Patent Application
20250102027
The present invention relates to a bicycle disk brake, especially to a bicycle disk brake pad and a method for making the same.
Brake pads are important components of a disc brake. The performance of the brake pad is critical to driving safety. In order to prevent brake failure resulted from brake pad fade caused by high temperature, people in the business have developed a brake pad with self-heat-dissipation effect which not only provides higher heat dissipation but also avoids problems of the brake pad caused by high temperature.
The brake pad with self-heat-dissipation effect is formed by a metal plate assembled with a friction piece. High heat of the friction piece is removed by the metal plate with good thermal conductivity. In order to enhance heat dissipation capacity of the brake pad, basically an area of the metal plate of the brake pad with self-heat-dissipation effect needs to be increased.
Refer to Taiwanese Pat. No. 1607923, a bicycle brake pad which includes a cooling plate and a friction pad is provided. The cooling plate has a first surface, a second surface, a pad supporting section and a heat dissipation section. The friction pad is mechanically and fixedly connected to the pad supporting section of the cooling plate. The friction pad fits into a recess on the first surface. The recess includes a pair of apertures. A base portion of the friction pad includes a pair of rivet portions. During assembly of the friction pad with the cooling plate, the rivet portions are inserted through the apertures. Then the rivet portions are deformed to form deformed heads which fill the recesses for mechanically fixing and connecting the friction pad to the pad supporting section of the cooling plate.
The base portion of the friction pad mentioned in the above Taiwanese Pat. No. 1607923 is made of a metallic material such as brass, aluminum, steel alloy or other metallic materials that provide good heat transferring properties. In practice, these metallic materials have certain problems. Compared with steel alloy, brass and aluminum have lower mechanical strength and easy deformation due to high temperature generated during operation of the friction pad. If the base portion of the friction pad is made of steel alloy, deformation of the rivet portions into deformed heads after being inserted through the apertures will be quite difficult.
Refer to Chinese Pat. Pub. No CN102312947A, a bicycle brake pad is provided. A cooling plate is made of metal and provided with a friction plate. The cooling plate includes a plurality of heat dissipating fins for increasing heat dissipating area of the cooling plate. The heat dissipating fins and the cooling plate are integrated into one part and made of the same metallic material. Also refer to Taiwanese Pat. No. M445652 “One-piece heat dissipation brake pad structure”, and Chinese Pat. Pub. No. CN203756816U “replaceable heat dissipation brake pad”, they also have similar designs. However, the above prior arts use a single metallic material (such as aluminum). Although good thermal conductivity is provided, the aluminum or aluminum alloy is easy to have deformation due to high temperature and unable to provide sufficient structural strength to the brake pad.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a bicycle disk brake pad and a method for making the same which provide not only sufficient structural strength to avoid deformation of the disk brake pad at high temperature but also excellent heat dissipation effect.
In order to achieve the above object, a bicycle disk brake pad according to the present invention includes a heat dissipation member and a friction member. The heat dissipation member is made of aluminum alloy-stainless steel clad metal plate formed by an aluminum alloy sheet and a stainless steel sheet attached to one lateral surface of the aluminum alloy sheet. The heat dissipation member consists of a first surface and a second surface on two opposite sides of the heat dissipation member, a heat dissipating area, a joined area, a plurality of heat dissipation fins on the first surface of the heat dissipating area, and a joined plate disposed on the joined area. The plurality of heat dissipation fins is extending toward a direction away from the heat dissipation member while the joined plate is made of the stainless steel sheet of the aluminum alloy-stainless steel clad metal plate. An exposed surface of the joined plate is a joined surface which is flush with the second surface. The friction member is fixed on the joined surface of the joined plate and composed of a substrate and a friction pad respectively made of stainless steel and composite friction materials. The friction pad is formed and attached to the substrate by sintering of the composite friction material. The friction pad and the substrate are connected and integrated into one part. One lateral surface of the substrate without attached with the friction pad is adhered to the joined surface of the joined plate. A periphery of the substrate of the friction member and the joined surface of the joined plate are welded together by laser welding.
Preferably, the joined surface of the joined plate is provided with at least one blind hole while the lateral surface of the substrate of the friction member without attached with the friction pad is provided with at least one protrusion corresponding to the blind hole. The protrusion and the blind hole are coupled with each other correspondingly.
Preferably, a diameter of the blind hole is tapered inward to form the blind hole with a conical wall while a shape of the protrusion is conical which matches the conical wall of the blind hole.
Preferably, the joined surface of the joined plate is provided with two blind holes and two corresponding protrusions.
A method for making a bicycle disk brake pad according to the present invention includes the following steps.
Preferably, the step of preparing an aluminum alloy-stainless steel clad metal plate further includes a step of arranging the stainless steel sheet along a center line in a longitudinal direction of the aluminum alloy sheet of the aluminum alloy-stainless steel clad metal plate. A width of the stainless steel sheet perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is at least twice of a height of the friction member.
The bicycle disk brake pad features on that the substrate of the friction member and the joined plate of the heat dissipation member are both made of stainless steel to prevent the friction member from deformation at high temperature, Moreover, the heat dissipation member of the bicycle disk brake pad is made of the aluminum alloy-stainless steel clad metal plate. The stainless steel provides reliable structural strength so that the disk brake pad will not be deformed at high temperature during working period in which the friction member and the disk brake pad have friction therebetween while the aluminum alloy with excellent thermal conductivity makes the brake disk pad have good heat dissipation.
In order to learn features and advantages of the present invention more clearly, please refer to the following embodiments and detailed descriptions. However, the following embodiments are only intended for purposes of illustration and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
Refer to
In a preferred embodiment, the heat dissipation member 10 is made of aluminum alloy-stainless steel clad metal plate P1 having two-layered structure (as shown in
In a preferred embodiment, the heat dissipation fin 15 is formed by pressing forming of aluminum alloy located at the heat dissipating area 13 of the heat dissipation member 10. Thus the heat dissipation fins 15 are formed on the first surface 11 at the heat dissipating area 13 of the heat dissipation member 10 and having two forms. One looks like an arch, as shown in
The friction member 20 is fixed on the joined surface 161 of the joined plate 16 and composed of a substrate 21 and a friction pad 22 respectively made of stainless steel and composite friction material. In a preferred embodiment, the friction pad 22 is formed and attached to the substrate 21 by sintering of the composite friction material. It should be understood that the friction pad 22 and the substrate 21 are connected and integrated into one part. One lateral surface 211 of the substrate 21 without attached with the friction pad 22 is adhered to the joined surface 161 of the joined plate 16. In a preferred embodiment, a periphery S of the substrate 21 of the friction member 20 is welded to the joined surface 161 of the joined plate 16 by laser welding. It is understandable that the substrate 21 of the friction member 20 of the bicycle disk brake pad is made of stainless steel and used for supporting the friction pad 22 to prevent the friction member 20 from deformation at high temperature. Moreover, the substrate 21 of the friction member 20 is welded together with the joined surface 161 of the joined plate 16 by laser welding not only for providing reliable structural strength to prevent deformation of the disk brake pad at high temperature but also achieving the purpose of fast and automatic production.
Refer to
A method for making a bicycle disk brake pad according to the present invention includes the following steps.
Refer to
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalent.
