VEHICLE AND AEROPLANE"

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Field of the Invention

The invention in question concerns in general the vehicles sector such as autofloatings, aeroplanes, motorbikes, etc., and refers in particular to their braking system, and more precisely a device for braking and/or continuous rotation of the wheels of the vehicles.

The vehicles are usually provided with a brake for each wheel that can be of the disc type. Normally, a disc brake is made up of at least a metal disc with two contact faces, of at least a brake calliper with at least a pair of brake pads and mechanical or hydraulic control means for moving the pads towards and away from the disc.

From the document EP1855023, in the name of the same Applicant, an auxiliary brake system is known, which, associated with the disc brake of a vehicle is able also to carry out a drive action so as to provoke or assist in the rotation of the wheels for.an advancement of a, vehicle in the case of an emergency, of important slopes, lack of adherence to the ground or other difficult conditions, always maintaining the vehicle in safe conditions.

This document, in fact, describes a disc brake for vehicles comprising a rotating disc connected to a wheel or its rotation axis and at least one primary brake caliper associated with said disc and connected to a non-rotating part of the supporting structure of the wheel, having an additional brake calliper angularly moveable to the primary brake calliper. The primary brake calliper and the additional brake calliper are positioned and managed at least to engage alternatively the brake disc, so that when one of them is inoperative the other is operating. Furthermore, the additional brake calliper is movable relatively to the primary brake calliper and to the brake disc with an angular outward and return movement between two extreme positions. In particular, the additional brake calliper is activated when it moves in one direction and deactivated when it moves in the opposite direction.

The additional brake calliper is in fact activated and moved so as to produce an angular rotation of the disc brake and with it the wheel it is associated with when the primary brake caliper is inoperative. On the contrary, the additional brake calliper remains inoperative when it moves in an opposite direction, while the primary brake calliper is or can be active for applying the brakes of the vehicle in safety.

Such a system appears as being advantageous for the purposes of a gradual advance of a vehicle also in emergences and/or in the abovementioned difficult conditions, but however it has a constraint due to the fact that the rotation of the wheels of the vehicle .take place intermittently, given that the additional brake calliper has to necessarily carry out a passive backward movement, and however to operate alternately and sequentially with the primary brake calliper in order not to risk the vehicle moving especially when it is on an inclined surface. Objective and Summary of the Invention The main objective of the invention is to overcome the limitation of the prior art, and to propose a device to associate with a brake disc able to carry out, in addition to a usual braking action, also a drive action, that is to cause or assist in the rotation of the wheels, selectively or all at the same time, for a continuous advance of the vehicle in emergencies and/or, as mentioned above, in the presence of steep slopes, bad adherence to the ground or in other bad conditions, always keeping the vehicle in the safety conditions.

A vehicle on which the device of the invention is applied will in this way have the braking capacity and the capacity to move also in low adherence conditions or on steep slopes, in the same way as a four drive wheel vehicle, even at a low speed, and above all without having to add costs and above all energy consumption that characterizes the so-called four-wheel drive models. This objective is reached according to the invention, with a brake for vehicles having a rotating disc fixed to a respective wheel or its rotation axis, characterized by comprising at least one first floating brake calliper and at least one second floating brake calliper movable angularly with respect to the brake disc, each between two start and arrival positions, and in that the first and the second floating brake callipers are activatable alternately so as to engage the respective brake disc one after the other to provoke a continuous and one-way rotation of said brake disc and with it of the wheel it is associated with, said floating callipers forming in addition a brake system for said brake disc (11 ). According to a first embodiment, the device proposed is associated with a brake disc already equipped with a respective usual basically stationary brake calliper. In this case, the device has to carry out an auxiliary function which a vehicle can benefit from. In fact, the floating brake callipers can then be managed and used also to improve or assist the braking action of the stationary brake calliper and/or also as the parking brake of the vehicle.

According to another embodiment, the device of the invention is provided and operates instead of the usual brake calliper of a disc brake with the advantage, in this case, of eliminating a component of the traditional brake system.

The invention also concerns a method for provoking the rotation of the wheels of a vehicle, selectively or simultaneously by means of the respective brake systems in particular the type with a disc. This method comprises advantageously the phases of adopting the brake disc with at least a first floating brake caliper and with at least a second floating brake calliper; activate alternating the first floating brake calliper and the second floating brake calliper, so as to engage, one after the other, said brake disc, causing the continuous rotation and one-way of said brake disc and consequently of said wheel, said floating callipers being managed in addition to cause said brake disc to.brake.

This method, however, extends also to the case in which the brake disc is provided with both a stationary brake calliper, and a first and second additional floating calliper. Brief Description of the Drawings Greater details of the invention will become more evident in the continuation of the description made in reference to the attached schematic drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows an example of a disc brake with the auxilliary device according to the invention in a first operrating condition; Fig. 2 shows an analogous view to the one in Fig. 1 , but with the auxilliary device in another condition; and

Fig.3 shows a view of a disc brake equiped only with floating callipers.

Detailed Description of the Invention As schematized in Figs. 1 and 2, the brake proposed here comprises a brake disc 11 associated with a stationary relative brake calliper 12 and provided with at least two floating brake callipers 13 and 13', named from now on respectively first and second brake calliper.

The brake disc 11 , which can be made of cast iron, drilled, grooved or with smooth surfaces, is connected in the usual way to a respective wheel 10 to brake it or to its rotation axis 14. In its turn, the stationary brake callipers 12 is provided, in the usual way, with brake pads 15 (hatched lines) facing the disc 11 and some components, in general pistons or cylinders 16, for moving the pads towards or away from the disc. The stationary brake _* calliper, 1.2 is usually . constrained . to a part of the non •.... rotatable structure of the wheel support, which can be any fixed part of a vehicle, as indicated generically by the digit 17, or made up by the wheel holder fork in the case of motorbike, not shown.

Also each of the floating brake callipers 13 and 13' is provided with relative brake pads 19 and 19' (hatched lines) with respective control pistons 20 and 20'. Even if in the drawings the mobile brake callipers are positioned on opposite sides of the stationary brake calliper, this does not mean that they cannot be positioned in any other radial position around the brake disc. Said floating brake callipers 13, 13' are both subject to angular movements in opposite directions, one independent of the other, with operative and passive strokes between a starting and an arrival position along trajectories that can be defined by any appropriate system. For example, the floating brake callipers 13, 13' can each be assembled on an arm 21 , 21', respectively, subject to angular movements around an axis coincident with the axis of the disc 11 , as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

As an alternative, floating brake callipers 13, 13' can be coupled, with the interposition of bearings, rollers or through prismatic guides or the like, with guide elements constrained to the stationary brake callipers 12, systems not shown in the drawings.

Then, as an alternative, said guide elements can be integral with the floating brake callipers 13, 13' compared with the stationary brake callipers 12.

The movements in the two directions of the floating brake callipers 13, 13' can be controlled by operator devices 23, 23', whichxan be electric, pneumatic or hydraulic. In the illustrated example, the operator devices 23, 23' are in the form of hydraulic cylinders constrained on one side respectively to the floating brake callipers 13, 13' and on the other side to the stationary brake callipers 12. As an alternative, they can be constrained to a fixed part of the support structure of the wheel, embodiment not shown in the drawings.

As a whole the above described stationary brake calliper 12 is basically used as the braking action of the vehicle not depending on or depending on the floating brake callipers 13, 13'. Furthermore, the latter if and when connected by a cable to the handbrake lever of a vehicle they can also be used as a parking brake. The stationary brake calliper 12 and the floating brake callipers 13, 13' are managed so as to be activated and deactivated alternately and sequentially, to achieve the function enunciated in the objective of the invention. According to a way of functioning of the brake system, the floating brake callipers can be managed to operate in combination with the stationary brake calliper; according to a further way of functioning the mobile brake calipers are managed to operate independently from the stationary brake calliper, however always alternately, determining a continuous rotation of the respective wheel.

In the same way, in the first case, when a first floating brake calliper is active and moves from its start position to the arrival position, causing an according rotation of the brake disc and of the wheel, the stationary brake calliper remains inoperative and the second floating brake calliper takes on an idle position and moves from its arrival position to the start position.

When the first floating brake calliper is at the end of its active stroke, the stationary brake calliper reactivates before deactivating the first floating brake calliper, thus maintaining the safety of the vehicle.

At the same time the second floating brake calliper activates, after which the stationary brake calliper deactivates and the operating stroke of the second floating calliper starts for a further rotation of the disc brake and the wheel in the same direction. This alternating in this way at each operating stroke of each floating brake calliper.

In the second case, and with reference to Fig.1 where the F arrow indicates the rotation direction of the wheel, the stationary brake calliper remaining inoperative. When a first floating brake calliper is active and carries out its operating stroke (arrow O), the second floating brake calliper is either idle or returns to the start position (arrow P).

However, before that the first floating brake calliper is deactivated, by releasing the brake disc, and that the opposite stroke starts, the second floating brake calliper is activated to engage with the brake disc so that the latter is never completely released, maintaining also in this case the safety of the vehicle. Therefore, in succession, the second floating brake calliper will carry out its operating stroke (arrow O', Fig. 2) causing a further rotation of the brake disc and of the respective wheel, whereas the first floating brake calliper carries out its passive stroke (arrow P', Fig. 2) returning to its start position.

According to the way of execution shown in Fig. 3, where the same references are used to indicate the same parts or those corresponding to Figs 1 and.2, the stationary calliper of the. disc brake has been omitted, so _ that brake disc 11 will only be coordinated with the floating brake callipers 13, 13', which in this way can be used selectively both as a brake and a parking means and as a means for causing the rotation of the respective wheel when controlled alternately and sequentially as previously described. Note, that a braking device according to the invention can be adapted and used with the brake discs of aircraft wheels as a means to make the wheels turn and produce brief movements on the ground of such vehicles, especially for movements backwards.