Brake retraction utilizing active material actuation

A brake caliper adapted for selectively retracting a brake pad from a rotor, comprising:

• an open cylinder securable relative to the rotor;
• and
• a piston interiorly translatable within and relative to the cylinder, and including:
• an outer shell;
• a member translatable relative to the shell and fixedly attached to the pad, such that the member is configured to cause the pad to translate between a deployed condition, wherein the pad engages the rotor, and a retracted condition, wherein the pad is spaced from the rotor, when the member is caused to translate relative to the shell, wherein the member presents a plunger translatably engaged with the shell and defining a longitudinal axis;
• a rotatable sloped plate drivenly coupled to the plunger, defining an axis of rotation parallel with the longitudinal axis, and configured to cause the plunger to linearly translate as a result of rotation;
• and
• an active material element operable to undergo a reversible change in shape when exposed to and occluded from an activation signal, so as to activate and deactivate the element respectively, and drivenly coupled to the member, such that the member is caused to translate as a result of the change, and such that the member is caused by the active material element to pull the pad away from the rotor when translating from the deployed condition to the retracted condition;
• wherein the element is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of shape memory alloys, electroactive polymers, ferromagnetic SMAs, electrorheological elastomers, and magnetorheological elastomers.