Ventilated Braking Band Protrusions for Cooling and Strength
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ventilated brake discs face challenges in achieving efficient cooling while maintaining structural integrity and reducing weight, as existing solutions either increase weight or fail to enhance heat exchange effectively, leading to thermal cracks and decreased braking efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of protrusions in the ventilated braking band creates turbulence in the fluid current and increases the heat exchange surface without adding weight, allowing for lightweight and thin connecting elements that enhance cooling efficiency and crack resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If connecting elements (fins or pegs) are made with particularly fat cross section to ensure structural integrity, then structural resistance is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies different cross-sectional geometries to different parts of the connecting elements. The connecting elements have a first cross-section at the connection with the plates and a different, typically smaller, cross-section in the gap region. This local variation allows the elements to maintain structural integrity at connection points while reducing weight in the cooling channel regions, directly resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
2Weight of moving object
If connecting elements are made thinner and lighter, then weight is reduced, but structural resistance decreases leading to fatigue cracks
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting elements feature varying cross-sections along their length, with thicker sections at the connection points to plates where structural strength is critical, and thinner sections in the gap region where weight reduction is prioritized. This localized differentiation allows thin, lightweight elements to achieve the structural resistance needed to prevent fatigue cracks while maintaining overall weight reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting elements are designed with segmented or varied cross-sections rather than uniform geometry. This segmentation allows different portions of the same element to serve different functions: thick sections for structural support and thin sections for weight reduction and heat exchange, resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
3Strength
If connecting elements have increased volume to ensure structural integrity, then structural resistance is improved, but heat exchange surface area does not increase proportionally
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting elements have thicker cross-sections localized at the connection points to plates where structural resistance is needed, while the portions extending into the gap have reduced cross-sections that prioritize heat exchange surface area. This local differentiation ensures structural integrity is maintained where needed while maximizing heat exchange surface area without requiring increased overall volume.
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 solution results in a structurally resistant brake disc with improved heat exchange and reduced operating temperatures, enabling effective cooling and crack resistance with reduced weight and thickness, while maintaining or decreasing the weight and heat efficiency of existing discs.
Implementation Method 1
The introduction of protrusions in the ventilated braking band creates turbulence in the fluid current
Implementation Method 2
the variously shaped connecting elements of the braking band delimit a plurality of ventilation channels in the gap between the plates, which are suitable for conveying a fluid current for cooling the brake disc when the brake disc rotates
Data Source
AI summary
A ventilated braking band for ventilated brake disc, unusually capable of an efficient cooling and structural resistance, has a first plate and a second plate. The ventilated braking band has protrusions which project from a plate without reaching the other plate. Some of the protrusions which project from one of the first or second plate form a protrusion group. The protrusion group forms a continuous or interrupted protrusion group path. The protrusion group projects from both plates, thus forming at least a first and a second protrusion group path. The projections of the first and second protrusion group path cross one another on a plane parallel to the first or second braking surface of the respective plates.