Probably the most important piece in the entire mechanism of vehicles are the disc brakes, since they are responsible for stopping it when you press the proper medium – a pedal, brake pod or a brake servo. For those of you that don’t know, a disc brake is a special type of brake that uses so called ‘calipers’ to press a pair of pads against a disc in order to create a certain degree of friction that will reduce the speed of motion or put the vehicle in a stationary position. Or, to put it simpler, a disc brake is the part of a braking system that does the actual stopping of the car. To explain better what the purpose of industrial disc brakes is, we’ll explain how are they build and the way they work.
A brief historical overview on industrial disc brakes.
It was in 1890’s that the first disc brakes were developed in England, but they started being practical and widely available 60 years later. To prepare them for being sold as industrial disc brakes, a lot of advanced technology was needed, which at that time was not available. It was in 1950’s that this technological progress came in England and in 1953 the first car race happened, and the power of disc brakes was demonstrated. The Le Mans Auto race featured some of the most popular cars today like the Jaguar and the Ferrari. The Jaguar was equipped with disc brakes, while the Ferrari had drum brakes. The Jaguar won the race, and its success is widely owned to the superiority of disc brakes. Industrial disc brakes came on the scene when mass production of the same started with Citroen DS in 1955.
How disk brakes work?
Industrial disc brakes are mainly used in cars as the main part of the breaking system. As such, these are made of 3 main components: brake pads, caliper ( that contains the piston), rotor (which is mounted to the hub). They’re very similar to the brakes of a bicycle: bicycle brakes also have a caliper serving the same purpose – to squeeze the pads against the wheel. On the other hand, in a disc brake the caliper doesn’t press the pads against the wheel, but against the rotor, so the force is transmitted hydraulically and not through a cable, as it is in a bicycle. The friction that is a result of the pads being pressed against the disc slows it down and the car stops, which is exactly what the purpose of the disc brakes is.
