The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 24, 2004
Filed:
May. 14, 2002
Karl F. Kiefer, Conroe, TX (US);
Other;
Abstract
A solid-state brake condition monitoring system for a vehicle brake system having a rotor rotatable about an axis and a pad mounted on an extendable metal shoe that frictionally engages the pad with the rotor for creating braking force. The monitoring system includes at least one thermoelectric power converter cell secured on a heat absorbing surface of the brake system for producing electrical power in response to thermal energy, an electronic distance sensing transducer powered by the power converter cell for sensing the distance of the metal shoe relative thereto when extended and outputting an electrical signal corresponding to the sensed distance, the signal being indicative of pad wear, and a signal processing and RF transmitting module coupled with the distance sensing transducer and powered by the power converter cell for receiving the electronic signal from the distance sensing transducer and transmitting a RF signal corresponding to the signal indicative of pad wear to a remote RF receiver.