Hella Gmbh & Co Kgaa

Dennis Mark Burke

Werner Austermeier

Henning Irle

Claus Viethen

Ralf Ridder

Andreas Mueller

Kerim Florian Huge

Marcus Irrgang

Kenneth James Nadeau

Nicholas Michae Jordan

Rajeevkumar Pancholi

A pedal emulator for a vehicle is provided comprising a base part for mounting the pedal emulator to a structure of the vehicle. A pedal lever is pivotable around a rotary axis of the base part. A force generation unit exerts a counterforce on the pedal lever by means of at least one coupling element for mechanically coupling the force generation unit with the pedal lever. The counterforce works counter to an actuating force exerted on the pedal lever. The force generation unit and the coupling element are designed and arranged in such a way that a progression of the counterforce along a pedal travel of the pedal lever () takes the form of a non-linear progression in a pedal travel-counterforce diagram.

Pedal emulator for a vehicle

A pedal emulator () is provided. The pedal emulator includes an emulator piston () coupled to a damper (, D) that is contained within a housing (). The damper is surrounded by first (, S) and second (, S) springs that are carried by a lower spring seat (), the lower spring seat being upwardly biased by a third spring (S), for example a wave spring. The first and second springs and the third spring cooperate to provide a counter-force that is tailored to the desired feel of the pedal. First and second sensors measure travel () and force in response to downward compression of the emulator piston, and the damper provides hysteresis upon return travel of the emulator piston. A method comprising: providing a brake pedal emulator () including an emulator piston (), the emulator piston () being operatively coupled to a brake pedal, wherein the brake pedal emulator () is adapted to provide a first force response during a first portion of travel of the emulator piston () and a second force response during a second portion of travel of the emulator piston (); detecting a sequence of actuations of the brake pedal using the brake pedal emulator () for conversion into a selected driver input command; and providing vibratory feedback to the brake pedal using a haptic actuator, the vibratory feedback being in response to the selection of a driver input command.

Pedal emulator for a motor vehicle

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Canton, MI, United States of America

Dennis Mark Burke