Brake Caliper Made from Cast Iron of a Disc Brake

Abstract

A cast iron brake caliper of a disc brake, includes a caliper back and caliper head. connected to the caliper back via tension struts arranged parallel and spaced apart from one another. The caliper head has a housing surrounding an accommodation chamber for functional parts and, separate from and adjacent to the housing, an integrally molded, protruding connector, which accommodates a bearing bore for a fixed bearing, and is connected to the housing by way of an integrally molded rib. The brake caliper is designed such that the rib is guided across the connector up to and into an outer edge region of the caliper head.

Claims

1. A cast iron brake caliper of a disc brake, comprising: a caliper rear section; a caliper head; tension struts arranged parallel to and spaced apart from one another, the caliper head being connected to the caliper section via the tension struts, wherein the caliper head has a housing that encloses a receiving chamber for functional parts, the caliper head has an integrally formed, protruding connector which accommodates a bearing bore for a fixed bearing, the connector being adjacent to and spaced apart from the housing of the caliper head, the connector is connected to the housing via an integrally formed rib, and the rib extends from the housing across the connector into an outer edge region of the caliper head.

2. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rib runs obliquely as far as the associated tension strut.

3. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rib has a multi-step form with step surfaces.

4. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 3, wherein the multi-step form is a two-step form.

5. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rib has a multi-step form.

6. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rib has a thickened portion in the spaced apart region between the connector and the housing.

7. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rib has a thickened portion in the spaced apart region between the connector and the housing.

8. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 6, wherein the thickened portion tapers toward a bottom side of the caliper.

9. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 6, wherein the thickened portion is dimensioned in terms of height so as to cover a major part of a circumference of the connector.

10. The brake caliper as claimed in claim 8, wherein the thickened portion is dimensioned in terms of height so as to cover a major part of a circumference of the connector.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a brake caliper according to the prior art in a plan view.

[0025] FIG. 2 shows a brake caliper according to an embodiment of the invention, likewise in a plan view.

[0026] FIG. 3 shows a partial detail of the brake caliper according to FIG. 1 in a perspective view.

[0027] FIG. 4 shows the partial detail as per FIG. 3 in a view from below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a brake caliper according to prior art, which corresponds in terms of its basic construction to that according to the invention as per FIG. 2.

[0029] Here, the brake caliper is composed of a caliper head 1 with a housing 4 which encloses a receiving chamber for functional parts, of an oppositely situated caliper rear section 2, and of two tension struts 3 which are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from one another and which connect the caliper head 1 and the caliper rear section 2 to one another.

[0030] To receive a plain bearing which is in the form of a fixed bearing and which, together with a further floating bearing (not illustrated), serves for the fastening of the brake caliper to a vehicle-side brake carrier, a connector 5 with a bearing bore 8 is integrally formed on the brake caliper. The brake caliper is held in the form of a sliding caliper in a displaceable fashion. The connector 5 protrudes from and extends with a spacing with respect to the housing 4.

[0031] To accommodate deformation forces acting on the brake caliper during braking operations, the connector 5 is connected by way of an integrally formed rib 6 to the housing 4. As can be seen very clearly in FIG. 1, in the case of a known brake caliper, the rib 6 extends from the housing 4 into a central region of the connector 5, that is to say approximately to the central axis thereof.

[0032] By contrast, the rib 6 according to the invention extends, as can be seen in FIGS. 2-4, across the connector 5 into an outer edge region 7 of the caliper head 1. The rib 6, as in the prior art, is in this case also positioned on the top side of the brake caliper in an installed position.

[0033] In particular, it can be seen from FIG. 3 that the rib 6 is of two-step form in the manner of a staircase, with two step surfaces 9 which both extend into the edge region 7.

[0034] FIG. 4 shows a partial detail of the brake caliper in a view from below. It can be seen in this figure that the rib 6 is formed, in the spacing region between the housing 4 and the connector 5, as a thickened portion 10, the height of which is dimensioned so as to cover a relatively large part of the circumference of the connector 5. The thickened portion 10 is a constituent part of a first step of the rib 6, which bears directly against the connector 5.

[0035] With regard to the width of the thickened portion 10, that is to say the spacing between the housing 4 and the connector 5, the thickened portion narrows from the top side, that is to say from the lower step surface 9, toward the bottom side. An optimization between material usage and load capacity is thus achieved.

[0036] The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.