High Performance Metal Brake Disc With TEG Insert

This revolutionary break disc is produced by additive manufacturing that offers the following unique features:

1- A unique array of vanes is designed to improve the airflow and cooling conditions.

2- Internal opening/channels for airflow that can only be produced by additive manufacturing.

3- A thermoelectric generator (TEG) internal insert is designed for this disc brake. The generated electrical voltage is calibrated with the breaking heat dissipation that will give the vehicle control feedback and wearing information of the disc.

**In order to see the internal sections, the 3D-PDF file should be downloaded. Right click on the cad model and select "Viewing Options" and then "Cross section properties". A new window will open that allows defining the cross section planes.

In this step, the friction plate is designed. The outer diameter is 288mm and the inner diameter is 160mm, both of which depending on the car, break horse power and the top speed. This disc is specially designed for Audi cars.

The array of holes are at 8mm, 7mm and 6mm in diameter. (circular array of 15, optimized by flow simulations). These holes, unlike most usual break disc designs, are not going through the internal blades. The holes will ventilate the airflow as described in Step 3.

This part of the design is the most unique feature of the concept. In order to improve the wear monitoring and breaking condition of the discs, the generated amount of heat due to breaking can be harvested by a small thermoelectric generator insert (TEG) that will transform the amount of heat to the electricity. This concept is deduced from the following innovation: http://goo.gl/QGM10y

Thermocouples cannot be used because the idea is to provide electricity to a very small wireless transmitter that will transmit the amount of generated electricity to the car computer. The transmitter is inserted in the middle of the red and blue wires.

Since a significant amount of mass has to be removed for this insert, center of mass may be changed. The slant positioning of the insert house as well as the location of the transmitter was deliberately designed to compensate for the shift in the center of mass to pull it back to the center of rotation.

In this step, the vanes are designed having the Additive Manufacturing (AM) possibilities as guideline of freedom!

The vanes are supposed to compress the air as it rotates and send it down to the center of the rotation. The amount of airflow inside the channels at the inner diameter structure is optimized to create slight over-pressure condition between the vanes. The pressurized air will be then guided and ventilated through the holes on the friction plate.

That is why the holes do not go through the vanes. However, in order to reduce the weight of the whole disc, empty channels were intentionally designed in the vane and outlet channels. The latter can only be produced if the component is produced by AM.

The other side of the friction plate is designed. The holes should be coaxial with the ones sketched for the first friction plate.

In the last design step, the rest of the disc is designed to attach the whole disc structure to the rotation axle and the suspension system. This is a standard five lug rim configuration.

The final design is validated and checked for the design requirements. This include the minimum section thickness, build direction and the materials. Maraging steel material is chosen for this component for its high hardness characteristic. The component can be made by EOS M280 machine if inserted correctly in the build envelope.