Brake Light Weighting

ABS (Anti lock Braking System), AEBS (Advanced Emergency Braking System) are already in use in several mobility platforms including passenger cars, pick up trucks and semi trucks. Under various NCAP protocols as part of crash avoidance features AEBS is certainly stressed upon. Needless to say the importance of ABS in active safety. Although for ABS implementation there is no limitation of whether brake is of drum or disk type, the precision, brake power, that disc brake offers gives it an edge. Given the prevalence of disc brake across vehicles (EV and conventional) and increased attention to AEB in cars and AEBS in trucks from regulatory perspective it is important to look light weighting disc brake without compromising brake performance. This paper explains the fast hexa meshing and mesh parameterization approach to solid, ventilated, slotted and drilled rotors from weight reduction perspective. The parameterization involved not only shape or size / thickness of the rotor but included the pitch of the slots, number of drilled holes and combination of drilled holes and slots. The parametric mesh model along with design of experiment approach is presented to illustrate the ability to analyze the potential weight reduction possibilities balancing other attributes of brake performance that includes cooling. The paper also discusses the positive effects of wide range / library of parameters that help fast pace the what if scenario investigation for engineering judgement-based optimization. The focus of the paper is front wheel disc brake for electric passenger vehicle application.