Brake assembly with disks of variable thickness and methods for disk reuse
AssigneeGoodrich Corporation
InventorsMatthew R. O'Neil, Gary C. Riebe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of making a brake assembly using recycled friction disks may comprise removing a first friction disk from a worn brake assembly, removing a portion of the first friction disk to reduce a thickness of the first friction disk, and incorporating a previously unused friction disk and the first friction disk into a brake assembly comprising unworn rotor disks made of a first material. The previously unused friction disk and the first friction disk may comprise a second material different from the first material. The thickness of the first friction disk may be different from a thickness of the previously unused friction disk.
Claims20
A brake assembly in an unworn state, comprising:
- a friction disk stack comprising:
- a plurality of rotors each comprising a first material, and
- a plurality of stators interleaved between the rotors, the stators comprising a second material different from the first material, wherein a wear rate of the first material is different from a wear rate of the second material, and wherein a thickness of a first stator of the plurality of stators is greater than a thickness of a second stator of the plurality of stators;
- and
- a pressure plate located at a first end of the friction disk stack, the pressure plate comprising the second material, wherein a thickness of the pressure plate is less than the thickness of the second stator.
A method of reusing a friction disk over multiple brake assembly wear cycles, comprising:
- forming a first brake assembly by:
- locating a first stator between a first rotor of the first brake assembly and a second rotor of the first brake assembly, the first stator comprising a first material, wherein the first rotor of the first brake assembly and the second rotor of the first brake assembly comprise a second material different from the first material, and wherein the first stator comprises a first previously unused stator, and
- locating a second stator having a thickness different from a thickness of the first stator between the second rotor of the first brake assembly and a third rotor of the first brake assembly, the second stator comprising the first material;
- removing the first stator and the second stator from the first brake assembly, after a wear cycle of the first brake assembly;
- and
- forming a second brake assembly after the wear cycle of the first brake assembly, wherein forming the second brake assembly comprises:
- locating a third stator between a first rotor of the second brake assembly and a second rotor of the second brake assembly, wherein the third stator comprises a second previously unused stator, and
- incorporating at least one of the first stator or the second stator from the first brake assembly into a pressure plate of the second brake assembly.
A method of making a brake assembly using recycled friction disks, comprising
- removing a first friction disk comprising a first material from a worn brake assembly, the worn brake assembly comprising a second friction disk, wherein the second friction disk comprises a second material different from the first material;
- removing a portion of the first friction disk to reduce a thickness of the first friction disk;
- and
- incorporating a previously unused friction disk, a third friction disk, and the first friction disk from the worn brake assembly into an unworn brake assembly, wherein the previously unused friction disk and the third friction disk comprise the first material, and wherein the thickness of the first friction disk is different from a thickness of the previously unused friction disk and from a thickness of the third friction disk, wherein the incorporating the first friction disk from the worn brake assembly into the unworn brake assembly comprises using the first friction disk as at least one of a pressure plate or an end plate of the unworn brake assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.