Limiting residual drag torque and fluid displacement is a major requirement of a caliper brake as they are related to the fuel efficiency and the safety of a vehicle. However, it is difficult to simultaneously reduce both the drag torque and the fluid displacement since improving one tends to degrade the other.
This paper investigates a caliper with a high residual drag torque. DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) method was implemented to identify all major factors and the design optimization was performed to achieve a low drag caliper. The prototype was created with the desirable design factors identified in the study and the dynamometer tests confirmed that it is possible to achieve a low drag caliper without sacrificing the fluid displacement.
