Electric Brakes fo Future Cars

It is a little stretch to put this item on The Energy Blog, but the Electric Wedge Brake (EWB) would save weight and energy in future automobiles in adddition to revolutionizing braking systems.  Siemans VDO's EWB braking system makes possible a 12V brake-by-wire system.

The electric motors for the brakes obtain their energy from the turning wheels. The intelligently controlled wedge converts the kinetic energy of the vehicle directly into braking energy. As a result of its self-reinforcing action, the EWB is faster than today’s hydraulic brake and requires only one-tenth the energy to operate.

As shown in the illustration, the brake rotor (1) and the pad (2) are brought into contact with each other by electric motors (3, 4) using several roller screws (5) along wedge-shaped angled surfaces (6).  The wedge effect is automatically amplified as the result of the wheel's rotation allowing varying degrees of braking force to be generated with little effort.  This operation of the brake can be seen in this video of EWB operation.

To quote the article in Automotive Design Line: "The EWB design eliminates components such as hydraulic lines, brake cylinders, brake booster, or ABS control unit, to offer overall system weight reduction—with simplified service, greater reliability, and increased safety. By doing away with the entire hydraulic system, the overall brake system can be more economically integrated into the automobile. The removal of the hydraulic brake system also helps reduce the automobile's environmental impact (from fluids elimination and greater fuel efficiency)."

Start of production is planned for the end of the decade.

Wedge brake design boosts by-wire stopping performance, Bernd Gombert, Siemens VDO, Automotive Design Line, April 6, 2006

Technorati tags: vehicles, brake systems, energy, technology

Comments

[George]

This is a nice development but frankly, I don't see much weight reduction or efficiency enhancement. Most of the weight is in the disc, and it looks quite conventional. Getting rid of the vacuum booster and master cylinder would free up some much needed space.

[Don Borowski]

This looks like an "autoservo" type of brake design, where the motion of the disc causes additional clamping pressure to be produced by the pads.

This idea is very old. It was used in many drum brakes. The problem is that any inconsistencies in the friction between the pads and disc get amplified. This became a real problem for drum brakes when asbestos brake shoes (which have a very consistent coefficient of friction) were outlawed. This is one other reason why antilock brakes came into use, and why regular disc brakes (with no autoservo action) came into use.

[paul clautz]

we need more biomass in this world.dont u think so too?? Any way post it

[Susi]

This is a nice developement,but i think it is like the drum brakes. Drum brakes were dangerous and thats why they made anti-lock brakes. So i think we should stick to hybrid cars that pollute little to our environment! Lastly i would like to see our taxes going to something better for us than dangerous brakes that are bad, and old fashioned.

[Dog Mo]

Here is how it works:

The oil and auto industry consider the battery industry to be a failed technology that can never be made or delivered in the form factor, price point, range or efficiency that they care about. (It doesn't matter, for this argument, what YOU think.) So they got together and used "layered anti-evangelism" to manipulate the battery industry.

"Layered anti-evangelism" is an intelligence agency third world manipulation device that works like this:

1. Select the target: In this case it is hydrogen fuel cells, which have been demonstrated to beat batteries on every business front.
2. Select your internal agents. In this case lobbyists and "writers" that are paid by the oil and auto industry.
3. Have the agents contact and talk to the "sheep". In this case the sheep are the writers for battery industry trades and heads of battery lobby or support organizations.
4. Have the agents convince the sheep via skewed data provision. In this case selected reports were written and then shown to the sheep to convince the sheep that hydrogen fuels cells would steal their funding, put them out of business and that the only source of hydrogen was from the "evil oil companies".

So you have battery evangelists who are anti-hydrogen sheep:
Ulf Bossel of the European Fuel Cell Forum
Alec Brooks- EV World
Sam Thurber

Yet for every manipulated argument they come up with, they are shot down by hundreds of sites with facts, ie: http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid985.php

WHY? Because you can make hydrogen at home and the ability to do it fast, cheap and clean is coming 40 times faster than they thought.

This happened, using the same process, to:
1.) Electric light rail in America (US Vs. National City Lines, 334 US 573)
2.) The EV1 (www.sonyclassics/whokilledtheelectriccar)
Etc.

[Donald]

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http://www.khichdee.com/maincat-id-1.htm

[peliportti.com]

Disc brakes are far better than drum brakes because of their powerful stopping ability

[sildenafil citrate]

thanks for the info, it's something to think about, i'll stay in touch!!

[Adler Brake Booster Check Valve]

Power brakes are great when they work correctly, but what happens when they don't? Suddenly it takes a lot more effort to bring the vehicle to a halt. This may increase the distance it takes to stop the vehicle and create a potentially dangerous situation. So if a vehicle is suffering from increased pedal effort, the first thing you should check is the power brake system.

[perfectmachine]

Perfect Machine Fabric leading manufacturer of a slew of Hydraulic Cylinders, Hydraulic Equipments Manufacturers both standards as well as per custom built specification in India.

[Term Papers]

Hi everyone, This site is excellent and so is how the subject matter was explained. I like some of the comments too although I would suggest everyone stays on the subject matter so that to add value to the message.

[Extrusion]

SPM CONTROLS is the leading manufacturers of Presses, Extrusion Press, Hydraulic Presses and Extrusion Presses in India.for more details visit http://www.spmcontrols.com

[phentermine no rx]

Why we need electrix brakes? Any benefit from them.

[Car Shipping Quote]

this seems like such a common sense and efficient braking system that it's a wonder that no one has thought of it sooner.

[Cheap Jordans]

The man who has made up his mind to win will never say "impossible".

[garage equipment]

With more people going green by eating organic and whole foods and finding other new efficient ways to improve the environment, car companies are doing their part to go green by reducing the environmental impact of automobile use.