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Characterising the Thermal Performance of a Novel Lightweight Brake Disc

with Wire-Woven Ventilated Channel at Varying Speeds

Conference Paper · June 2016

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EB2016-SVM-030

CHARACTERISING THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF A NOVEL

LIGHTWEIGHT BRAKE DISC WITH WIRE-WOVEN VENTILATED
CHANNEL AT VARYING SPEEDS
1
Kienhöfer, Frank*; 1Zedi, Shaun; 2Kang, Ki-Ju; 1Kim, Tongbeum
1
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; 2 Chonnam National University, South Korea

KEYWORDS – ventilated brake disc, wire woven bulk diamond, transient, steady state, heat
transfer

ABSTRACT

A novel ventilated brake disc with a wire-woven bulk diamond (WBD) core improves heat
dissipation compared to a ventilated pin-finned brake disc. This study shows that the WBD core
improves heat dissipation over a range of steady speed descents of a medium-sized truck in
which braking power as heat input to the brake disc is fixed. To this end, for a constant braking
power of 2 kW, three speeds of 100 rpm, 150 rpm, and 250 rpm, corresponding to roughly
20 km/h, 30 km/h, and 50 km/h, respectively were tested. The WBD brake disc reduced the
average operating temperatures by 6%, 8%, and 13%, for the operating speeds of 100 rpm,
150 rpm, and 250 rpm, respectively. This improved heat dissipation for a given braking power,
over a range of operating speeds, is attributed to an increased heat transfer area and stronger
flow mixing in the ventilated channel of the WBD brake disc as compared to the pin-finned
brake disc. The 13% improvement at 250 rpm as compared to the 6% improvement at 100 rpm
is due to the increased flow mixing which occurs in the WBD core at higher flow rates drawn
through the ventilated channel.

INTRODUCTION

A braking system must absorb and dissipate thermal energy converted from kinetic energy to
slow or stop a vehicle, or to maintain a constant downhill velocity. The energy is dissipated as
heat which greatly increases the temperature of the braking system components, which may
lead to brake fade, thermal distortion, thermal cracking and brake fluid vaporisation, among
other detrimental factors [1]. Disc brakes need to ensure safe operating temperatures which
requires either improved thermal capacity (ability to absorb more heat for the same temperature
increase) or improved heat dissipation by convective cooling to the surrounding air. Increasing
the brake disc mass improves thermal capacity but detrimentally increases the unsprung mass
(degrading suspension performance) and decreases the payload capacity of the vehicle.
Conventional ventilated brake discs utilise radial vanes or pins (Figure 1(a)) within a ventilated
cooling channel to reduce the maximum operating temperature by increasing the convective
cooling [2-4].

A recent study performed by Mew et al. [5] introduced a novel, lightweight brake disc (Figure
1(b)) cored by a wire-woven bulk diamond (WBD). The WBD disc was shown to substantially
decrease the operating surface temperature of the brake discs for the continuous downhill
braking of a vehicle at a speed of 40 km/h. A vehicle experiences various braking regimes such
as repeated braking in the city, emergency stops, or extended downhill braking. For each
braking mode, the disc rotation speed is different. The disc rotating speed, in turn, determines
the pumping capacity of cooling air through the ventilated core which enhances the convection
and dissipative capacity of the disc.
 (a) (b)

Figure 1: pin-finned disc (a) and WBD disc (b) with the inboard rubbing surface replaced with Perspex for
display purposes.

The WBD core consists of a lattice of truss-like cells constructed using wire sandwiched
between the two rubbing discs. The wire woven lattice is constructed by preforming the wire
with a helical pitch and spin-inserting the wires to form a lattice consisting of the unit cell as
shown in Figure 2. The wire is then brazed using a copper paste. The single layered WBD
material is then cut into an annular shape and brazed onto the two rubbing discs. The WBD
material provides large contact areas onto which the rubbing discs can be brazed. This improves
the strength of the joints and ensures that they will not fail under any shear induced by the
braking loads [6].

Figure 2: WBD unit cell [6].

Yan et al. [7] showed that the WBD core reduced the steady state operating temperatures in the
region of 16-36% for a speed range of 100-1000 rpm when compared to an equivalent pin-
finned disc by heating the discs with a film element fixed to the outer surfaces of the discs and
rotating them in still air without a calliper mounted. The WBD core produced a more uniform
radial and azimuthal temperature distribution (thus reducing the risk of thermal cracking) when
compared to a similar pin-fin ventilated disc. The comparative heat transfer enhancement of the
WBD core was attributed to an increased heat transfer area and stronger flow mixing.

This study aims to demonstrate the performance of the WBD ventilated brake disc in
comparison to that of the commercially available pin-finned design over a range of speeds under
simulated braking conditions for a given braking power input.

METHODOLOGY

The tests in this study were conducted using a braking rig consisting of a three phase motor
coupled to a reduction gearbox driving the shaft onto which the brake discs are mounted (Figure
3). The speed of the motor was controlled using an SEW frequency inverter. A Binsfeld
telemetry system was used to measure the torque on the output shaft using strain gauges. The
torque and disc speed were used to calculate the braking power. A National Instruments
CompactRIO microcontroller interfaced with the frequency inverter using a controller area
network (CAN) and regulated the braking pressure to a Festo pressure regulator to keep the
braking power constant. By keeping the braking power constant, the rig ensured that the same
heat energy input was dissipated regardless of the brake disc type and speed of operation. An
Optex Thermo-Hunter non-contact thermometer was used to measure the outboard surface
temperatures of the brake discs and a FLIR T640 thermal imaging camera was used to capture
thermal images of the outboard surfaces. The thermal imaging camera and infrared sensor were
calibrated using a T-type thermocouple to determine the emissivities of the brake discs before
each individual test. The emissivities of each brake disc were determined to be ε = 0.77 (pin-
finned) and ε = 0.8 (WBD). The emissivity was measured to vary over the surface of the brake
disc and therefore an emissivity value was chosen that best represented the majority of the
surface measured.

Figure 3: the brake testing rig.

Each brake disc was tested at a constant braking power of 2 kW at a range of speeds including
100 rpm, 150 rpm, and 250 rpm (corresponding to approximately 20 km/h, 30 km/h and
50 km/h, respectively). At each speed, the outboard surface temperature of the disc was allowed
to reach steady state.

RESULTS

Figure 4 plots the transient outboard surfaces temperatures for the three tested speeds on the
same axes. The pin-finned disc in Figure 4(a) shows a decrease in the surface temperatures of
approximately 6% and 10% between the speeds of 100 rpm to 150 rpm and 150 rpm to 250 rpm
respectively. Similarly, the WDB disc in Figure 4(b) shows a decrease of 8% and 15% between
the speeds of 100 rpm to 150 rpm and 150 rpm to 250 rpm. As the speed is increased both the
pin-finned and WBD brake discs show an improved cooling performance.
 (a) (b)
Figure 4: transient outboard surface temperatures of: (a) the pin-finned brake disc, (b) the WBD brake disc, over
the range of speeds.

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 5: transient outboard surfaces temperatures measured at a braking power of 2 kW for: (a) 100 rpm,
(b) 150 rpm, (c) 250 rpm.
Figure 5 compares the transient outboard surfaces temperatures of the pin-finned and WBD
disc measured at a braking power of 2 kW and rotational velocity of 100 rpm, 150 rpm, and
250 rpm. The WBD design shows an improved overall cooling performance in comparison to
that of the conventional pin-finned design across the range of speeds tested, exhibiting
temperatures ~20 °C (~6 %), ~28 °C (~8%), and ~41 °C (~13 %) lower than that of the pin-
finned design for 100 rpm, 150 rpm, and 250 rpm respectively. The WBD core performs
comparably to that of the pin-finned disc during the initial transient period due to the similar
thermal capacities of the two brake discs. The lower steady state temperature of the WBD disc
as compared to the pin-finned disc is due to the increased heat transfer area and stronger flow
mixing in the ventilated channel.

The steady state temperatures as a function of speed are plotted for the pin-finned and WBD
disc in Figure 6. The plot shows that the WBD brake disc reduces the average operating
temperature by 6% at 100 rpm, and 13% at 250 rpm; emphasising that the WBD improvement
is augmented at higher operating speeds. The 13% improvement at 250 rpm as compared to the
6% improvement at 100 rpm in the WBD disc is due to increased flow interaction and mixing
in the ventilated WBD channel due to the three dimensional structure of the wire woven
material and the reduction of flow separation and recirculation regions behind each filament
due to their small size which results in narrow wake production [7]. As the rotational speed is
increased, the velocity of the flow through the ventilated channel is increased, further improving
flow mixing and consequently the convective heat transfer. However, the increased flow will
result in increased flow separation and recirculation (especially in the case of the pin-finned
disc; each pin poses a relatively large obstruction in comparison to the thin wire elements of
the WBD core). Flow separation occurs on the trailing edge of bluff bodies such as the pins in
the ventilated channel due to viscosity of the fluid causing an adverse pressure gradient along
the boundary layer resulting in the underlying flow to reverse direction and cause recirculation
in the wake of the body. This flow recirculation and stagnation results in a locally reduced heat
transfer. Due to the increased flow separation and dead flow regions with increasing speed it is
expected that the pin-finned disc will reach a state of saturation, whereby the cooling
performance no longer increases with increasing speed, at a lower speed than for that of the
WBD disc.

Figure 6: steady state temperatures versus speed.

 CONCLUSION

The thermal performance of a novel, lightweight WBD brake disc was compared to a
commercially available pin-finned design for a range of tested speeds. It was found that:
 The WBD design outperforms the conventional pin-finned design by 6%, 8%, and 13%
when comparing steady state temperatures under a braking power of 2 kW at a rotational
speed of 100 rpm, 150 rpm, and 250 rpm, respectively
 The improved thermal performance of the WBD disc over the conventional design is
amplified as the rotation speed of the disc increases; at 100 rpm the improvement is 6%
and at 250 rpm the improvement is 13%.
 The improved steady state temperatures of the WBD core is attributed to improved flow
mixing and an increased heat transfer area.
 The increased thermal performance improvement of the WBD disc with increased speed
is attributed to the wire elements in the WBD material reducing the effects of flow
separation and recirculation as the flow speed is increased when compared to that of the
larger pin-fins. It is reasoned that because of this the pin-finned design would reach the
limit of cooling performance, or saturation, at a lower speed than for that of the WBD
design.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of
South Africa (TP13082630765 Light, Strong, High Performance Automotive Product
Development). The grantholder acknowledges that opinions, findings and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in any publication generated by the NRF supported research are
that of the authors, and that the NRF accepts no liability whatsoever in this regard. Thank you
to Alfa Brakes South Africa for donating the commercial brake discs for comparison. Thank
you to the CSIR for Ledger funding used to support MSc student Shaun Zedi.

REFERENCES

[1] Day, A., “Braking of Road Vehicles, First Edition” (Oxford, Butterworth-
Heinemann/Elsevier, 2014), ISBN-9780123973146.
[2] Limpert, R., “Cooling Analysis of Brake Disc Rotors,” SAE Technical Paper 751014,
1975, doi:10.4271/751014.
[3] Limpert, R., “The Thermal Performance of Automotive Disc Brakes,” SAE Technical
Paper 750873, 1975, doi:10.4271/750873.
[4] Wallis, L., “A Comparison of Bi-directional Disc Brake Rotor Passage Designs,” Ph.D.
thesis, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering University of New South Wales,
2003.
[5] Mew, T., Kang, K.-J., Kienhöfer, F., Kim, T., “Transient Thermal Response of a Highly
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