Search Results

Hydraulic retarders are extensively used in heavy-duty vehicles because of their advantages, such as their large braking torque and long continuous operating hours. They can reduce the vehicle velocity by converting the kinetic energy of a traveling vehicle to the thermal energy of the working fluid. The water medium retarder is a new type of hydraulic retarder with the characteristics of high power density and simple structure. It uses the engine's coolant as the working medium, and the heat is directly taken away by the vehicle cooling system. Therefore, the heavy-duty vehicle can achieve long-term continuous braking during the downhill process. One of the main functions of water medium retarder is driving downhill at a constant speed which determines whether the vehicle drives stably and safely. Therefore, studying the constant-speed control strategy during downhill driving is particularly important.

Hydraulic retarders have been widely used in heavy-duty vehicles because of its advantages such as large braking torque and long operating hours. They can be used instead of service brakes in non-emergency braking conditions and can also reduce frequency and time of driver’s actions in braking process, thereby minimizing heat-related problems. In order to accurately produce braking torque needed for the vehicle in time by using hydraulic retarder, which enable the vehicle to travel stably and safely during downhill driving, aiming at the constant-speed function of hydraulic retarder, the research of constant-speed control method is conducted in this paper. The structure and working principle of hydraulic retarder is introduced and the dynamic characteristic is analyzed. And the theoretical model of vehicle and hydraulic retarder are established based on dynamic analysis of the vehicle downhill driving.