Patent ID: 8078377

Claim:
A compressed air supply system for a motor vehicle, comprising: a compressed air supply part including a compressor; an air dryer part including an air dryer cartridge, a throttle and a valve; a compressed air consuming part including compressed air consuming circuits including service brake circuits, at least said service brake circuits including compressed air tanks; a multi-circuit protective valve operable to supply said compressed air consuming circuits with compressed air; sensors operable to monitor pressure in said compressed air consuming circuits; and an electronic control device operable to receive and evaluate electrical signals from said sensors, said electronic control device being suitably programmed to adaptively optimize operation of said air dryer part based on compressed air tank volume and compressor output capacity by: determining the rate of increase in air pressure in at least one of said compressed air consuming circuits as a function of compressor speed during filling of said at least one of said compressed air consuming circuits, regenerating said air dryer cartridge from said at least one of said compressed air consuming circuits when said at least one of said compressed air consuming circuits is filled with compressed air, determining one of (i) the time for a pre-defined pressure drop and (ii) the pressure drop over a pre-defined time calculating the amount of air for regeneration from (a) the magnitude of said pressure drop, (b) regeneration time and (c) diameter of said throttle, calculating tank volume of a compressed air tank of said at least one of said compressed air consuming circuits, and calculating said compressor output capacity from said tank volume and at least one of said rate of increase in air pressure and filling time.