The invention relates to a hydraulic service brake caliper mainly used in the automotive industry and to the production of this caliper by the additive manufacturing method.

In particular, the invention relates to a caliper manufacturing method comprising the steps of producing a monolithic caliper body by additive manufacturing; CNC machining of the inner regions of the piston bearing, and the regions containing the sealing gasket channels; and joining the cover to the caliper body by welding method, bolted assembly, or by forming a geometrically connected structure in the region of the connection area .

KNOWN STATUS OF THE TECHNIQUE

Within the automotive industry, there are different parts such as design, system, and hardware. The brake system is one of the main systems of vehicles and the brake caliper is an important part at this point. It is a hydraulic part that provides the stopping power of the vehicle and supports the pad produced to start pressing the disk in order to produce it, carries the pad, and provides reciprocating movement towards the disk. Combined with modern disk systems, it is one of the most important systems of the vehicle. When you want to stop or slow down the vehicle, the brake caliper must be activated first.

According to the working principle of the hydraulic brake caliper; The pressurized hydraulic fluid delivered to the caliper allows the pistons in the caliper to move. The pistons are placed in the piston slots in the caliper body. Thanks to the gaskets in the seal seats, when the brake pedal is pressed, the pressurized hydraulic fluid is trapped in the space between the piston and the piston seat. The pressurized hydraulic fluid pushes the pistons and slides over the seals, pushing the brake pads placed opposite each other in the inner region of the caliper body. They mutually exert force on the brake disc mounted with bolts on the rotating wheel hub in proportion to the hydraulic fluid pressure. As a result of this force applied by the pads on the rotating disc, brake torque is generated on the wheel hub depending on the coefficient of friction between the disc and the pad.

In the current technique, caliper manufacturing is carried out by conventional methods such as mold manufacturing, casting, and machining. Design processes are carried out by taking into account the principles and procedures of cast manufacturing.

In the present technique, the limitations of the casting manufacturing method are much more than the additive manufacturing techniques subject to the invention. As a result of these constraints, caliper manufacturing is currently done in two parts, and assembly is completed by bolt connection. Two structures are connected to each other with bolts. In order to make the bolt connection, the structure must grow significantly. In a brake caliper designed according to the casting method, it is not possible to improve the design with methods such as topology optimization due to the high design constraints imposed by the manufacturing method. Topology optimization is based on the principle of removing the regions that are not subject to stress from the volume of the structure within a certain logic. One of the important advantages of the additive manufacturing method is that it allows topology optimization to the maximum extent.

As a result, the need for a new economical, convenient, practical caliper production method for solving the above-mentioned problems existing in the existing technique and the inadequacy of the existing solutions necessitated a development in the relevant technical field. PURPOSE OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hydraulic service brake caliper and the production of this caliper by additive manufacturing method, developed to eliminate the above- mentioned disadvantages and to bring new advantages to the relevant technical field.

The most important purpose of the invention is that there is no need for bolted connections due to the monolithic structure. By eliminating the need for bolted connection areas, the structure becomes lighter.

Another important purpose of the invention is to eliminate the sealing elements used during the assembly of two parts to each other since the fluid channel is made continuous thanks to the monolithic structure.

Another important purpose of the invention is to eliminate mold times and costs with additive manufacturing and to eliminate the need for design changes and mold revisions.

Another significant purpose of the invention is to join the cover areas on the outer surface of the caliper by the welding method. As an alternative to the welding method, bolted joining is also possible, taking into account the increase in weight and the use of gaskets.

In the invention in question, the caliper is produced as a monolith with the additive manufacturing method. On the inner side of the caliper body, there are gasket slots for the gaskets that work with fluid (oil, air, etc.) pressure and are placed for sealing purposes in cylindrical structures where the pistons enter. In these housings, special surface roughness values or a special geometric structure (serrated, serrated, serrated) is required to ensure sealing in the gasket contact areas. It is not possible to obtain special geometric structures or high precision surface roughness values with current metal additive manufacturing technologies. In the method of the invention, the caliper body is manufactured with open-side surfaces, which enables surface treatment of the gasket seats by conventional manufacturing methods.

The structural and characteristic features and all advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood by means of the figures given below and the detailed description written with references to these figures, therefore, the evaluation should be made by considering these figures and detailed description.

FIGURES TO HELP UNDERSTAND THE INVENTION

FIGURE -1; Image showing the caliper subject to the invention

FIGURE -2; Image showing the inventive caliper disassembled

REFERENCE NUMBERS

10. Body

11. Piston Bearing

12. Sealing gasket channel

20. Piston Bearing cover

21. Caliper Oil Inlet

22. Connection area

30. Structure of connection

40. Brake Pad DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In this detailed description, the preferred configurations of the caliper produced by additive manufacturing are described only for the purpose of better understanding the subject matter and without any limiting effect.

Figure 1-2 shows the caliper produced by additive manufacturing and its details. In our invention, the body (10) is produced by 3D printing / additive manufacturing method. In the invention, the monolithic caliper body (10) manufactured by additive manufacturing is differentiated from the designs made for manufacturing by conventional methods as a solution to the problem of not obtaining surface roughness, which is a limitation of additive manufacturing. Accordingly, the outer region of the piston bearings (11) of the caliper (10) is formed into a cover (20). This cover (20) has a caliper oil inlet (21) for the oil to enter the piston bearings (11). In this way, an opening is provided that allows CNC machining to obtain the required surface roughness values in the inner areas of the piston bearing (11) where sealing is important, and in the areas where the sealing gasket grooves (12) are located. After CNC machining, the cover (20) and the caliper body (10) are combined with the connection region (22) by welding method to form the connection structure (30). As an alternative to welding, the bolted joining method can also be used. In this way, the caliper is produced using additive manufacturing, CNC machining and welding or bolted joining methods. The brake pads (40) are connected to the body (10) in our invention.

The scope of protection of this application is set out in the claims and cannot be limited to what is described above strictly by way of illustration. It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can demonstrate the novelty set forth in the invention by using similar embodiments and/or can apply this embodiment to other areas with similar purposes used in the relevant art. Therefore, it is obvious that such structures will lack the criterion of novelty and especially the criterion of exceeding the state of the art.