BME
Disc
brakes
What are disc brakes and what is their use?
Disc brakes are the sliver discs mounted situated inside the wheel. They
are located on the front wheels of vehicles, but can also be found on the
rear wheels or all four wheels and use friction to stop the wheels from
rotating. They are used to decelerate the motion of the wheel or to stop
the wheel. They use the principle of converting rotational kinetic energy
transforms to heat energy, slowing the rotation of the wheels.
Components and working of disc brakes:
To stop the wheel, a system has to be created with various components.
The main components include the disc, and caliper, hydraulically actuated
piston within a cylinder and two brake pads on both sides of the rotating
disc.
1. Brake disc or rotor- The brake disc or rotor is the thing which is directly
connected to the spokes of wheel. The rotor rotates with the wheel and
when you apply the brake pedal, the brake pad clamps down on the rotor
to bring your vehicle to a stop.
2. Caliper-The brake caliper is a housing for the brake pads, dust boots and
the piston for pushing the brake pads together to create friction. The
rotor is situated between this caliper.
3. Brake pads- The two breaks used in automobiles and larger vehicles
consists of outer break pads and inner break pads used to stop the rotor
by being brushed against the rotor.
4. Piston- It is used for applying a force on the caliper and break pads,
responsible for brushing the two brakes with eachother to create
friction.
5. Wheel hub assembly- It keeps your wheel attached to your vehicle and
allows the wheels to freely turn enabling you to safely steer. The wheel
hub assembly holds the rotor to the vehicle and also maintains proper
steering after the brakes are applied.
Working of Disc brakes:
In simple vehicles like cycles, Mechanical disc brakes absorb energy and act by generating frictional forces. When the brake
lever is pulled, a cable pulls an actuator arm in the brake caliper. This pushes either one or both brake pads together until
they clamp down on the disc brake rotor, slowing the bike down. Most mechanical disc brakes are single-piston brakes.
With these brakes, only a single pad moves, with the pad pushing the rotor.
While vehicles like cars, bikes, buses etc use hydraulic disc brakes use Pascal's Law to stop the vehicle. First when brakes
are applied the small piston situated near the lever(that is being pressed on ) contains a fluid that moves through the wire
and goes to the bigger piston present in the caliper. As the area in the small piston is less, the force it would be exerting
throughout will be larger and that great force will be going into the large piston present in caliper, and that large force from
the small piston would push the bigger piston which would be placed in a cylinder that is a part of caliper and holds the
piston inside it. This force will move the break pad an press it against the break disc thus bringing the wheel to a stop. The
disc is connected to the wheel. The pistons are only connected to one side, so the break pad on the other side moves by;
so to understand this it should be known that the caliper is not fixed, rather it is free to move linearly. The caliper moves
along the caliper support parts, So as the pressure builds up in the cylinder, the caliper will move opposite to the direction
of bigger piston. The other brake pad, that is the inner brake pad remains fixed while the outside brake pad is moved back
and forth with the help of caliper. Due to he friction between the discs and the break pads, and the rotor/discs stops
moving making the wheel stop as the master cylinder is connected that is in responsible for rotational motion of wheels.
Disc brake
Overview
Caliper For caliper frame
