What is Disc Brake? How Disc Brake Works Modern motorcycles and automobiles have highly efficient braking systems. They are so effective that in an emergency, your vehicle will come to a safe stop in a fraction of a second. When you pull the brake lever, the brake fluid near the lever is pressurized through the brake line and attaches to the brake pads on the wheel, activating the brake pads.
This braking system you just saw was developed over five decades of research and practical experience; let us now learn how engineers developed such an efficient braking system, or, more specifically, let us look behind the disc brakes. Let’s take a peek behind the disc brakes.
Learn physics; you may be wondering how the small force produced by your hand on the brake lever is enough to stop a motorcycle; engineers accomplished this by cleverly applying Pascal’s law. The smaller piston also pressurizes the piston by filling it with oil. If you look closely, you can see a cable connecting this piston to a larger piston.
In short, the large piston is located near the brake pads. The small piston is located near the brake lever. The pressure on both pistons should be the same, according to Pascal’s law,
which means that the force applied to the lever and brake pads will be multiplied by the piston’s area difference. Because the disc is directly attached to the wheel, this force will move the brake pad and press it against the brake disc, causing the wheel to come to a halt. Two pistons are typically used on brake pads to increase the area.
What are the mechanism and their work?
Another intriguing aspect of this mechanism is that the pistons are only on one side, while the brake pads move on the other. This is made possible by a clever arrangement known as the floating caliper mechanism; it should be noted, however, that the caliber of the large part of this mechanism is not static and is free to move linearly. The motorcycle is equipped with caliper support. You can see how the caliper moves in relation to the fixed part.
As pressure builds up in the cylinder, the floating caliper will move in the opposite direction of the piston. The second brake shoe is directly connected to the floating caliper, allowing for simultaneous braking on both sides. The friction between the desk and the brake pads generates a tremendous amount of heat, causing the desk to become extremely hot. The temperature of the disc in motorcycles can be controlled by the circulation of air around it.
In cars, temperature control requires a lot of air circulation and surface area, which is why the discs have veins; the veins help expel the air radially outwards, and the holes around the desk improve air circulation even more.
The disc brake mechanism may appear to be a simple mechanism, but understanding how much disc brakes have contributed to making automobiles safer requires first learning about the disc brake drum brake’s predecessors.
Which is the automobile industry?
Drum brakes dominated the automobile industry for many decades and are still used in the rear wheels of some cars they were working on, the mechanism consisting of a relatively simple drum attached directly to the wheels when the brake shoe pair was unscrewed.
The friction force applied inside the drum causes the wheel to stop due to expansion. At first glance, this appears to be a simple and correct mechanism; however, due to the close nature of drum brakes, it is difficult to keep them at or below optimum temperature, and thus overheating of the metal can cause expansion.
Drum, resulting in a reduction in friction force.
will also be less on this axle than on the other. During braking, these various frictional forces will generate a net torque, causing the entire wheel of the car to spin. This is why older cars with only drum brakes will occasionally pull left or right during braking. Disc brakes do not have this heating issue. Disc brakes are also more powerful than drum brakes.
Main Components of Disc brake
1. Wheel Hub: The disc rotor is attached to and rotates with the wheel hub. The vehicle’s wheel is connected to the wheel hub.
2. Caliper Assembly:
The caliper assembly includes the following tools:
- Caliper Frame Caliper Bracket
- When the brake lever is depressed, the piston exerts brake force on the brake pads.
- Slider Pin: When braking is applied, the sliding pin slides into the hole.
- Dust Boots: These keep dust out of the caliper pin or slider pinhole.
3. Disc Rotor: The rotating component of a disc brake. When you apply the brakes, a lot of heat is produced, which can reduce braking efficiency, so the rotor has vent holes drilled into it to dissipate the heat.
How Disc Brakes Works
- When the brake pedal is depressed, the piston is pushed out by high-pressure fluid from the master cylinder.
- The brake pads are pushed against the rotating discs by the piston.
- As the inner brake pad makes contact with the rotor. fluid pressure exerts a forward force. causing the caliper to move inward and pull the outer brake pad towards the rotating disc, where it makes contact with the disc.
- Now that both brake pads are pushing the rotating disc.
- A lot of friction is created between the pad and the rotating disc, slowing down and eventually stopping the vehicle.
- When the brake pad is let go, the piston moves inward, causing the brake pad to move away from the rotating disc. And then the car starts up again.
Advantages of Disc Brakes
- It is less heavy than drum brakes.
- It distributes pressure uniformly.
- Replacement brake pads are simple.
- They are self-adjusting brakes by design.
Disadvantages of Disc Brakes
- It is more expensive than a drum brake.
- To stop the vehicle, you must apply a lot of pedal pressure. This brake system includes a vacuum booster.
- There is no servo action.
- Attaching a parking attachment to a disc brake is difficult.
Where Disc Brakes is used?
Disc brakes are commonly found on motorcycles and automobiles.
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