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4.1 Disc Brake Design - 1 4.1.1 Components of The Disc Brake Unit
4.1 Disc Brake Design - 1 4.1.1 Components of The Disc Brake Unit
4.1 Disc Brake Design - 1 4.1.1 Components of The Disc Brake Unit
CHAPTER 4
Disc or rotor.
Caliper unit.
Caliper
Disc
Caliper
Piston
Caliper
Piston
cylinder inner diameter is 17mm. So it may look like a piston in the top
view.
Caliper
Piston
Figure 4.5 Reservoir is removed from master cylinder (For explanation
purpose)
Figure 4.6 shows the layout of the master cylinder used in the
variable braking force (VBF) system after the modification. The step by step
modification work on the master cylinder is shown in Figure 4.7 and its
assembly drawing is shown in Figure 4.8.
(c) Hexagonal metal bush is fixed (d) Final modified master cylinder
in pressure chamber
The first step is to assemble the brake disc to the wheel. In general,
an alloy wheel is used in a motorcycle which has a disc brake. The hub of
the alloy wheel has provision for bolting the disc to the hub. But the
wheel which is used for this research work is spoke wheel and does not
have provision for fixing the disc to it. So a separate unit called disc
holder is made. A disc holder is made from a cylindrical plate of dimensions
115 mm × 10mm. The cylindrical plate is gas welded and several
machining processes like drilling, grinding were performed to get a final
shape as shown in the Figure 4.10. The disc holder (a) which is connected
with wheel hub is used to support the brake disc.
The motorcycle has a drum brake at the rear wheel. Hence there are
some modifications to be done to modify the existing drum brake as a disc
brake. But the disc inner diameter does not match with the outer diameter of
the drum. Hence a disc holder is made which has five holes that are located at
the radial position which is equal to radial position of hole in the disc from the
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centre of the wheel hub. Also, the inner diameter of the disc holder is equal to
the outer diameter of the wheel hub. So, the disc holder is fixed with the
wheel hub and then the disc is fixed with disc holder.
(c) Wheel with disc holder (d) Wheel with brake disc
is provided by the lever ratio of the brake pedal. With a 4: 1 lever ratio, 1N of
force applied to the brake pedal results in 4 N of force acting on the master
cylinder piston as shown in Figure 4.12.
One end of the caliper is bolted to the top end of the steel
plate as shown in Figure 4.13. The other end of the steel plate is being
screwed to the place of torque arm where it is fixed as shown in Figure 4.13.
The other end of the caliper is welded to a metal piece which is fixed at
perpendicular direction to the wheel vertical axis. The lower end of the steel
plate is also welded with a metal piece in perpendicular direction like the
previous one. A hole is drilled in both the metal pieces and a threaded rod
with a knob is inserted into the two holes with a spring as shown in
Figure 4.13. The spring stiffness keeps the caliper in the required position.
The rotation of the knob moves the caliper based on different load conditions
i.e., the movement of the threaded rod causes the caliper to move in the radial
direction.
The loading condition in the motorcycle is first with the rider alone
and second is the rider with the pillion rider. When the rider alone is on the
motorcycle, the effective disc radius may be reduced i.e., the caliper may be
moved inwards towards the center of the disc as shown in Figure 4.14. Hence
for unladen condition the knob shown in Figure 4.14 is rotated in clockwise
direction, this causes the caliper to move inwards and thus the effective radius
of the brake disc is reduced.
The maximum braking force developed between the tyre and the
ground is based on the pillion load. When there is a pillion rider on the motor
cycle, the effective disc radius may be increased, i.e. the caliper must be
moved outwards from the center of the disc. So whenever there is a pillion
rider on the motor cycle the knob is rotated in the anticlockwise direction to
reduce the compressive load on the spring that causes the movement of the
caliper outwards as shown in Figure 4.15. The layout of variable braking
force system with the pillion rider is shown in Figure 4.16.
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Figure 4.14 Layout of the variable braking force system without pillion
rider
Figure 4.16 Layout of the VBF system with the pillion rider
Figure 4.17 VBF System for unloaded Figure 4.18 VBF System for loaded
motorcycle motorcycle
Reservoir
Master
cylinder
match with the outer diameter of the drum, a disc holder is made which has
five holes that are located at the radial position equal to the same radial
position of holes in the disc from the centre of wheel hub as has already been
stated elsewhere in the thesis. Also, the inner diameter of the disc holder is
equal to the outer diameter of the wheel hub. So, the disc holder is fixed to the
wheel hub and then the disc is fixed to disc holder. Space availability for
these modification works is sufficient because the existing rear brake system
(drum brake) is mechanically operated. Hence a reasonable amount of space
is available (torque arm and brake actuating rods are removed as they are not
needed for disc brake). The actuating mechanism of master cylinder is
modified as the line of action of rider’s force for the front brake is parallel to
the road surface and for the rear brake is perpendicular to the road surface.
Hence the master cylinder has to rotate at an angle of 90º (Angle between the
front brake mounting to the rear brake mounting) and is so fixed. The total
cost was about Rs. 2000 for purchasing brake disc and master cylinder. The
original size of the brake disc is 120 mm in radius with a thickness of 6 mm.
The normal load acting on the brake disc is 4943N. The theoretical torque
ranges from 186 N-m (unladen) to 285 N-m (laden). As the brake pads are
moved in an arc, the angular movement of the caliper is more when it is
compared with radial movement which is discussed in detail below:
It is assumed that points ‘A’ and ‘B’ in Figure 4.20 denote the
center of pressure of fluid pressure at low and high radial position
respectively. From the right angled triangle BAD,
BD
sin (4.1)
2 AB
BD = dr (4.2)
AB 0A (4.3)
dr 0A sin (4.4)
2
Where, = Angle subtended at brake pad pivoted point for different pad
position.
As the brake pad is not moved along the radial direction (it
moves in a locus like an arc with respect to hinged point),
effective disc radius cannot be set exactly as required. The
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Separate the left and right caliper pistons and clamp design
Piston stroke
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The caliper hangs on the ends of the C-clamp plates. The two
halves of the caliper are fixed on the C-clamp as shown in Figure 4.27.
The area nearer to the 12 mm holes is very weak. But the caliper is
bolted in the holes. So the caliper body would fill the area nearer to these
holes i.e. Load (Brake fluid force - 4986 N) will be distributed nearer to that
area as shown in Figure 4.28. Also, the load (4986 N) is not a point load; it is
distributed around the bottom area of the ‘C’ clamp and not acting only nearer
to the hole.
Bolts are used to fix the caliper in the ‘C’ clamp. They are
subjected to direct compressive stress and the bending stress due to brake
fluid pressure. Two bolts are used to fix each caliper half.
P 4
Direct compressive stress at each bolt = (4.5)
2 dc dc
Where, P = Brake fluid force.
P 20 32
Compressive stress due to bending moment at each bolt = 3
(4.6)
2 dc
LH Oil RH Oil
Hole
more passage in the right side is used for performing brake bleeding
operation. Hence a hole which is already available in the left caliper halve
(Two holes are available-one is blocked and the other one is enlarged) is
enlarged to fix the T’ joints as it is required for variable braking force system.
In the right side caliper half, a drilling operation is performed which connects
the existing fluid passage. Then a ‘T’ joint is fixed.
‘T’ Joints
‘C’ Clamp
The oil holes are connected with copper piping and connectors.
Finally an external brake fluid passage is provided.
LINEAR GUIDE
BRACKET
The existing brake pad movement is about 2mm. But the caliper
halves are fixed about 4mm apart into the C-clamp. Hence the stroke of the
piston is to accommodate this difference in the pad movement to make the
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effective brake pad contact with brake disc. This can be achieved by any one
method as follows:
Not in scale
The gap between the disc and the hub is 15mm as shown in Figure
4.40. But the linear movement of caliper requires at least 35 mm to
accommodate caliper LH part travel between the hub and the disc. To make
this possible the following modifications are required in the existing wheel
hub:
Additional spacer
MODIFIED HUB
FACE
After modification, the hub face is drilled and tapped for the same
pitch circle diameter (PCD-125mm) to provide mounting for the spacer. The
original wheel hub setup is retained after the facing operation.
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disc is having only 20mm face width. Hence a new disc is designed and
manufactured to provide various disc radii based on the pillion load on the
two - wheeler. Figures 4.43 and 4.44 show the existing and the new disc
respectively.
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As the brake pad is attached with caliper, the pad cannot be moved
separately. Hence it is decided to move caliper to get various effective disc
radii. The existing caliper has two pistons. Both sides of the brake disc have
one piston. If the caliper is moved downward to decrease the effective radius
of disc, it would hit the brake disc as well as the wheel hub. In order to avoid
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the hitting of the caliper with the brake disc and the wheel hub, it is made into
two halves (bifurcated into two halves) and internal brake fluid line is
blocked. The width of the wheel hub is reduced to accommodate new caliper
housing and to prevent the hitting of new caliper housing and the wheel hub,
when the effective disc radius is reduced. An external brake line is provided
to the caliper. In this design, the nuts that are used to connect the linear guide
bracket and caliper, are loosened and the entire assembly is moved to set the
required effective disc radius. After setting the required effective disc radius,
the nut is tightened. Figures 4.45 and 4.46 show the modified rear brake
assembly of view-1 and view-2 respectively.
LINEAR GUIDE
BRACKET
The effective disc radius could not be possible to set exact value
since there is no proper guide way. (Both the sides can be
moved independently because of bolt and nut mechanism.)
When the brake is applied, the entire caliper unit starts bending.
The amount of brake pressure developed inside the caliper cylinder is less
because of the caliper bending. Hence the braking is not effective. In order to
sort out the problem in the mechanical brake design-2, a new design is
developed. In the new design, the thickness of the C-clamp is increased and a
proper guide way is provided to caliper for the smooth movement along the Y
direction (Perpendicular to the road surface). Figure 4.47 and Figure 4.48
show the caliper housing (C-clamp) with guide weighs 7kg. Figures 4.49 and
4.50 show the modified rear brake assembly of view-1 and view-2
respectively. ‘C’ clamp design is given in Appendix 11.
Caliper guide
‘C’ clamp
Caliper
Caliper
actuating
Shaft
1. Caliper housing
2. Caliper guide
3. Axle spacer
5. Stepper motor
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4.12 SUMMARY