Control system and logic system for independent control of vehicle brakes

Abstract

Vehicle propulsion systems many times have a transmission with a directional control mechanism, right and left drive units, and a differential steer mechanism. In these vehicles, there is no way of independently stopping one of the drive units in order to provide a pivot turn for better control of the vehicle when maneuvering in tight areas and on slopes. In order to ensure that the operator has selective, independent control of applying one or the other of the right or left brakes for steering, a control and a logic system is provided in a propulsion system to automatically apply the right or left brake on the respective drive unit with respect to operator input conditions. In this arrangement, if the operator selects a clockwise steer of the vehicle, it will steer in the clockwise direction regardless of whether the vehicle is moving in the forward direction or the reverse direction. Likewise, the same is true if the operator selects a counterclockwise steer direction of the vehicle. This is accomplished by the control and logic systems sensing the travel direction of the vehicle, the steer direction of the vehicle, and automatically applying the proper brake based on the input conditions. The control and logic systems set forth herein provides a selective independent control of the respective right and left brakes to provide more precise control of the vehicle when operating in tight areas and on slopes.