A pressure control scheme for air brakes in commercial vehicles

by Bowlin, Christopher Leland

This research is focused on developing a control scheme for regulating the pressure in the brake chamber of an air brake system found in most commercial vehicles like trucks, tractor-trailers and buses. Such a control scheme can be used for providing the ground work for future systems such as forward collision avoidance systems, advanced anti-lock brake systems and differential braking systems. The development of this controller involves two tasks. The first task was the development of a control scheme for achieving the desired pressure in the brake chamber. This scheme was based on a mathematical model of the treadle valve of the air brake system. The second task was the implementation of this control scheme on the experimental facility that was set up at Texas A&M University. The results indicate successful control of a desired brake chamber pressure for a demonstrated range of controller gains.