Electric Parking Brake on the Way to Standard – New Trends

The electric caliper brake includes a carrier to which a pair of pad plates are mounted, a caliper housing which is slidably mounted to the carrier and is provided with a cylinder containing a piston, a spindle unit including a screw which penetrates a rear portion of the cylinder and is configured to rotate by receiving rotational force from an actuator and a nut which is screw-engaged with the screw in the piston and configured to move forward and backward according to rotation of the screw so as to pressurize the piston and release pressurization, a fixing element fixed to a rear inner peripheral surface of the piston, and an elastic element having one end supported by the nut and the other end supported by the fixing element and configured to return the piston to an original position when braking is released.

The Electric Parking Brake (EPB) was introduced in year 2000. with a caliper integrated actuator, controlled by a standalone ECU. At the same time a variety of system architectures and actuators with different technologies were developed. Cable pullers, Motor on Caliper, Drum in Hat EPB. In 2012 the boom started – with a concentration on caliper integrated systems and with an integration of the ECU into the ESC system.

New trends are requiring EPB for different reasons – comfort and controllable standstill are requested. So EPB systems have to be adapted to the new situation.
With the influence of the commercial situation the EPB systems and actuators have to be seen under new aspects – standardization, modular boxes and simplification are the targets.
A look on system and actuator solutions shows a way to fulfill these requirements, bringing EPB on the way to a Standard.

Post time: Aug-11-2021