Patent Publication Number: US-2005126868-A1

Title: Brake dust cover structure of vehicle

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Korean Application Ser. No. 10-2003-0089527, filed on Dec. 10, 2003, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.  
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a brake dust cover of a vehicle that is adapted to improve the cooling efficiency of a brake disk and to prevent impurities from entering into the brake disk.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Generally, a brake dust cover enclosing a brake disk is installed to prevent impurities from entering into a brake system. The brake dust cover prevents impurities from entering into the brake disk when the impurities enter along with the airflow. Further, the brake dust cover prevents heat radiation generated from the brake disk affecting neighboring components, thereby preventing the components from being damaged by the impurities and heat.  
      However, there is a drawback in the conventional brake system structure in that the brake dust cover wraps around most of the brake disk, deteriorating the heat emission of the brake disk due to the difficulty of air influx therein, and causing deterioration to the braking function by decreasing the cooling efficiency of the brake disk.  
      In order to improve the cooling efficiency of the brake disk, a brake dust cover has recently been developed to increase the air influx between the brake dust cover and brake disk. However, as the air influx increases in the above described structure, impurities that enter along with the air influx also increase. This causes corrosion and abrasion in the brake disk, as well as unwanted noise.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An embodiment of the present invention is provided to improve the cooling efficiency of a brake disk and to prevent impurities from entering into the brake disk. A brake dust cover of a vehicle comprises a cover plate having a partially cut-off configuration for enclosing a brake disk. The cover plate is formed with an air inlet toward the front of the vehicle and is fixed to a knuckle. A guide part protrudes out toward the front and inner side of the vehicle and is configured to guide air from the front of the vehicle to the air inlet. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      For a better understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIGS. 1 and 2  are perspective views illustrating a brake dust cover structure of a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a rear view of the brake dust cover of a vehicle of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a side view of the brake dust cover of a vehicle of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate a brake dust cover of a vehicle when installed at a knuckle according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
       FIG. 7  illustrates a view that shows the operation of an impurity deflecting part. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring to FIGS.  1  to  5 , a brake dust cover  110  of a vehicle according to some embodiments of the present invention comprises a cover plate  110   a  and a guide part  110   b . The cover plate  110   a  prevents nearby components from being thermally damaged by insulating the brake disk  120  from heat radiation. The cover plate  110   a  also prevents impurities (e.g., pieces of stone, soil or the like) from entering into the brake disk  120 . The guide part  10   b  improves the cooling efficiency of the brake disk  120  by maximizing the amount of airflow into the brake disk  120 .  
      The cover plate  110   a  has a partially cut-off configuration. The middle of the cover plate  110   a  is formed with a hole  112   a  therein. An air inlet  114   a  is formed at the cover plate  110   a  toward the frontal direction of the vehicle for providing air between the cover plate and brake disk. The upper portion of the air inlet  114   a  is configured to be inclined downwardly toward the center of the cover plate  110   a . The cover plate  110   a  is inserted into a knuckle through the hole  112   a  and is coupled to the knuckle via a fixing part  110   c . The brake disk  120  is also coupled to the knuckle from the exterior toward the inner direction of the vehicle. By way of reference, the cover plate  110   a  is configured in a cut-off shape so as to prevent interference with the caliper and knuckle arm (see  FIG. 5 ).  
      The cover plate  110   a  prevents nearby components from being thermally damaged by insulating the brake disk  12  from heat radiation. The cover plate  110   a  also prevents impurities such as pieces of stone, soil or the like from directly entering into the brake disk  120 . The air inlet  114   a  formed at a lower right portion of the cover plate  110   a  improves the cooling efficiency of the brake disk  120  by reinforcing the airflow around the brake disk  120 .  
      The guide part  110   b  is coupled to the cover plate  110   a  via a coupling part that is formed at the rear and upper portions of the air inlet  114   a  of the cover plate  110   a . That is, the coupling part is constituted by overlapping flanges ( 116   a  and  116   b  of  FIG. 3 ) formed at the cover plate and guide part, respectively. Once the coupling part is formed at either or both of the rear and upper sides of the air inlet, the guide part  110   b  may be coupled to the cover plate  110   a . The guide part  110   b  induces air that flows from the front to the rear of the vehicle to smoothly be provided into the air inlet  114   a.    
      The upper end frame of the guide part  110   b  is protrusively formed toward the front and inner side of the vehicle for maximally supplying air into the air inlet  114   a , in which air flows from the front to the rear of the vehicle when the vehicle is in motion. An impurity deflecting part  112   b  is formed at an upper portion of the guide part  110   b . The impurity deflecting part  112   b  protrudes out into a space formed between the guide part and cover plate for deflecting impurities to the inner periphery of the wheel, wherein the impurities are entered through the guide part. An impurity discharge part  114   b  having a downwardly opened groove configuration is formed at a lower portion of the impurity deflecting part  112   b . The impurity deflecting part  112   b  and impurity discharge part  114   b  facilitate the discharge of impurities that are entered between the guide part and cover plate.  
      The upper end frame portion of the guide part  10   b  protrudes out toward the front and the inner side of the vehicle thus described. The upper portion of the air inlet  114   a  inclines downwardly toward the central direction of the cover plate. Accordingly, the air flowing from the front to the rear of the vehicle when the vehicle is moving is captured at the upper end frame portion of the guide part  110   b  and then smoothly flows into the air inlet  114   a  of the cover plate  110   a.    
      In case the impurities are entered along with air, the impurity deflecting part  112   b  prevents the impurities from entering into the brake disk  120  by deflecting the impurities. The impurity deflecting part  112   b  includes a sloped surface  112   c  and is protrusively formed in a circular form toward the exterior of the vehicle, however, an ellipse or a polygonal form may be used instead.  
      As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , impurities enter with air along the moving route (i.e., arrow direction) are bumped and deflected at the impurity deflecting part  112   b . The deflected impurities by the impurity deflecting part  112   b  do not enter the brake disk  120  due to the change of its moving route; instead the impurities are mostly discharged through the impurity discharge part  114   b  after being bumped at the inner periphery of the wheel. The impurity discharge part  114   b  may be formed in an elliptical or a polygonal shape.  
      Thus, the impurity discharge part  114   b  facilitates the discharge of impurities entering between the guide part  110   b  and cover plate  110   a . In addition, the impurity discharge part  114   b  induces the airflow via a lower arm installed at the rear of the guide part  110   b  or the like, thereby improving the cooling efficiency.  
      Typically, components adjacently installed to the brake disk  120  receive heat transmitted from the brake disk  120  and get thermally damaged. Accordingly, the impurity discharge part  1114   b  is formed at a lower part of the guide part  110   b  in the embodiment of the present invention for providing air to the rear side components through the impurity exhaust discharge  114   b , when the air flows from the front to the rear of the vehicle. Therefore, the cooling efficiency of the rear side components of the guide part also improve. Reference numeral  130  refers to the caliper, reference numeral  131  refers to the knuckle arm, and reference numeral  140  refers to the wheel.  
      As apparent from the foregoing, there is an advantage in the present invention in that neighboring components of the brake disk are prevented from being thermally damaged by insulating the brake disk from heat radiation. There is another advantage in that impurities such as pieces of stone, soil or the like are prevented from entering into the brake disk, thereby preventing damage to the brake disk. There is still another advantage in that a maximum amount of airflow enters the brake disk, resulting in an improvement of the cooling efficiency of the brake disk.