741results about "Mechanically actuated brakes" patented technology

Systems and methods for providing a haptic device are described. In one described system, a first brake surface of a first element contacts a second brake surface of a second element. At least one actuator is configured to exert a force on at least one of the first and second elements. A flexure is coupled to at least one of the first element, the second element, a housing, a manipulandum, and a shaft coupled to the manipulandum. The flexure provides a degree of rotational flexibility to the manipulandum when the at least one actuator exerts the force. The described system may include a processor in communication with the at least one actuator for providing the haptic effects.

A hybrid linear actuator features a central load shaft on which a plurality of solid-state magnetostrictive thrusters are positioned in operative relation to electric motors of a permanent magnet synchronous type to impart linear thrust force to the load shaft through clutch units also positioned thereon and under control of force and stroke amplification of output force from motor shafts projecting from the motors.

A braking system is disclosed that includes a brake (22), a ram (20) shiftable in a linear direction relative to the brake (22) for actuating the brake (22), and a stop (24) for limiting movement of the ram (20). The system further includes a motor (12) for moving the ram (20) which motor (12) includes a stator and a rotor (13) and a commutation sensor (14) producing an output. A motor controller (28) receives a commutation signal based on the output and controls the motor (12) based on the commutation signal. A processor (31) also uses the commutation signal to generate a position signal indicative of the position of the ram (20) relative to the stop (24). Methods of using this system are also disclosed.

A combined vehicle brake including a hydraulically actuated service brake and an electromechanically actuated parking brake device, a hydraulic operating pressure chamber in a brake housing being defined by a brake piston, which for performing service braking actions can be acted upon by hydraulic pressure fluid, so that the brake piston can be actuated along a piston longitudinal axis in order to produce a braking action, and the parking brake device acting on the brake piston by way of a transmission that translates the rotary motion of an electromechanical actuator into a translational motion and actuates the brake piston to perform parking brake actions and to keep it in the actuated position. Also disclosed is a transmission for translating a rotary motion into a translational motion by way of a screw spindle and a spindle nut, which are in contact with one another by way of multiple rolling elements.

The present invention is directed to a unique solution for caliper assemblies, brake pads utilized in such caliper assemblies, support structures utilized in caliper assemblies and disc brake systems containing such caliper assemblies which utilize push pull or pull push abutment designs.

A procedure for actuating a parking brake is described, the parking brake comprising a brake piston which is received in a hydraulic chamber and is displaceable within the hydraulic chamber by means of a hydraulic actuator on the one hand and a mechanical actuator on the other. During operation of the parking brake the mechanical actuator is activated in a first step in order to displace the brake piston in the hydraulic chamber in such a way that a volume of a hydraulic fluid contained in the hydraulic chamber is increased. At a subsequent time the hydraulic actuator is activated in order to build up or increase a clamping force of the parking brake. The hydraulically generated or increased clamping force is then maintained by means of the mechanical actuator.

A caliper assembly comprising: a brake pad comprising a carrier plate having two opposing faces and a top edge a bottom edge and two opposing side edges, wherein on one face is friction material and on the opposing face is a projection adapted to seat in a matched hole or recess in a caliper body, the two opposing side edges each having an ear which is adapted to seat in pad locator indentations in a support structure; a support structure comprising a recess for housing at least one brake pad and at least two pad locator indentations adapted for receiving the ears located on the two opposing sides of the brake pad and at least two caliper body locator indentations for seating two ears defined by the caliper body; and a caliper body having a hole or recess adapted for seating the projection on the opposing face of the brake pad and having two ears on each opposing side which are adapted to seat in the caliper body locator indentations of the support structure; wherein the ears of the brake pad are seated in the pad locator indentations of the support structure, the projection on the opposing face of the brake pad is seated in the hole or recess located in the caliper body, and a clip which engages the opposing face of the brake pad and the caliper body and holds the brake pad in position with respect to the caliper body and the ears of the caliper body are seated in the caliper body locator indentations in the support structure.

A disc brake enables a parking apparatus to be operated via actuation of an electric motor, thereby permitting easy operation of the parking apparatus. The disc brake comprises a piston to compress a friction pad used for braking of a disc, a caliper housing to receive the piston such that the piston moves linearly therein, and having a cylinder section to which a hydraulic pressure for braking is applied, an actuation shaft rotatably installed within the cylinder section, and having a male screw formed thereon, a compression sleeve installed within the piston to compress or release the piston while linearly moving therein by rotation of the actuation shaft, and having a female screw formed thereon to engage with the male screw of the actuation shaft, an electric motor to rotate the actuation shaft, a multi-stage reduction gear train to transmit rotational force of the electric motor to the actuation shaft. The multi-stage reduction gear train has a central axis deviated from that of the electric motor, and a shaft connected with a shaft of the electric motor via a power transmission unit

Provided is an electric brake capable of accurately estimating the brake pad temperature and securing a sufficient braking force and response. An electric brake has a disc rotor rotating with a wheel, an actuator for rectilinearly actuating a piston in the axial direction of the disc rotor by using an electric motor, a drive controller for controlling the drive of the actuator, a brake pad pressed by the piston to give a frictional resistance to the disc rotor in the direction of rotation, and a braking start position detector for detecting a braking start position of the piston where the disc rotor is brought into contact with the brake pad. The drive controller stores the braking start position detected by the braking start position detector as the maximum braking start position. When the braking start position shifts in the pressing force-increasing direction, the drive controller updates the value stored as the maximum braking-start position.

A disc brake comprises a disc brake caliper, which includes a brake application mechanism with an input element, and a service brake actuator providing a brake application force to the input element via a push rod. An electromechanical brake actuator is arranged between the caliper and the service brake actuator and applies its force at will on the push rod.

In an electric brake of the present invention, a plunger of an actuator is connected through a pin to a pivot arm to which an engaging pawl engageable with a tooth portion of a ratchet is pivotably attached. A lower surface (a force-receiving portion) of the pin is adapted to receive an upward force which is applied by a tool inserted through a bolt hole threadably engaged with a watertight bolt. When the parking brake is operated (the engaging pawl is engaged with the tooth portion of the ratchet), if supply of current to the coil becomes impossible, the pin is moved upward by means of the tool, to thereby separate the engaging pawl from the tooth portion. Therefore, an emergency action to release the parking brake can be manually conducted.

An electromechanical braking system is disclosed that includes a brake rotor, a brake stator, an EMA (52) having a rotor shaft (36), a ram (42) operably connected to the EMA (52) having a first end movable between a first position urging the brake stator against the brake rotor and a second position, a clamp device (32) shiftable between a first clamping position in clamping engagement with the rotor shaft (36) and a second clamping position and a clamp controller (46) for shifting the clamping device (32) between the first and second clamping positions. A method of using the braking system as a parking brake is also disclosed.

An object is to make it possible to stably transmit torque of the rotary shaft to the respective planetary rollers without applying a preload to the planetary rollers with a negative gap between the radially outer surface of the rotary shaft and the radially inner surface of the outer ring member.

Planetary rollers 7 rotatably supported on their radially inner surfaces by respective support pins 6b are radially inwardly biased by radially compressible ring springs 18 enveloping the support pins 6b, thereby biasing and pressing the respective planetary rollers 7 against the radially outer surface of a rotary shaft 4. Thus, it is possible to stably transmit torque of the rotary shaft 4 to the respective planetary rollers 7 without applying a preload to the planetary rollers 7 with a negative gap between the radially outer surface of the rotary shaft 4 and the radially inner surface of the outer ring member 5.

A disk brake with a parking brake mechanism capable of exerting a large piston thrust required for operating a parking brake, without adversely affecting operation of a service brake. A parking brake mechanism 32, which is driven by an electric motor provided outside a housing 30, is incorporated in a caliper 14 in which a piston 26 is slidably disposed in a cylinder 24. The parking brake mechanism 32 is slidably fitted via a seal member 36 into the piston 26 and provided with a nut member 37 that is prevented from rotating relative to the piston 26 by engagement of a pin 48 and a pin hole 49; and a shaft 35 that is screwed into the nut member 37. During a service brake operation, the piston 26 alone is moved by a hydraulic pressure under a small piston thrust. During a parking brake operation, the piston 26 and the nut member 37 are moved together by applying a hydraulic pressure and operating the electric motor at the same time, to exert a large piston thrust, by using a large pressure receiving area of the piston 26 and the nut member 37 combined.

A master robotic system for translating a force at a slave robotic system to the master robotic system comprises a plurality of master brake joints rotatably coupling a plurality of robotic links. Each master brake joint corresponds to a respective slave joint of a slave robotic system. Each master brake joint comprises a first braking component (e.g., sheet disk(s)) coupled to a first robotic link and a second braking component (e.g., sheet disk(s)) coupled to a second robotic link, and an actuator operable to act upon the first braking component and the second braking component, to generate a braking force between the first braking component and the second braking component, in response to a control signal corresponding to a sensed force sensed by the slave robotic system. The actuator can comprise a bi-directional actuator, or a cam, piezoelectric, dielectric, or hydraulic actuator, each having minimal power requirements to maximize the braking force of the master brake joint.

An object of the present invention is to provide a disk brake having excellent responsiveness. A rotation preventing mechanism 34A prevents a rotation of a carrier 41 (one output member) in a direction causing a piston 12 to return. An internal gear 46 (the other output member) rotates by a predetermined degree to act on the rotation preventing mechanism 34A. When the motor 38 causes a sun gear (input member) to rotate such that the piston 12 moves in a return direction, a rotation of the internal gear 46 according to the rotation of the sun gear 44 releases rotation prevention of the rotation preventing mechanism 34A to the carrier 41. It is possible to release the parking brake without use of a worm gear which is used in the conventional arts for holding a thrust force (self-holding). As a result, it is possible to quickly release the parking brake, and therefore a driver can start to run without delay after parking brake release, whereby the responsiveness is improved.

An electric direct-acting actuator is proposed which can maintain a large power increasing function without mounting a separate speed reducer.

A plurality of planetary rollers 7 are disposed between the radially outer surface of a rotor shaft 5 of an electric motor and the radially inner surface of an outer ring member 1 fixed in position around the rotor shaft 5 so as to be rotatable about the rotor shaft 5 and about their own axes when the rotor shaft 5 rotates. A helical rib is defined by a rib member 9 engaged in a helical groove 8 formed in the radially inner surface of the outer ring member 1. The helical rib is engaged in circumferential grooves 10 formed in the radially outer surface of each planetary roller 7 at the same pitch as the turns of the helical rib. Thus, the rotary motion of the rotor shaft 5 is converted to a linear motion of the planetary rollers 7, so that it is possible to ensure a large power increasing function without mounting a separate speed reducer.

In an automotive vehicle braking system, a hydraulic brake actuator includes a wedge for locking a hydraulic piston in a brake position for purposes of applying a park brake. To apply the park brake, hydraulic pressure is increased to advance the piston to urge the brake pads against the rotor. With the piston in the brake position, an electrical solenoid is energized to advance the wedge to engage the piston. The wedge includes an inclined surface that contacts an inclined surface connected to the piston or the housing, with sufficient frictional force to maintain the wedge in the advanced position without requiring hydraulic pressure or electrical power. Thus, the park brake remains applied even when the vehicle is turned off.

A combined service and parking brake apparatus, having a brake unit equipped with a brake disc and at least one brake pad in which a fluid pressure actuatable brake piston is able to place the brake pad against the brake disc and having a parking brake unit which includes an electric drive unit, a transmission, and a spindle unit equipped with a nut and spindle in order to mechanically lock the brake unit in a parking brake position, and in which the electric drive unit, the transmission, and the spindle unit are situated in series on a common axis.

An electric brake system is proposed which includes an electric linear motion actuator and can generate the required braking force with high accuracy. A load sensor (30) is provided in a motion converting mechanism of the actuator which converts the rotary motion of a rotary shaft (4) to which the rotation of an electric motor (2) is transmitted to linear motion of an outer ring member (5) as an output member. The load sensor (30) detects the pushing force with which the outer ring member (5) linearly drives a driven member. With this arrangement, if the driven member is a braking member of an electric brake system, it is possible to directly detect the braking force applied by the driven member and thus to accurately generate the required braking force.

A brake (10) having application for a linear or rotational motion device includes a housing (120) in which a first piston (140), a wedge (142) and a second piston (144) cooperate to engage a friction facing (136) through a plurality of rollers (152, 154, 156, 158). The three part piston assembly (148) allows a braking action and prevents torsional forces that are non-axial to the axis of the first piston (140) and second piston (144). The pistons (140, 144) are biased by compression springs (176) and may be actuated by a fluid.

The present invention provides a brake system and its control method for a hybrid electric vehicle, comprising a driving motor generating a regenerative braking torque; a hydraulic pressure supplying unit including a brake pedal, a booster and a master cylinder, a first hydraulic line, and a reservoir; a hydraulic brake adjuster for controlling a hydraulic braking pressure; a target braking force detection unit, including a pedal stroke sensor and a hydraulic pressure sensor, for detecting a target braking torque of a driver; and a control unit controlling the driving motor by calculating a maximum regenerative braking torque based on a rotational speed of the driving motor, etc. and controlling the hydraulic brake adjuster to change a hydraulic braking torque to meet the target braking torque in accordance with the thus calculated maximum regenerative braking torque by compensating an braking torque with the hydraulic braking torque.

An electric braking apparatus which first moves a piston in a detaching direction or passes a current to move the piston in the detaching direction in order to detect a pad contacting position. Furthermore, while the piston moves in the detaching direction, pad non-contact judgment is performed. After a pad non-contact state is confirmed, the piston is moved in a pressing direction to detect the pad contacting position. When the piston does not move in the detaching direction, it is judged that a parking brake has an ON-state, and it is waited until a host system instructs parking brake release.

A parking brake assembly for a railway car includes a ratchet mounted for rotation on a threaded piston rod of a brake actuator and a holding pawl engageable with the ratchet for maintaining a push rod of the parking brake assembly to apply braking force when the air pressure is lost in the brake pipe and releasing the push rod to accordingly release the braking force when the supply of air pressure in the brake pipe is restored. An operating lever and a cylinder connected thereto are provided for selectively rotating the holding pawl. Valve is provided for supplying air pressure to and evacuating it from the cylinder. Release mechanism is provided for manually releasing the braking force. The parking brake assembly is employed with either truck-mounted or carbody-mounted braking system.