Valves And Solenoids

The valve block contains four inlet valves and four outlet solenoid valves. The inlet valves are spring-loaded in the open position and the outlet valves are spring-loaded in the closed position during normal braking. The fluid is allowed to flow from the master cylinder to the wheel brakes.

During an ABS stop, these valves cycle to maintain the proper slip ratio for each wheel. The inlet valve closes preventing further pressure increase and the outlet valve opens to provide a path from the wheel brake to the HCU accumulators and pump/motor. This releases (decays) pressure from the wheel brake, thus releasing the wheel from excessive slippage. Once the wheel is no longer slipping, the outlet valve is closed and the inlet valve is opened to reapply (build) pressure.

If the ABS includes the traction control feature, there are four other valves in the HCU. Two Traction Control (TC) (or ESC) valves, mounted in the HCU valve block, are normally in the open position and close only when the traction control is applied. There are also two normally closed shuttle valves which open during traction control and ESC events to provide a direct fluid path from the brake fluid reservoir to the inlet of the HCU pump.

These TC valves are used to isolate the rear (non-driving) wheels of the vehicle from the hydraulic pressure that the HCU pump/motor is sending to the front (driving) wheels when traction control is being applied. The rear brakes need to be isolated from the master cylinder when traction control is being applied so the rear wheels do not drag.