Browse Topic: Brake components
The increasing pressure to decarbonize manufacturing systems is pushing industry beyond conventional lightweighting strategies toward material and process paradigms, capable of delivering functional performance with radically lower environmental impact. In this context, polymer-based composite Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers an underexplored yet highly promising pathway for sustainable production of load-bearing components. This study presents a preliminary comparative cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a Formula SAE brake pedal, assessing the environmental transition from conventional sheet metal fabrication and finishing operations of Aluminum 7075-T6 to additive manufacturing solutions, with specific focus on Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites. Two topology-optimized designs, respectively for Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) in AlSi10Mg and Material Extrusion (MEX) in Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol with Carbon Fiber (PETG-CF) are compared to conventional fabrication aluminum benchmark. The analysis is integrated in the product and process design following ISO 14040/14044 standards and is implemented using the Environmental Footprint 3.0 methodology within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Results outline that Material Extrusion (MEX) composite manufacturing achieves the lowest environmental impact across all evaluated categories. Compared to conventional manufacturing, the PETG-CF solution enables an approximate 50% reduction in Global Warming Potential and an almost complete elimination of mineral depletion. Unlike metal additive manufacturing, which remains constrained by high process energy demand, MEX benefits from low processing temperatures, minimal auxiliary systems, and highly efficient material deposition. Crucially, these sustainability gains are achieved while maintaining functional performance through design-driven topology optimization. AM composite solutions, by merging advanced material science with additive flexibility, may lead to design approaches which cease to be ‘potential’ enablers of sustainable manufacturing for the Industry 5.0 transition.
As the adoption of electric vehicles continues to accelerate, the demand for their development and testing using chassis dynamometers has also increased significantly. Compared with internal combustion engine vehicles, chassis dynamometer testing for electric vehicles typically requires test durations several to several dozen times longer, resulting in substantially increased labor requirements. In addition, low-temperature testing is often required, further intensifying the workload associated with vehicle testing. To address these challenges, this study developed and evaluated a pedal robot designed to enable unmanned and automated testing. The pedal robot developed in this study weighs only 12 kg and can be installed within a few minutes. It is, to the authors’ knowledge, the world’s first pedal robot that mimics human driving behavior by using a single foot to operate both the accelerator and brake pedals. Unlike conventional driving robots, the actuators of the proposed system do not require direct mechanical attachment to the vehicle pedals, allowing for rapid installation. Furthermore, the robot is mounted on the driver-side floor, eliminating the need for attachment to the seat structure. The pedal robot features three degrees of freedom driven by three motors and employs artificial intelligence to recognize the shape and position of pedals across different vehicle models, thereby enabling automated test initiation without manual adjustment. The performance of the pedal robot was evaluated under UDDS, HWFET, and WLTC driving modes, and the results were analyzed in accordance with the SAE J2951 standard. Comparative evaluations demonstrated that the pedal robot achieved superior speed-tracking performance relative to that of an experienced human test driver. The developed pedal robot is currently being utilized for vehicle certification testing of electric and other vehicles at the Mobile Environment Research Center of the National Institute of Environmental Research in Korea. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the corresponding experimental results.
The objective of this paper is to evaluate the thermal performance of the brake discs in the design stage of its life cycle by developing a methodology to replicate dynamometer testing using multi-disciplinary Finite Element Analysis (FEA) methods. A simulation workflow was formulated in which Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to create temperature and velocity dependent Heat Transfer Coefficients (HTC) which were in turn used in Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) to do a thermo-mechanical analysis. With this workflow various designs of the brake discs were analyzed. A sensitivity study was done to determine critical design features that affected its thermal performance. A final design was fixed that met both the weight and thermal performance targets. This design was evaluated in dynamometer testing, and 93% correlation was achieved. Thus, the developed simulation workflow ensured that a first-time right brake disc can be finalized in the design stage, which will meet the performance in dynamometer testing.
Indian passenger car accident data indicates that approximately 44% of crashes are frontal impacts (Refer fig 1). Among the injuries sustained in these crashes, lower leg injuries are notably critical, contributing to nearly 25% of driver occupant injuries (Refer fig 2). To evaluate such injuries, the Bharat New Car Assessment Program (BNCAP) includes lower leg injury metrics as part of the Frontal Offset Deformable Barrier (ODB64) test. While the overall injury performance is assessed at the vehicle level, BNCAP also monitors vehicle interior intrusions—particularly pedal intrusions—as key contributors to lower limb injury severity. A major challenge in frontal crashes is the intrusion of the vehicle's front-end structure into the occupant compartment. Rigid components, particularly the brake pedal assembly, can be displaced rearward during a crash, significantly increasing the risk of lower leg injuries. Therefore, minimizing pedal intrusions into the driver foot-well is critical for enhancing lower leg protection. As part of an innovative safety initiative, Tata Motors has developed a collapsible brake pedal mechanism designed to mitigate lower leg injuries during frontal crashes. This patented system incorporates a series of levers and linkages that disengage upon impact, allowing the brake pedal to collapse and thereby reducing the risk of intrusion-related injuries to the driver lower legs. The mechanism is engineered to be robust, ensuring that normal braking performance and pedal operation remain unaffected during everyday vehicle use, while providing effective injury mitigation in crash scenarios.
The demand for electrified vehicles has been increasing over the last few years, near to 180 thousand units were sold only in 2024, which represented around 7% of total sales of this type of vehicle in Brazil. By the year 2030, it is expected that at least 40% of sales volume will be electrified vehicles, considering mild hybrids. These results show that vehicle manufacturers are moving towards electrification and reducing carbon emission rates. Different levels of electrification are applied in their portfolio: from mild hybrid or rechargeable vehicles to fully electric vehicles. When analyzing the number of components in each automotive system, it is possible to notice a huge reduction. Electric vehicles have 90% fewer moving parts in the engine than combustion vehicles. In brake systems, the reduction can be up to 20% in hybrid and electric vehicles, which can use the same solutions. This paper aims to present the changes in the sets of braking components from combustion vehicles to electric and hybrid vehicles and the technical advantages in terms of efficiency. These, in addition to reducing parts and providing less weight, also increase cooperative energy regeneration with the electric motor.
The ever-increasing prevalence of electric vehicles in the global market continues to push automakers towards more stringent brake drag requirements. As OEMs seek to differentiate themselves with greater vehicle range to offset consumer anxiety as a barrier for entry to EVs, brake caliper suppliers see requirements for zero or near-zero drag at the component level becoming commonplace. Despite this pressure, many practical concerns exist with torque measurement capabilities in the sub 1.0 N-m range. Additionally, the authors have observed an industry tendency to employ suboptimal engineering methodology for assessing drag concerns, with trial and error attempts continuing to perplex engineers more than it provides solutions. This paper will seek to reintroduce to the reader the basic physics of brake drag from a fundamental free body diagram level, review statistical approaches for characterizing the individual forces acting within the caliper, and propose a simple – yet effective – virtual tool for characterizing potential solutions. The virtual tool will be correlated with physical assessments, and the practical challenges of full brake corner drag evaluations will be discussed. Finally, recommendations will be presented for evolving sliding caliper design to enable zero drag.
As the ICE vehicle changes into the EV, we can use regenerative brake. It can improve not only the energy consumption but also reduce the hydraulic brake usage. The less hydraulic brake usage mitigates the heat loading on the brake disc. From this reason, the lightweight brake can be used in the EV. However, when the lightweight brake is applied, the brake NVH can be increased. The optimization design of the lightweight brake should be done to prevent the brake NVH. In this paper, the optimal brake disc thickness and brake interfaces are determined by using of disc heat capacity analysis. The lightweight brake should be optimized by using of the brake squeal analysis. We can verify the results from both analysis and test. Finally, we can have the lightweight brake, which is competitive in terms of cost, weight and robust to the brake NVH.
In an earlier publication, it was reported that the pad compressibility measured under 160 bars on NAO formulas keeps decreasing with increasing number of repeated measurements due to unrecoverable residual deformation of the friction material combined with increasing moisture adsorption, which increases the hardness of the friction material. This current investigation was undertaken to find out if this same phenomenon occurs for NAOs under a low pressure of 100 bars during compressibility measurements and under 700N during dynamic modulus measurements. In all cases, it is found that the same phenomenon occurs, meaning that friction materials become permanently compressed without full recovery, making them harder to compress and raising up the modulus. The dynamic modulus of friction material attached to a backplate is found to be lower as compared with the friction material without the backplate, which is caused by more rapid moisture adsorption of friction material pads without a backplate. As pad properties are continuously changing under pressure at temperature during usage, compressibilities and dynamic moduli measured for the initial quality must not be used for predicting brake performance/NVH – an important issue for AI databases.
As Lowmet pad porosity increases, pad hardness decreases; pad ISO compressibility increases; the nominal friction coefficient increases (SAE J2522); and the disc wear/pad wear decreases. Brake squeal occurrence is affected by the total wear of disc and pads; the wear differential between the inboard pad and outboard pad; pad tangential taper; and pad hardness/material damping. Also, pad chamfer shape has a strong influence on brake squeal occurrence.
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