Patent ID: 7244000

Claim:
A method of providing an electrical braking function through an electrical motor in a surface maintenance vehicle to approximate the feel of a mechanical braking system, comprising the steps of: a. engaging a brake pedal to initiate braking function; b. sensing the position of the brake pedal and encoding the pedal position as an electronic signal; c. sensing the vehicle velocity; d. using said vehicle velocity and said signal, determining a desired machine deceleration rate to approximate the sensation of mechanical braking; e. determining the desired conductance applied in parallel to the motor to create a dynamic braking force from the motor; f. generating a series of pulses of frequency at least as great as the response frequency of the motor and creating an effective conductance; g: applying the effective conductance in parallel with the motor to cause machine deceleration by dynamic braking, and h. re-adjusting the conductance in response to deceleration to proximate the feel of mechanical braking, whereby the vehicle is decelerated.