JP7314487B2 - Crude material for brake rotor and method for manufacturing brake rotor - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a rough material for a brake rotor and a method of manufacturing the brake rotor, which are used for manufacturing a brake rotor included in a disc brake for braking a vehicle.

As one of devices for braking a vehicle, there is a disc brake that presses a brake pad incorporated in a brake caliper against a brake rotor and obtains a braking force from friction generated between the brake pad and the brake rotor. A brake rotor, which is a component of a disc brake, has a disk-shaped braking portion provided with a sliding surface against which a brake pad is pressed, and a mounting portion for mounting this braking portion to a hub of a vehicle.

In many cases, the relative position between the attachment portion and the vehicle hub in the rotation axis direction of the brake rotor differs depending on the type of hub. Therefore, it is necessary to design and manufacture a dedicated brake rotor for each hub shape of the vehicle to which the brake rotor is attached. However, especially in the case of small-lot production of a wide variety of models, creating a mold for manufacturing brake rotors for each hub shape may not be cost-effective.

Therefore, it is desired to use a common brake rotor regardless of the type of hub. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a brake rotor in which a mounting portion and a braking portion are configured separately, and the braking portion is configured to be slidable with respect to the mounting portion in the rotation axis direction of the brake rotor.

JP-A-2006-37993

Freight vehicles such as trucks have a load and their own weight larger than those of passenger cars and the like, so the load applied to brake rotors and hubs during braking is likely to be greater than that of passenger cars and the like. Under these circumstances, there is a demand for a brake rotor in which a mounting portion and a braking portion are integrally formed in order to improve load-bearing performance and reduce processing time and cost in disc brake devices for trucks.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a rough material for a brake rotor and a brake rotor manufacturing method in which a mounting portion and a braking portion are integrally formed and can be commonly used for hubs of different shapes.

A brake rotor blank according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a brake rotor blank that can manufacture brake rotors having a plurality of shapes to be attached to a plurality of types of hubs having at least one of different numbers and positions of brake rotor attachment holes, the blank has an outward flange structure with a circular outer peripheral shape, and includes: a flange portion that is formed on a portion that is attached to the hub of a vehicle; and a disk portion that is integrally formed with the flange portion.In addition, the thickness of the flange portion is formed to be equal to or greater than the thickness of the thickest brake rotor among the brake rotors of the plurality of shapes, and the outer diameter of the flange portion is formed to be equal to or greater than the outer diameter of the brake rotor having the largest outer diameter among the brake rotors of the plurality of shapes..

A brake rotor manufacturing method according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a flange portion having an outward flange structure with a circular outer peripheral shape, and a disk portion, as raw materials for brake rotors capable of manufacturing brake rotors having a plurality of shapes to be attached to a plurality of types of hubs having at least one of different numbers and positions of brake rotor attachment holes.In addition, the thickness of the flange portion is formed to be equal to or greater than the thickness of the thickest brake rotor among the brake rotors of the plurality of shapes, and the outer diameter of the flange portion is formed to be equal to or greater than the outer diameter of the brake rotor having the largest outer diameter among the brake rotors of the plurality of shapes.The brake rotor blank is manufactured by integrally casting the brake rotor blank, obtaining the number and positions of the brake rotor mounting holes of a hub of a vehicle to which the brake rotor manufactured using the brake rotor blank is attached, and performing an amount of processing on the brake rotor blank according to the obtained number and position.

Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a rough material for a brake rotor and a method of manufacturing a brake rotor, in which the mounting portion and the disk portion are integrally formed and which can be commonly used for hubs of different shapes.

Perspective view of cast rough material for brake rotor Front view of rough cast material for brake rotor Side view of rough cast material for brake rotor A view showing an example of a finished product of a brake rotor manufactured using a brake rotor casting rough material FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of a finished brake rotor manufactured using the brake rotor casting coarse material; A diagram for explaining a vehicle wheel support structure to which a brake rotor is attached. A diagram for explaining a vehicle wheel support structure to which a brake rotor is attached.

Hereinafter, each embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, more detailed description than necessary, for example, detailed description of already well-known matters and redundant description of substantially the same configuration may be omitted.

FIGS. 1A to 1C are diagrams for explaining a brake rotor casting rough material 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The brake rotor cast rough material 10 is an example of the brake rotor rough material of the present disclosure. 1A is a perspective view of the rough cast material 10 for the brake rotor, FIG. 1B is a front view of the rough cast material 10 for the brake rotor, and FIG. 1C is a side view of the rough cast material 10 for the brake rotor.

The brake rotor cast rough material 10 is a cast rough material integrally formed by casting. As shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C, a brake rotor casting rough material 10 has a flange portion 11, a disk portion 12, and a connection portion 13 connecting them. In this specification, the term "rough material" means a finished product in a casting process or a forging process before being processed into a product. In particular, "cast blank" means the finished product of the casting process. Therefore, the brake rotor 20 (see FIGS. 2A and 2B), which will be described later, is manufactured by appropriately working the rough casting material 10 for the brake rotor.

The flange portion 11 has an outward flange structure, as shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C. In this specification, the outward flange structure is a flange structure provided so as to spread outward from the rotation axis (the R axis shown in FIGS. 1A and 1C) of the brake rotor 20 . The outer and inner circumferences of this outward flange structure are circular. Further, as shown in FIG. 1C, the outward flange structure of the flange portion 11 is formed to have a predetermined thickness T along the R-axis direction. The flange portion 11 corresponds to the mounting portion 21 in the brake rotor 20 manufactured using the brake rotor casting coarse material 10 . The attachment portion 21 is a portion for attaching the brake rotor 20 to the hub of the vehicle. The brake rotor 20 and mounting portion 21 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B.

The disk portion 12 has a disk-like configuration, as shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C. The disk portion 12 corresponds to the braking portion 22 in the brake rotor 20 manufactured using the brake rotor casting coarse material 10 . The braking portion 22 is a portion that exerts a braking force due to friction by being pressed against the brake pad. The braking portion 22 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B.

The connection portion 13 is a portion that connects the inner diameter end portion of the flange portion 11 and the inner diameter end portion of the disk portion 12 . As described above, the flange portion 11, the disk portion 12, and the connecting portion 13, which constitute the brake rotor cast crude material 10, are integrally formed by casting. Therefore, the brake rotor 20 manufactured using the brake rotor cast rough material 10 can withstand a larger load than a brake rotor in which each part is formed separately and combined.

The brake rotor 20 is manufactured by subjecting the brake rotor casting rough material 10 to various processes such as grinding, polishing, drilling, and/or notching. Grinding and/or polishing are performed, for example, to form a sliding surface on the disk portion 12 or to adjust the thickness of the flange portion 11 . The drilling process is performed to drill bolt holes for attachment to the vehicle in the flange portion 11 . Further, the notch processing is performed to avoid interference with other parts when the brake rotor 20 is attached to the vehicle, for example.

When manufacturing the brake rotor 20, the shape of the brake rotor 20 to be manufactured can be adjusted by varying the amount of processing performed on the rough casting material 10 for the brake rotor. In other words, it is possible to manufacture brake rotors 20 corresponding to a plurality of types of hubs by using one type of brake rotor casting rough material 10 . A specific example of manufacturing multiple types of brake rotors 20 corresponding to multiple types of hubs by using one type of cast rough material 10 for brake rotors and varying the amount of processing will be described below.

FIG. 2A is a view showing an example of a brake rotor finished product (brake rotor 20) manufactured using the brake rotor casting rough material 10 shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C. FIG. 2B is a view showing another example of a brake rotor finished product (brake rotor 20) manufactured using the brake rotor casting rough material 10. As shown in FIG. In the following description, as described above, the portion of the brake rotor 20 corresponding to the flange portion 11 of the brake rotor cast coarse material 10 is referred to as the mounting portion 21 . Also, a portion of the brake rotor 20 corresponding to the disk portion 12 of the cast rough material 10 for the brake rotor is referred to as a braking portion 22 .

2A and 2B, in order to distinguish between the brake rotors 20, the brake rotor illustrated in FIG. 2A is referred to as brake rotor 20A, and the brake rotor illustrated in FIG. 2B is referred to as brake rotor 20B. In addition, each component of the brake rotor 20A is also described by adding A to the reference numeral, and each component of the brake rotor 20B is also described by adding B to the reference numeral.

FIG. 2A illustrates a brake rotor 20A having five mounting holes 211A in the mounting portion 21A. The mounting holes 211A are formed by drilling according to the number and positions of the brake rotor mounting holes provided in the hub 310A of the vehicle to which the brake rotor 20A is mounted when the brake rotor 20A is manufactured using the brake rotor casting rough material 10. Note that the hub 310A will be described later with reference to FIG. 3A.

On the other hand, FIG. 2B illustrates a brake rotor 20B in which six mounting holes 211B are provided in the mounting portion 21B and six notches 212B are provided between the mounting holes 211B. When the manufactured brake rotor 20B is attached to the vehicle hub 310B, the head 321BH of the wheel pin 321B for attaching the wheel 320B of the wheel to the hub 310B may interfere with the outward flange structure of the attachment portion 21B. The notch 212B is configured to avoid interference with other components when the brake rotor 20B is attached to the vehicle. Therefore, the notches 212B are formed by notching according to the number of wheel pins 321B when the brake rotor 20B is manufactured.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, notch 212B is provided so as not to penetrate the outward flange structure of mounting portion 21B in the thickness direction of mounting portion 21B. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this, and the notch 212B may be provided so as to penetrate the outward flange structure of the mounting portion 21B. The hub 310B, the wheel 320B, the wheel pin 321B, and the head portion 321BH of the wheel pin 321B will be described later with reference to FIG. 3B.

Thus, the brake rotor 20A shown in FIG. 2A and the brake rotor 20B shown in FIG. 2B are different in the number of mounting holes 211A and 211B and the presence/absence of notches 212B. The brake rotors 20A and 20B also differ in the thickness TA of the flange structure of the mounting portion 21A and the thickness TB of the flange structure of the mounting portion 21B. Such a difference is caused by the difference between the vehicle wheel support structure 330A to which the brake rotor 20A is attached and the vehicle wheel support structure 330B to which the brake rotor 20B is attached. When the brake rotor 20 is manufactured, the mounting portions 21A and 21B having different flange structure thicknesses are formed by varying the amount of grinding and/or polishing of the flange portion 11 of the brake rotor cast rough material 10.

FIG. 3A is a diagram for explaining a vehicle wheel support structure 330A to which the brake rotor 20A is attached. FIG. 3B is a diagram for explaining a vehicle wheel support structure 330B to which the brake rotor 20B is attached. Wheels 320A, 320B of the wheels are secured to hubs 310A, 310B by wheel pins 321A, 321B as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. On the other hand, the brake rotors 20A, 20B are fixed to the hubs 310A, 310B by mounting bolts (not shown) that are passed through mounting holes 211A, 211B of the brake rotors 20A, 20B and brake rotor mounting holes (not shown) of the hubs 310A, 310B. The wheel support structures 330A, 330B shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B employ a fully floating support structure in which the wheels 320A, 320B are attached to the axle housings 340A, 340B by bearings 341A, 341B. Note that the other pair of bearings that constitute the fully floating support structure are not shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

In the wheel support structure 330A shown in FIG. 3A, the wheel 320A is attached to the hub 310A with five wheel pins 321A. On the other hand, in the wheel support structure 330B shown in FIG. 3B, the wheel 320B is attached to the hub 310B with six wheel pins 321B. Such a difference in configuration is caused by the difference in shape between hubs 310A and 310B. More specifically, the wheel support structures 330A and 330B have different numbers of wheel pins 321A and 321B due to the different numbers of wheel mounting holes (not shown) for mounting to the hubs 310A and 310B.

Along with this, the wheel support structures 330A and 330B also differ in the number of brake rotor mounting holes (not shown) provided between the wheel mounting holes for mounting the brake rotors 20A and 20B. Specifically, since the wheel support structure 330A shown in FIG. 3A has five wheel mounting holes, the number of brake rotor mounting holes is also five, and the wheel support structure 330B shown in FIG. 3B has six wheel mounting holes, so the number of brake rotor mounting holes is also six.

Further, between the wheel support structures 330A and 330B, due to the difference in shape between the hubs 310A and 310B, the distance DA (see FIG. 3A) from the braking surface 22SA of the brake rotor 20A to the mounting surface 21SA to the hub 310A and the distance DB (see FIG. 3B) from the braking surface 22SB of the brake rotor 20B to the mounting surface 21SB to the hub 310B are different. 3A and 3B, the braking surfaces 22SA and 22SB are the surfaces of the braking portions 22A and 22B of the brake rotors 20A and 20B that are closer to the mounting portions 21A and 21B, and the mounting surfaces 21SA and 21SB are the surfaces of the mounting portions 21A and 21B that come into contact with the hubs 310A and 310B when they are mounted.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, in the wheel support structure 330A, the head portion 321AH of the wheel pin 321A is housed in a counterbored hole 311A provided on the brake rotor 20A side surface of the hub 310A. Therefore, in the wheel support structure 330A, the head portion 321AH of the wheel pin 321A does not interfere with the mounting portion 21A of the brake rotor 20A. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3B, in the wheel support structure 330B, the hub 310B is not provided with a counterbored hole for receiving the head 321BH of the wheel pin 321B. This is for the following reasons. Since the hub 310B, to which the wheel 320B is attached with six wheel pins 321B, has higher load resistance than the hub 310A, to which the wheel 320A is attached with five wheel pins 321A, the hub 310B tends to be used in an environment where a larger load is applied. Therefore, the hub 310B is not provided with a counterbored hole in order to avoid a decrease in load resistance due to a decrease in thickness. Since counterbore holes are not provided in this way, in the wheel support structure 330B, the head portion 321BH of the wheel pin 321B interferes with the mounting portion 21B of the brake rotor 20B.

The difference in shape between the brake rotor 20A shown in FIG. 2A and the brake rotor 20B shown in FIG. 2B corresponds to the difference between the wheel support structure 330A and the wheel support structure 330B described above. The difference between the wheel support structure 330A and the wheel support structure 330B, particularly the difference in shape between the hub 310A and the hub 310B, arises due to, for example, the difference in vehicle type.

As described above, it is possible to manufacture brake rotors 20 having a plurality of shapes corresponding to a plurality of vehicle types based on the brake rotor casting rough material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, in the rough cast material 10 for a brake rotor according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, since the outer peripheral shape of the flange portion 11 is circular, by appropriately changing the number of the mounting holes 211 and the presence or absence of the notches 212 according to the shape of the hub 310, it is possible to correspond to a plurality of types of hub 310 shapes.

In addition, in the brake rotor cast crude material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the flange portion 11 and the disk portion 12 are integrally formed by casting, so compared to the case where these are separately formed and combined, it is possible to withstand a large load.

As described above, rough materials for manufacturing the brake rotor 20 corresponding to hubs having different shapes can be manufactured with the same mold, and the mold can be used in common. When a plurality of vehicle types having hubs of different shapes are produced, if the number of each vehicle type to be produced is large, it may be costly to design a new mold for manufacturing the brake rotor 20 for each vehicle type. According to the cast rough material 10 for brake rotors according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, it is possible to deal with a plurality of types of hub shapes in the case of such small-lot production of multiple types of vehicles.

Note that the wheel support structures 330A and 330B shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B are examples, and the wheel support structure 330 assumed in the present disclosure is not limited to these. For example, the number of wheel pins 321 may be other than 5 or 6, and the hub 310 may or may not have a counterbored hole for receiving the head 321H of the wheel pin 321 . By changing the number of mounting holes 211 according to the number of wheel pins 321 , the brake rotor cast coarse material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can accommodate different numbers of wheel pins 321 . In addition, in the brake rotor cast crude material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, by appropriately providing notches 212 corresponding to the number of wheel pins 321 in the mounting portion 21, it is possible to avoid interference between the head portion 321H of the wheel pin 321 and the mounting portion 21.

The present disclosure does not particularly limit the shape of the brake rotor 20 manufactured using the brake rotor casting rough material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. In the embodiment described above, FIG. 2A illustrates the brake rotor 20A having five mounting holes 211A and no notches, and FIG. 2B illustrates the brake rotor 20B having six mounting holes 211B and notches 212B. However, the brake rotor 20 provided with, for example, five mounting holes 211 and cutouts 212 may be manufactured using the brake rotor cast rough material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, or the brake rotor 20 may be manufactured with six mounting holes 211 and no cutouts.

<Action/effect>
As described above, the brake rotor cast rough material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is the brake rotor cast rough material 10 for manufacturing the brake rotor 20. The brake rotor cast rough material 10 has an outward flange structure with a circular outer peripheral shape, and includes the flange portion 11 formed at a portion to be attached to the hub of the vehicle, and the disk portion 12 integrally formed with the flange portion 11 by casting.

With such a configuration, it is possible to manufacture brake rotors 20 having a plurality of shapes corresponding to a plurality of vehicle types, based on the brake rotor casting rough material 10 . In particular, in the brake rotor cast crude material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the flange portion 11 and the disk portion 12 are formed integrally by casting, so that they can withstand a large load compared to the case where they are configured separately.

Although various embodiments have been described above with reference to the drawings, the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications or modifications within the scope described in the claims, and these naturally belong to the technical scope of the present disclosure. Also, the components in the above embodiments may be combined arbitrarily without departing from the gist of the disclosure.

In the above-described embodiment, the cast brake rotor rough material 10, which is an example of the brake rotor rough material of the present disclosure, is integrally formed by casting. However, the brake rotor blank of the present disclosure is not limited to casting, and may be integrally formed by forging, for example.

The present disclosure is useful for brake rotor casting blanks for manufacturing various brake rotors.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 cast crude material for brake rotor 11 flange portion 12 disk portion 13 connection portion 20, 20A, 20B brake rotor 21, 21A, 21B mounting portion 21SA, 21SB mounting surface 22, 22A, 22B braking portion 22SA, 22SB braking surface 211, 211A, 211B mounting hole 212, 212B notch 310, 310A, 310B Hub 311A Counterbore 320, 320A, 320B Wheel 321, 321A, 321B Wheel pin 321H, 321AH, 321BH Head 330, 330A, 330B Wheel support structure 340A, 340B Axle housing 341A, 341B Bearing

Claims (5)

A rough material for a brake rotor capable of manufacturing a plurality of shapes of brake rotors to be attached to a plurality of types of hubs having at least one of different numbers and positions of brake rotor attachment holes,
a flange portion having an outward flange structure with a circular outer peripheral shape and formed on a portion attached to a hub of a vehicle;
a disk portion integrally molded with the flange portion ;
The thickness of the flange portion is formed to be equal to or greater than the thickness of the thickest brake rotor among the brake rotors of the plurality of shapes, and the outer diameter of the flange portion is equal to or greater than the outer diameter of the brake rotor having the largest outer diameter among the brake rotors of the plurality of shapes.
Rough material for brake rotors. A rough material for a brake rotor capable of manufacturing brake rotors having a plurality of shapes to be attached to a plurality of types of hubs having at least one of different numbers and positions of brake rotor mounting holes, comprising: a flange portion having an outward flange structure with a circular outer peripheral shape; integrally casting the rough material for the brake rotor,
Acquiring the number and positions of the brake rotor mounting holes included in the hub of the vehicle to which the brake rotor manufactured using the brake rotor raw material is mounted,
manufacturing the brake rotor by performing an amount of processing on the rough material for the brake rotor according to the acquired number and position;
Brake rotor manufacturing method. When the brake rotor is attached to the hub, the flange portion is provided with a notch for avoiding interference with the head of a wheel pin for attaching the wheel to the hub,
The brake rotor manufacturing method according to claim 2. The cutouts are provided between the plurality of brake rotor mounting holes in the same number as the brake rotor mounting holes,
The brake rotor manufacturing method according to claim 3. The notch is provided so as not to penetrate in the thickness direction of the outward flange structure,
5. The brake rotor manufacturing method according to claim 3 or 4.

Images