Patent Publication Number: US-2011073418-A1

Title: Disk brake for vehicle

Description:
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0092360 filed on Sep. 29, 2009, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     The disclosure relates to a disk brake for a vehicle, and more particularly to a disk brake for a vehicle having an improved structure of pad springs that support pad plates such that the pad plates slidably move. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In general, a disk brake for a vehicle forcibly presses disk pads against both lateral surfaces of a disk rotating with a wheel of the vehicle to generate friction force and stops the rotation of the disk by using the friction force, thereby braking the vehicle. 
     One example of the disk brake has been disclosed in Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-2008-0012466 that has been filed by applicant of the subject application. 
     The disclosed disk brake includes a pair of pad springs interposed between a side of a disk pad and a carrier to elastically support a lower portion of the disk pad such that the disk pad slidably moves. 
     The pad spring includes an upper contact part, a pair of coupling parts provided symmetrically to each other at both side portions of the upper contact part, a pair of guiding parts connected to the coupling parts, respectively, and support parts connected to the guiding parts. In this case, the upper contact part closely makes contact with one side of an upper portion of the carrier and includes an upper coupling member protruding outward. 
     Meanwhile, the pad spring may move according to the movement of the disk pad during the braking operation of the disk brake. As the braking operation repeats, the pad spring moves according to the movement of the disk pad, so that the pad spring may not be stably mounted between the disk pad and the carrier. 
     In other words, the conventional pad spring is supported between the disk pad and the carrier by the upper coupling member formed in the upper contact part. However, as the braking operation repeats, the pad spring may not be stably supported by the upper coupling, so that the pad spring may deviate from the initial mounting position thereof. 
     SUMMARY 
     Accordingly, it is an aspect of the disclosure to provide a disk brake for a vehicle, capable of preventing a pad spring from deviating from the initial mounting position thereof. 
     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure. 
     The foregoing and/or other aspects of the disclosure are achieved by providing a disk brake for a vehicle including a disk rotating with a wheel of the vehicle, a pair of pad plates provided at both lateral surfaces of the disk and including one surface attached to a friction pad and both ends having projection parts, a caliper housing including a cylinder in which a piston is installed to allow the pad plates to make contact with the disk, a carrier supporting the caliper housing and including slide grooves corresponding to the projection parts and coupling protrusions provided on the slide grooves, and a pad spring interposed between a side of each pad plate and the carrier to elastically support the pad plate and the carrier. 
     According to the disclosure, the pad spring includes an upper contact part closely making contact with an upper surface of the carrier, a coupling part connected to the upper contact part and coupled with the coupling protrusion, a guide part connected to the coupling part and coupled between the slide groove and the projection part, and a support part connected to the guide part to support a lower end of the projection part. 
     According to the disclosure, the upper contact part closely makes contact with an outer surface of the carrier by passing through an internal surface and a top surface of the carrier coupled with the coupling part. 
     According to the disclosure, a fixing groove is formed in the outer surface of the carrier. 
     According to the disclosure, one end of the upper contact part is fixedly inserted into the fixing groove. 
     As described above, the disk brake for the vehicle according to the disclosure can prevent the pad spring from deviating from the initial mounting position thereof because the upper contact part is inserted into the fixing groove formed in the outer surface of the carrier while closely making contact with the whole upper surface of the carrier. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other aspects and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a disk brake according to one embodiment of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view showing a pad spring of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view showing the coupling relation of the pad spring of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The embodiments are described below to explain the disclosure by referring to the figures. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a disk brake according to the disclosure includes a disk  10  that rotates with a wheel (not shown) of a vehicle, inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35  that are provided at both lateral surfaces of the disk  10 , respectively, to press both lateral surfaces of the disk  10 , respectively, to brake the disk  10 , a caliper housing  40  and a piston  42  used to press the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35 , and a carrier  20  used to support the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35  and the caliper housing  40 . 
     The carrier  20  supports the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35  such that the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35  move back from the lateral surfaces of the disk  10  and move toward the lateral surfaces of the disk  10 . To this end, slide grooves  21  are provided at both inner side portions of the carrier  20  corresponding to projection parts  34  and  38  provided in the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35 , respectively. 
     Coupling protrusions  22  are provided on the slide grooves  21  provided at both inner side portions of the carrier  20 , and guide holes  23  are provided in parallel to the slide grooves  21  at both side portions of upper portions of the carrier  20 . 
     The inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35  include pad plates  32  and  36 , and friction pads  33  and  37  coupled with internal surfaces of the pad plates  32  and  36 . The pad plates  32  and  36  are provided at both ends thereof with the projection parts  34  and  38  as described above, and are coupled with the slide grooves  21  to slidably move along the slide grooves  21 . In this case, when the pad plates  32  and  36  move back and forth along the slide grooves  21 , the friction pads  33  and  37  closely make contact with both lateral surfaces of the disk  10  so that braking force is generated. 
     The caliper housing  40  is movably mounted on the carrier  20  by a pair of guide rods  41  slidably inserted into the guide holes  23 , respectively. The caliper housing  40  includes a cylinder  43  in which the piston  42  is mounted such that the piston  42  may move back and forth to press the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35 , a finger part  44  that press the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35 , and a connection part  45  that connects the finger part  44  with the cylinder  43 . 
     The piston  42  is installed in the cylinder  43  such that the piston  42  moves back and forth. If braking pressure is applied to the cylinder  43 , the piston  42  moves forth while pressing the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35 . 
     The carrier  20  is provided at both sides thereof with pad springs  50 , which elastically support both ends of the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35  while guiding the back-and-forth movement of the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the pad spring  50  includes a thin steel plate having elasticity, and includes upper contact parts  51 , coupling parts  53  connected with the upper contact parts  51 , guiding parts  55  connected with the coupling parts  53 , and support parts  57  connected with the guiding parts  55 . 
     The upper contact parts  51  closely make contact with an upper surface of the carrier  20 , and the details thereof will be described below. 
     The coupling part  53  allows the pad spring  50  to be stably coupled with the carrier  20  so that the pad spring  50  is not separated from the carrier  20 . The coupling part  53  is shape-coupled to the coupling protrusion  22  of the carrier  20 , and has a concave pattern in which the coupling protrusion  22  is inserted. 
     In other words, the coupling parts  53  include first horizontal parts  54   a  bent toward the pad plates  32  and  36  from the upper contact parts  51 , that is, bent inward, first vertical parts  54   b  bent downward from the first horizontal parts  54   a , and second horizontal parts  54   c  bent outward from the first vertical parts  54   b.    
     The guiding parts  55  are interposed between the slide groove  21  of the carrier  20  and the projection parts  34  and  38  of the pad plates  32  and  36  corresponding to the slide groove  21 . The guiding parts  55  have a concave pattern which is concaved inversely to the concave pattern of the coupling part  53  such that the projection parts  34  and  38  slide along the slide groove  21 . Accordingly, when the braking operation of the disk brake is performed, the guiding parts  55  allow the pad plates  32  and  36  to deliver braking force to the carrier  20 . 
     As shown in drawings, the guiding part  55  includes a second vertical part  56   a  bent downward from the second horizontal part  54   c  and a third horizontal part  56   b  bent inward from the second vertical part  56   a . In other words, the guiding part  55  is recessed such that the projection parts  34  and  38  of the pad plates  32  and  36  slid along the slide groove  21  of the carrier  20 , so that the pad plates  32  and  36  deliver braking force to the carrier  20  when the braking operation of the brake is performed. 
     The support parts  57  support lower portions of the projection parts  34  and  38  of the pad plates  32  and  36 , and extend from the third horizontal parts  56   b  toward the projection parts  34  and  38  of the pad plates  32  and  36  while being slightly curved. Ends of the support parts  57  are smoothly bent toward the guiding parts  55  such that the projection parts  34  and  38  of the pad plates  32  and  36  smoothly slide. 
     According to the embodiment of the disclosure, even if the braking operation of the disk brake is repeatedly performed, the upper contact part  51  prevents the pad spring  50  from deviating from an initial mounting position thereof by stably supporting the pad spring  50 . 
     As shown in drawings, the upper contact part  51  closely makes contact with an outer surface of the carrier by passing through an internal surface and a top surface of the carrier  20  coupled with the first horizontal part  54   a  of the coupling part  53 . In other words, the upper contact part  51  closely makes contact with the whole upper surface of the carrier  20  while surrounding the whole upper surface of the carrier  20 . 
     One end of the upper contact part  51  disposed on the outer surface of the carrier  20  is inserted into a fixing groove  25  formed in the outer surface of the carrier  20 . 
     Therefore, when the braking operation of the disk brake is performed, the pad springs  50  according to the disclosure can elastically support both ends of the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35 . In addition, when the back-and-forth movement of the inner and outer disk pads  31  and  35  is guided, one end of the pad springs  50  surrounding the whole upper surface of the carrier  20  is inserted into the fixing groove  25  formed in the outer surface of the carrier  20 , so that the pad springs  50  are prevented from deviating from the initial mounting position thereof. 
     Although few embodiments of the disclosure have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.