JPH05240278A - Brake cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cool a rotor and reduce the temperature of a brake by atomizing the water in a water tank, and spraying the vicinity of the inlet of a bench hole from a nozzle when the temperature of the brake exceeds the specified value and the vehicle speed exceeds the specified value. CONSTITUTION:A controller 35 detects the temperature of a rotor 3 of a brake 1 by means of a temperature sensor 10, detects the speed by means of a vehicle speed sensor 30, and detects the water amount in a water tank 20 by means of a water amount sensor 25. When sufficient cooling water is available, the temperature of the rotor 3 is 200 deg.C or more, and the vehicle speed is not less than 40Km/h, the controller 35 switches a solenoid valve 11 from the closing position 11A to the opening position 11B to supply the high pressure air of an air tank 12 to a pipe 7, sucks the cooling water in the water tank 20 at a diameter-reduced part 7a, and ejects the mist from the nozzle 6 to the space 8. The mist is sucked together with the cooled air into the bench hole (a) due to the windmill effect by the rotation of the rotor 3, deprives the heat of vaporization of the rotor 3, and the rotor 3 is forcibly cooled thereby together with by the cooled air. The mist fully contributes to the cooling, allowing less water to be consumed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a brake cooling device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A brake of a vehicle is for controlling traveling to maintain an arbitrary speed or to stop at a predetermined position. As the traveling performance becomes higher, the braking performance needs to be commensurate with it. is there. The brake is constructed by the simple principle of rubbing friction material on the rotating body to obtain the braking force.A drum brake that presses a circular drum-shaped rotating body from the inside with a brake shoe and an exposed circle. There is a disc brake that brakes by tightening a plate (rotor) with a brake pad.

[0003]

Since the brake converts kinetic energy into heat energy, the brake temperature rises due to braking. When the brake becomes hot, the effectiveness of the friction material deteriorates (fade), vapor is generated in the brake fluid and it becomes ineffective, or the brake judder occurs due to the deformation of the rotor. There is a problem in that early wear of the friction material occurs and the stability, reliability and durability of the brake are significantly deteriorated.

These problems have been improved by the spread of the disc brake and the adoption of a ventilated rotor having a heat radiating hole in the disc brake rotor, but improvement of the cooling property of the brake remains a basic problem. It is the current situation. The reason why the cooling performance of the brake cannot be greatly improved is that the location of the brake is often inside the wheel, and it is not sufficiently cooled by the running wind. This is because it is difficult to install the device, and because the rotor is a rotating body, the cooling device is structurally limited.

Conventionally, as a means for lowering the brake temperature, the heat capacity of the rotor is set to a large value. However, if the heat capacity of the rotor is increased, it naturally becomes heavy, and accordingly, the weight of the brake device becomes heavier and lighter. There is also the problem that it will be a major obstacle to The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and determines whether or not cooling of the brake is necessary depending on the brake temperature, the vehicle speed, etc., and when it is determined that cooling is necessary, the cooling water is provided near the inlet of the bench hole of the rotor. An object of the present invention is to provide a brake cooling device adapted to cool a rotor by spraying mist and discharging it through a bench hole.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a disc brake having a rotor provided with a bench hole is provided so as to face the vicinity of the entrance of the bench hole from the dust cover side. A nozzle, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the brake, a water tank, a spraying means for spraying the water in the water tank from the nozzle into a mist and sucking the water into the bench hole, a vehicle speed sensor, the temperature sensor and a vehicle speed sensor. And a controller that drives the spraying means when the brake temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature and the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed.

[0007]

When the brake temperature rises above the predetermined temperature and the vehicle speed is above the predetermined vehicle speed, the controller drives the spraying means to mist the water in the water tank and injects it from the nozzle into the vicinity of the inlet of the bench hole of the rotor. Let The sprayed mist is sucked into the bench hole of the rotating rotor together with the cooling air, and is evaporated when passing through the bench hole to remove the heat of vaporization and cool the rotor. This lowers the brake temperature.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2, the disc brake 1
Is a disk rotor (hereinafter simply referred to as “rotor”) 3 that is concentrically fixed to the hub 2, and a rotor 3 that is fixed to the vehicle body side.
And a pair of left and right brake pads (both not shown) that press the rotor 3 to apply a braking force to the rotor 3 and the like. .. A knuckle arm 4 that supports the hub 2 is provided with a dust cover (mudproof plate) 5 that protects the disc brake 1.

A nozzle 6 is attached to the dust cover 5, and the nozzle 6 is attached to the rotor 3 from the dust cover 5 side.
It is provided facing the entrance of the bench hole 3a. The mist sprayed from the nozzle 6 into the space 8 between the vicinity of the inlet of the bench hole 3a of the rotor 3 and the dust cover 5 is discharged to the outside of the rotor 3 through the bench hole 3a. The nozzle 6 is connected to the tip of the pipe 7. The number of nozzles 6 may be one or more.

Further, a temperature sensor 10 for detecting the brake temperature is attached to the dust cover 5, and its sensing portion is provided facing the space 8. The brake temperature is the temperature of the rotor 3 or the brake pad, as long as these can be effectively detected, and the temperature of a portion having a correlation with the temperature of the rotor 3 or the brake pad may be detected, or the temperature around them may be detected. Temperature, space 8
The temperature of may be detected. It should be noted that the brake temperature may be detected by detecting the brake temperature of one of the left and right wheels of the front wheel that employs the disc brake.
It is provided on the brake 1 of one of the front wheels.

As shown in FIG. 3, the pipe 7 is connected to an air tank 12 via a solenoid valve 11, and the air tank 12 is connected to a compressor 1 via a check valve 13.
4 is connected. The compressor 14 is driven by a motor 15. A pressure sensor 16 is connected to the air tank 12. Pipe 7 is on the way 7
a is reduced in diameter (hereinafter referred to as “reduced diameter portion 7a”) and is narrowed down, and the tip end 18a of a small-diameter pipe 18 is connected to the reduced diameter portion 7a at a substantially right angle. This pipe 1
The base end of 8 is inserted into the water tank 20 for cooling water up to the vicinity of the bottom and is opened so as to face the bottom surface.

The water tank 20 is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, and a pipe 21 is provided side by side with the pipe 18, and the pipe 21 is mounted on the vehicle via a hose 22. It is connected to the cooler drain (not shown). Then, the water discharged from the cooler is supplied to the water tank 20 and is supplied as cooling water. Further, a drain tube 23 is connected to the cooling water inlet 20a so as to discharge an excessive amount of water.

A water amount sensor 25 for detecting the amount of water is provided in the water tank 20. This water amount sensor 25
Is a pipe 26 whose upper end is fixed to the upper surface of the water tank 20 and hangs down, a sensor such as a reed switch 27 provided at a predetermined position on the lower end of the pipe 26, and a pipe 26 which is vertically movable at a slight interval. It is composed of an annular float 29 and the like which is fitted and has an annular magnet 28 for driving the reed switch 27.

By supplying the drain water generated when the cooler is used, the water tank 20 can be constantly filled with the cooling water especially in the summer when the cooler is used, and the frequency of water supply to the water tank 20 can be increased. And the water temperature in the tank 20 can be lowered, the mist cooling effect can be further enhanced, and it is particularly effective in the summer when it is difficult to naturally cool the brake temperature.

The reed switch 2 for the temperature sensor 10, the solenoid valve 11, the motor 15, the pressure gauge 16, and the water amount sensor 25.
The vehicle speed sensor 30 (FIG. 3) that detects the vehicle speed of the vehicle 7 and the vehicle is connected to the controller 35. The controller 35 is further connected with a plurality of indicator lamps (none of which are shown) for displaying the amount of water in the water tank 20. These indicator lamps are arranged on the instrument panel facing the driver. Has been done.

Then, the controller 35 determines whether or not the cooling of the brake 1 is necessary based on the brake temperature, the vehicle speed, etc., and when it is determined that it is necessary, the controller 35 sucks the cooling water of the water tank 20 and sprays the mist from the nozzle 6. , Rotor 3
To cool. The brake cooling device is arranged at a predetermined position on the vehicle body. The operation will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The controller 35 detects the temperature T of the rotor 3 of the brake 1 from the signal from the temperature sensor 10 (step 1), and detects the speed V of the vehicle from the signal from the vehicle speed sensor 30 (step 2). The amount of water in the water tank 20 is detected based on the signal from the water amount sensor 25 (step 3) to determine whether or not there is sufficient cooling water (step 4). The answer to this step 4 is negative (NO).
At this time, the controller 35 turns on the yellow indicator lamp (step 5), and the driver
It is informed that the cooling water of the water tank 20 is insufficient and that the forced cooling effect of the brake 1 by the cooling water cannot be expected even if the operation is performed harshly.

When the answer in step 4 is affirmative (YES), the controller 35 causes the temperature T of the rotor 3 of the brake 1 to be a predetermined temperature, for example, 200 ° C. or higher (T ≧ 200 ° C.).
Is determined to be high (step 6), and if the determination is negative (NO), it is determined that forced cooling of the rotor 3 by the cooling water is unnecessary, and the process returns to step 1 and is affirmative (YES). When, the vehicle speed V is a predetermined vehicle speed, for example, 40
It is determined whether or not km / h or more (V ≧ 40 km / h) (step 7). When the determination result is negative (NO), the process returns to step 1 and forced cooling is not performed.

In step 6, the temperature T of the rotor 3 is set to 2
The temperature is set to 00 ° C. or higher because it is set to a temperature (about 300 ° C.) or lower at which the mist evaporates when passing through the bench hole 3 a and the brake pad undergoes a rapid characteristic change. Further, the reason why the vehicle speed V is set to 40 km / h or more in step 7 is that it does not matter if the vehicle speed is lower than 40 km / h and the vehicle is traveling at a low speed, the braking conditions are milder and the temperature of the rotor 3 is a little higher than at high speed. The reason is that the rotation of the rotor is slow at low speed, so that local cooling by the cooling water is avoided to prevent thermal distortion and the like.

When the answer in step 7 is affirmative (YES), that is, when the temperature of the rotor 3 of the brake 1 rises to 200 ° C. or more and the vehicle speed is running at 40 km / h or more, the controller 35 causes the mist spraying. (Step 8) is performed to forcibly cool the rotor 3. That is, the controller 35
However, when the solenoid valve 11 (FIG. 3) is energized to switch from the closed position 11A to the open position 11B, the high-pressure air in the air tank 12 is supplied to the pipe 7, and the flow velocity increases and the pressure decreases. In, the cooling water in the water tank 20 is sucked out by the principle of “fog spraying”, and the mist is sprayed from the nozzle 6 (FIG. 2) at the tip into the space 8.

The mist injected into the space 8 is sucked together with the cooling air into the bench hole 3a by the windmill effect due to the rotation of the rotor 3, and is discharged to the outside of the rotor 3 as shown by the arrow in FIGS. And the mist is the bench hole 3
When passing through a, heat of vaporization is taken from the rotor 3 to cool the rotor 3. Of course, the rotor 3 is also cooled by the cooling air that passes through the bench hole 3a together with the mist. As a result, the rotor 3 is forcibly cooled.

The mist injected into the space 8 contributes to the cooling of the rotor 3 without wasteful scattering to the outside.
The amount of cooling water consumed can be reduced. Further, even if the cooling device malfunctions, the friction surface of the rotor 3 is not wetted and there is no particular problem. The controller 35 constantly detects the air pressure of the air tank 12 based on the signal from the pressure sensor 16. When the pressure of the air tank 12 becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined pressure, the motor 15 is driven to operate the compressor 14 to cause the air tank 12 to operate. Compressed air is supplied to maintain the air pressure of the air tank 12 at a predetermined pressure. Thereby, the cooling water of the water tank 20 is sprayed from the nozzle 6 into the space 8 as a uniform mist.

The controller 35 determines whether or not the cooling water in the water tank 20 is sufficient during the forced cooling (mist cooling) of the rotor 3 (step 9), and the determination result is negative (NO). At this time, for example, the red indicator lamp is turned on (step 10) to eliminate the amount of cooling water necessary for cooling the rotor 3 in the water tank 20, and forcible cooling can be performed even if the temperature of the rotor 3 increases thereafter. Notify the driver that he cannot do it, and call attention.

On the other hand, the determination result of step 9 is affirmative (YE
In the case of S), that is, when the amount of cooling water in the water tank 20 is sufficient, the controller 35 turns on, for example, a green indicator lamp (step 11) to force the driver to cool the rotor 3 by mist spraying. In addition to notifying that the forced cooling has been performed, it is determined whether or not the temperature T of the rotor 3 has dropped to a predetermined temperature, for example, 180 ° C. or lower (T ≦ 180 ° C.) (step 12).

When the answer to this step 12 is affirmative (YES), that is, when the temperature of the rotor 3 has dropped to 180 ° C. or lower, the controller 35 turns off the green indicator lamp (step 13) and the solenoid valve. 11 (FIG. 3) is deenergized to close the valve, supply of compressed air from the air tank 12 to the pipe 7 is stopped, mist spray from the nozzle 6 is stopped, and forced cooling of the rotor 3 is completed.

When the determination result of step 12 is negative (NO), that is, the temperature of the rotor 3 is 180 degrees.
If it is higher than ℃, the vehicle speed V is a predetermined vehicle speed, for example, 45
It is determined whether or not it is less than or equal to km / h (V ≦ 45 km / h) (step 14), and if the determination result is negative (NO), the process returns to step 12 to continue the forced cooling of the rotor 3 and affirms ( If YES, stop mist spraying (step 1
5) Allow the forced cooling to finish.

In step 14, the temperature of the rotor 3 is 1
Even when the vehicle speed is higher than 80 ° C, if the vehicle speed is 45 km / h or less, the process proceeds to step 15 to stop the mist spraying and stop the forced cooling, because the rotor temperature T is already 200 ° C or higher as the forced cooling condition. Whether there is (step 6),
It is determined whether the vehicle speed V is 40 km / h or more (step 7) to perform the forced cooling, and the rotor 3 is cooled to 18
This is because even if the temperature is higher than 0 ° C., the temperature does not exceed 200 ° C., and therefore, if the vehicle speed is 45 km / h or less, the use condition of the brake 1 is not particularly severe.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the brake cooling device, in which an ultrasonic oscillator is used as the mist generating means in place of the above-mentioned spraying principle. The same members as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 6, the pipe 7 is a discharge port 4 of the ultrasonic oscillator 40.
0a, and the suction port 40b of the ultrasonic oscillator 40 is connected to the water tank 4 via a pipe 41 and a solenoid valve 42.
3 is connected to the bottom hole.

The water tank 43 is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, and the pipe 44 inserted from the upper surface is
It is connected to a drain (not shown) of a cooler mounted on the vehicle via a hose (not shown). Then, the water discharged from the cooler is supplied to the water tank 43 and is supplied as cooling water. A drain tube 45 is connected to the cooling water inlet 43a so as to discharge an excessive amount of water. In addition, a water amount sensor 25 for detecting the amount of water is provided in the water tank 43.
Is provided.

The temperature sensor 10, the ultrasonic oscillator 40c of the ultrasonic oscillator 40, the electromagnetic valve 42, the reed switch 27 of the water amount sensor 25, and the vehicle speed sensor 30 are connected to a controller 46. The controller 46 is connected with a plurality of indicator lamps (none of which is shown) for displaying the amount of water or the like in the water tank 43, as described above.

As with the controller 35 (FIG. 3) described above, the controller 46 drives the ultrasonic oscillator 40 and the solenoid valve 42 under the condition that the brake 1 should be cooled.
, For example, duty control is performed to open and close the water tank 43.
The cooling water is supplied to the ultrasonic oscillator 40 by a predetermined amount. The ultrasonic oscillator 40 applies the supplied cooling water to the ultrasonic transducer 4
It is turned into a mist by 0c, and sprayed from the nozzle 6 through the pipe 7 into the space 8 between the rotor 3 and the dust cover 5. The solenoid valve 42 does not necessarily need to be duty-controlled, and may be simply opened.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cooling ability of the brake can be greatly improved, the stability, reliability and durability can be improved, and the heat capacity of the rotor can be reduced. Since it is possible to reduce the weight of the rotor, it is possible to reduce the number of parts by one nozzle per wheel, and the weight of the brake can be reduced accordingly. Furthermore, the injected mist contributes to the cooling without scattering to the outside,
It has an excellent effect that the amount of water consumption can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a disc brake to which a brake cooling device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cutaway perspective view of an essential part of the disc brake of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a brake cooling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the water tank of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing control of the brake cooling device of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the brake cooling device according to the present invention.

7 is a cross-sectional view of the water tank of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Disc Brake 2 Hub 3 Rotor 4 Knuckle Arm 5 Dust Cover 6 Nozzle 7 Pipe 10 Temperature Sensor 11 Solenoid Valve 12 Air Tank 14 Compressor 16 Pressure Sensor 20, 43 Water Tank 25 Water Volume Sensor 30 Vehicle Speed Sensor 35, 46 Controller 40 Ultrasonic Oscillator

Front page continuation (72) Hiromichi Yasunaga Inventor Hiromichi Yasunaga 5-3-8 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside Mitsubishi Motors Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A nozzle provided to face the vicinity of the entrance of the bench hole from the dust cover side of a disc brake including a rotor provided with a bench hole, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the brake, and a water tank. , Spray means for mist spraying the water in the water tank from the nozzle and sucking it into the bench hole, a vehicle speed sensor, the temperature sensor and a signal from the vehicle speed sensor are taken in, and the brake temperature is a predetermined temperature or higher and the vehicle speed is a predetermined vehicle speed or higher. And a controller for driving the spraying means at the time of.