hydraulic pressure pump to supply the hydraulic pressure to said wheel brake cylinders according to the amount of operation of said manually operated braking member detected by said braking operation detection means, when the stroke of said manually operated braking member is equal to or smaller than the predetermined stroke; an orifice provided in a passage between said master pressure chamber and said atmospheric pressure reservoir; a first check valve disposed in parallel with said electromagnetic valve to allow a flow of the brake fluid from said master pressure chamber to said wheel brake cylinders, and prohibit a reverse flow of the brake fluid; and regenerative braking means for collecting braking energy when said vehicle is braked, wherein the predetermined stroke is set to be larger than the stroke of said manually operated braking member at which said regenerative braking means generates a maximal regenerative braking force.