Patent ID: 7905335
Filing Date: 2011-03-15
Classification: F16D

Abstract:
1. A brake cooling apparatus for use in a disk brake system of a moveable vehicle, the disk brake system having an original caliper which includes a hydraulic piston, and an original brake pad assembly which includes a brake pad and a backing plate having a first major side to which the brake pad is fixedly attached and a second major side that is opposite from the first major side, the original brake pad assembly removably connected to the original caliper, the caliper hydraulic piston arranged for contacting the second major side of the backing plate to selectively move the brake pad into a forced contact with a rotor that rotates when the vehicle is moving, where the forced contact between the rotor with the brake pad reduces the rate at which the rotor is rotating to slow the movement of the vehicle and the forced contact generates heat in the brake pad that conducts through the brake pad to the first major side of the backing plate and through the backing plate to the second major side of the backing plate, the cooling apparatus comprising: a thermally conductive sheet including a first major surface configured for positioning in thermal communication against the second major side of the backing plate in a confronting relationship with the second major side to receive heat from the original brake pad assembly and without any fixed attachment to either the original brake pad assembly or the original caliper, the conductive sheet including a thermally conductive material for conducting heat away from the original brake pad assembly and; a heat sink thermally connected to the conductive sheet and positioned away from the original brake pad assembly when the conductive sheet is in thermal communication with the original brake pad assembly, the heat sink having at least two cooling fin members for dissipating heat into a cooling medium, the heat sink receiving heat from the brake pad through the conductive sheet and dissipating the heat into the cooling medium to cool the brake pad such that for a given braking event the brake pad is cooler than it would otherwise be without the cooling apparatus.