Brake Caliper Thrust-Piece Guiding for Secure Pre-Assembly

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing brake calipers for commercial vehicles face challenges in assembly and safety due to the risk of incorrect installation and part separation during assembly, installation, and transportation, leading to potential malfunction and noise issues.

Innovation Solution

A brake caliper design that incorporates a guiding member to limit movement of the thrust piece relative to the pressure piece in orthogonal directions, along with a pivotally supported lever and spring elements, ensuring secure positioning and alignment, thus simplifying assembly and reducing the risk of malfunction.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If the thrust piece and pressure piece are pre-assembled before installing in the brake caliper, then the assembly time is reduced, but the risk of incorrect installation and part separation increases due to limited accessibility and lack of positioning security

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveassembly timeVSAvoidinstallation correctness
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The guiding member is pre-integrated into the pressure piece before assembly, establishing the correct position and orientation of the thrust piece relative to the pressure piece in advance. This preliminary positioning action ensures that when the thrust piece is inserted, it automatically assumes the correct orientation, reducing assembly time while maintaining installation correctness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The guiding member acts as an intermediary element between the thrust piece and pressure piece. It provides a mechanical interface that guides the thrust piece into the correct position and maintains proper alignment, thereby ensuring installation correctness while enabling efficient pre-assembly operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If the thrust piece is made movable inside the brake caliper to transmit braking force, then the braking function is enabled, but the risk of part separation and vibration increases during assembly, installation and transportation

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebraking force transmissionVSAvoidpart separation risk
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The guiding member is designed to provide dynamic constraints that allow the thrust piece to move freely in the thrust direction (enabling braking force transmission) while simultaneously preventing movement in orthogonal directions (preventing part separation). This selective freedom of movement resolves the contradiction between operational ease and compositional stability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The guiding member provides localized constraints at specific positions and orientations. It restricts movement only in directions orthogonal to the thrust direction, while leaving the thrust direction completely free. This localized quality of constraint enables the thrust piece to move for braking while preventing separation during handling.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

3Device complexity

If no guiding member is used to limit movement in orthogonal directions, then the device complexity is reduced, but the manufacturing precision and alignment accuracy deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenumber of componentsVSAvoidalignment accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The guiding member is merged with the pressure piece as an integrated component. By combining these two elements, the patent reduces the total number of separate components while maintaining the alignment and positioning functions. The guiding member's structure is integrated into the pressure piece design, achieving manufacturing precision without significantly increasing device complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP3772599B1Brake caliper for a vehicle brake and method for assembling a brake caliper
Publication Date: 2024.05.01 ZF CV SYST EURO BV
  • EP3772599B1 patent drawingFigure 5
  • EP3772599B1 patent drawingFigure 6
  • EP3772599B1 patent drawingFigure 7

AI summary

The invention relates to a brake caliper for a vehicle brake, in particular a disc brake of a commercial vehicle, the brake caliper (1, 1') comprising: - a pressure piece (110, 110'), and - a thrust piece (120, 120') configured to move axially relative to the pressure piece (110, 110') in a thrust direction (A) to transmit a braking force. The invention further suggests that a guiding member (130a,b, 130'a,b) configured to limit the movement of the thrust piece (120, 120') relative to the pressure piece (110, 110') in at least one direction orthogonal to the thrust direction (A). Furthermore the invention relates to a method for assembling said brake caliper. The invention suggests that the pressure piece (110, 110'), the thrust piece (120, 120') and the guiding member (130a,b, 130'a,b) are preassembled and in a further method step the preassembly is installed in the brake caliper (1, 1').