Method for monitoring a brake for motor vehicles, brake system for implementing the method, and motor vehicle comprising same

1. A method for determining a width of an air gap between a brake pad and a friction partner of a pneumatically actuatable brake, the method comprising:

determining, by a brake wear sensor, a reference position value of the brake pad during unbraked travel of the vehicle;

determining multiple value pairs, each value pair comprising a respective brake pressure and a corresponding position value of the brake pad measured by the brake wear sensor under the presence of the respective brake pressure;

determining a characteristic function that defines characteristic position values of the brake pad for particular pressure values;

determining a contact position value of the brake pad defined by the characteristic function for a predetermined application pressure; and

determining the width of the air gap by subtracting the reference position value of the brake pad from the contact position value of the brake pad,

wherein determining the characteristic function comprises:

excluding, from the multiple value pairs, each value pair comprising a respective brake pressure that is less than a minimum threshold pressure so as to provide multiple remaining value pairs, and

performing interpolation on the multiple remaining value pairs to provide the characteristic function, and

wherein the threshold pressure is greater than the predetermined application pressure.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a fault is inferred if the determined width of the air gap falls below a predetermined lower limiting value or if the determined width of the air gap exceeds a predetermined upper limiting value.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the respective brake pressures of the multiple value pairs are control pressures of an electronic brake system.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein upon detection of a braking procedure including antilock engagement of an antilock control, the multiple value pairs are discarded for the determination of the air gap.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the characteristic function is determined by performing linear interpolation on the multiple remaining value pairs.

6. A brake system for a motor vehicle, comprising:

a pneumatically actuatable brake;

a brake wear sensor assigned to the pneumatically actuatable brake; and

a monitoring electronics system configured to determine a width of an air gap of the pneumatically actuatable brake,

wherein the brake wear sensor is connected to the monitoring electronics system, and

wherein the monitoring electronics system is configured to:

determine, by a brake wear sensor, a reference position value of the brake pad during unbraked travel of the vehicle;

determine multiple value pairs, each value pair comprising a respective brake pressure and a corresponding position value of the brake pad measured by the brake wear sensor under the presence of the respective brake pressure;

determine a characteristic function that defines characteristic position values of the brake pad for particular pressure values;

determine a contact position value of the brake pad defined by the characteristic function for a predetermined application pressure; and

determine the width of the air gap by subtracting the reference position value of the brake pad from the contact position value of the brake pad,

wherein the monitoring electronics system is configured to determine the characteristic function by:

excluding, from the multiple value pairs, each value pair comprising a respective brake pressure that is less than a minimum threshold pressure so as to provide multiple remaining value pairs, and

performing interpolation on the multiple remaining value pairs to provide the characteristic function, and

wherein the threshold pressure is greater than the predetermined application pressure.

7. The brake system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a lower limiting value and an upper limiting value for the width of the air gap are specified to the monitoring electronics system, wherein the monitoring electronics system is configured to infer a fault based on the determined width of the air gap falling below the lower limiting value or exceeding the upper limiting value.

8. The brake system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the brake is designed as a disc brake.

9. The brake system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the brake system is electronically controlled, and wherein a control pressure of the electronic brake system is made available to the monitoring electronics system.

10. The brake system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the brake system has an antilock control including an ABS electronics system.

11. The brake system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the monitoring electronics system is integrated into the ABS electronics system.

12. A motor vehicle comprising:

a brake system including:

a pneumatically actuatable brake;

a brake wear sensor assigned to the pneumatically actuatable brake; and

a monitoring electronics system configured to determine a width of an air gap of the pneumatically actuatable brake,

wherein the brake wear sensor is connected to the monitoring electronics system, and

wherein the monitoring electronics system is configured to:

determine, by a brake wear sensor, a reference position value of the brake pad during unbraked travel of the vehicle;

determine multiple value pairs, each value pair comprising a respective brake pressure and a corresponding position value of the brake pad measured by the brake wear sensor under the presence of the respective brake pressure;

determine a characteristic function that defines characteristic position values of the brake pad for particular pressure values;

determine a contact position value of the brake pad defined by the characteristic function for a predetermined application pressure; and

determine the width of the air gap by subtracting the reference position value of the brake pad from the contact position value of the brake pad,

wherein the monitoring electronics system is configured to determine the characteristic function by:

excluding, from the multiple value pairs, each value pair comprising a respective brake pressure that is less than a minimum threshold pressure so as to provide multiple remaining value pairs, and

performing interpolation on the multiple remaining value pairs to provide the characteristic function, and

wherein the threshold pressure is greater than the predetermined application pressure.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the multiple remaining value pairs include at least three remaining value pairs each having a different respective brake pressure value, and

wherein the characteristic function is determined by performing interpolation between pairs of the at least three remaining value pairs.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the respective brake pressures of the multiple value pairs are control pressures provided by a pressure modulator of the electronic brake system.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the respective brake pressures of the multiple value pairs are control pressures provided by a pressure modulator.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the minimum threshold pressure corresponds to a linear region of a brake pressure vs. brake pad position curve.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the minimum threshold pressure is 0.75 to 0.9 bar.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the predetermined application pressure is 0.3 bar.