The present invention concerns disk brakes and, more particularly, a disk brake having an electric wear sensor with electric connector, as defined in the preamble of Claim 1.
It is a well known and common practice to provide brakes, irrespective of whether they are of the disk or drum type, with devices capable of detecting the state of wear of the brake linings and generally known as wear detectors These devices differ both on account of the underlying operating principle and their constructional configuration: in the case of disk brakes for motor vehicles it is a common practice to employ electric wear detectors that use a sensor associated with one of the pads of the brake caliper. These indicators transmit the signal that arrives from the sensor and indicates the wear of the pad via an electric cable that terminates at a connector, said connector being in its turn connected via another cable to a display device arranged, for example, on the instrument panel of the vehicle. The connector is generally fixed to the disk brake caliper by means of one or more screws. The caliper is shaped in such a way as to provide a seating for the connector and a faceplate with one or more threaded holes for the fixing screw or screws. This implies that the caliper has to be produced for being used together with a particular connector, and it is not therefore possible to apply to it any other connector than the one for which it is designed. Furthermore, the formation of the seating and the faceplate with the threaded hole call for specific processing operations and therefore cause additional costs. Lastly, assembly is relatively laborious.
The present invention therefore sets out to make available a disk brake with an electric wear sensor in which the fixing of the electric connector to the brake caliper does not call for special processing operations of the caliper and can be achieved easily and rapidly.
According to the invention this objective is attained by realizing the disk brake defined and characterized in general terms in the first claim.
The invention will be more clearly understood from the detailed description given below of a particular embodiment thereof, which is to be regarded as an example and not limitative in any way, said description making reference to the drawings attached hereto, of which:
An electric wear sensor, which could be, for example, an electric contact incorporated in one of the pads, has as its output terminal an electric cable 16 that at its free end carries a plug-in element, which cannot be seen in the drawing because it is inserted in a corresponding seating of the connector 17. The body of said connector, made of insulating material, is fixed to the caliper and from it there extends another electrical cable 18 intended to transmit the sensor signal to a display instrument or some other user device. For the purposes of fixing the electric connector 17, the caliper has a faceplate with a threaded hole and the electric connector 17 has an appendix 17a with a through hole; the fixing is assured by a screw, not shown on the drawing, that is inserted in the through hole and screwed into threaded hole of the caliper body. As can be seen, the caliper ham to be shaped and predisposed for the use of an electric connector of specific dimensions and a special shape and therefore call for special processing operations.
Let us now consider
The carrier element 20 can be fixed to the caliper by bringing it into the position shown in
One can also readily note the advantages of the invention as compared with the prior art: the fixing of the electrical connector of the sensor does not call for the provision of any specific structural elements of the caliper body or any special processing thereof, but use is rather made of elements that are already present in a customary disk brake, namely the pin carrying the pads and the edge of the opening of the caliper. The only additive part is a piece that is as easy to produce as the holed and bent sheet-metal piece 20. Furthermore, any disk brake of the type defined at the beginning of this description can be transformed into a disk brake in accordance with the invention without there being need for any special intervention other than preparing a holed and bent sheet-metal piece 20 that fits the dimensions of the opening and the pin. Any type of connector can be used without having to do anything other than providing suitable means for fixing the connector to the carrier element. Lastly, assembly of the components is extremely easy and rapid.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IT02/00179 | 3/21/2002 | WO |