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Aiming at achieving the economy and safety of downhill brake process (running downward along a long slope at a constant velocity) of commercial vehicles, an integrated control strategy of the main brake system and auxiliary brake systems is proposed. Based on Electronic Controlled Braking System (EBS), the strategy distributes braking force to each brake system and each axle according to the thermodynamic feature of them and the wear loss of each brake lining, in order to achieve economy at the premise of safety. A simulation is conducted based on MATLAB/Simulink and TruckSim. Simulation results show that the strategy proposed could control the temperature of each brake system at a rational value, and the balanced wear loss of brake linings is facilitated, thus, the safety and economy of downhill brake is ensured.

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.