Disk Brake Wear Detection via Segmented Spring Stiffness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional disk brakes with urging springs fail to effectively detect wear conditions of friction pads, leading to insufficient wear detection sounds.
Innovation Solution
A disk brake design featuring a mounting member with torque receiving surfaces, friction pads with backing plates and torque transmission portions, and an urging device with a specific spring configuration that includes a mounting portion, a first extending portion, a bent portion, and a second extending portion, which abuts against the disk when the friction material wears, allowing for enhanced wear detection through sound generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a conventional urging spring is used to detect friction pad wear, then the structure is simple, but the wear detection sound is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The urging spring is divided into multiple functional segments: a mounting portion secured to the friction pad, a first extending portion extending away from the disk, a bent portion forming an arc away from the disk, and a second extending portion extending toward the disk. This segmentation allows each portion to contribute differently to the overall function, with the bent portion acting as a stiffness barrier to generate sufficient wear detection sound while the other portions provide structural support and positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the urging spring are given different stiffness characteristics. The bent portion is specifically designed to be higher in stiffness than the first boundary region, creating a localized stiffness variation that enables effective wear detection sound generation. This local quality differentiation allows the spring to serve both as a structural support element and as a wear detection sensor.
2Force
If the urging spring abuts against the mounting member in an elastically deformed state, then the friction pad is properly urged, but the wear detection sound is not sufficiently obtained
Solution Approach 1:
The bent portion of the urging spring is designed to generate mechanical vibration that produces detectable wear detection sound. By positioning the bent portion to face toward the disk and making it higher in stiffness, it can effectively transmit vibration signals when the friction material wears, enabling acoustic detection of wear conditions while the spring maintains its urging function through elastic deformation against the mounting member.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enables sufficient wear detection sound generation, effectively addressing the limitations of conventional systems by ensuring the friction pads are properly urged and aligned to detect wear conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a second extending portion extending from the distal end of the bent portion toward the disk and resiliently abutting against the mounting member in an elastically deformed state
Implementation Method 2
the friction material being abuttable against the disk to generate frictional force
Data Source
AI summary
An urging spring (15) urges a friction pad toward the exit side of the rotational direction of a disk when a vehicle equipped with the disk brake runs forward. The urging spring is disposed between a lug portion (11A) of the friction pad and a torque receiving surface (5) of a carrier (2). The distal end of the urging spring is configured to abut against the disk to perform wear detection. The urging spring includes a mounting portion (15A), a first extending portion (15B), a boundary region (15E), a bent portion (15C), and a second extending portion (15D). The boundary region is reduced in width to lower stiffness. The bent portion is increased in width and provided with reinforcing portions, thereby enhancing the stiffness. Thus, the natural frequencies of the second extending portion in the rotational direction K and the vertical direction J come close to each other.