Advantages/disadvantages of disc brakes in any vehicle

[banerjeerupak]

could someone let me know the problems being faced while using disc brakes in any sort of vehicles?

 

[ank_gl]

what problems?? like heating of the disk?? or what??

 

[banerjeerupak]

any problem that you could suggest.
i'm thinking of an alternative to disc brakes.
but for that i need to know the problems being encountered by the user of the disc brake. then i can go ahead and try to formulate solutions for them.

 

[berkeman]

wikipedia.org covers some basic issues:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_brakes

I believe that warping due to heating is the biggest issue. That is mitigated by the slots and holes in high-performance discs.

 

[SRode]

Disk brakes are pretty bulletproof. I have read that the next big step in disk brakes would be calipers driven electrically rather than hydraulically. Heat transfer is a major concern, but that also falls under car design because drilled rotors need ducting to channel air into remove heat.

PML built an electric car that took a neat spin on braking:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php
reverseing the motors spin to create a braking force.

 

[Stingray]

PML built an electric car that took a neat spin on braking:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php
reverseing the motors spin to create a braking force.

They're not reversing the motor current per se, but rather running the motors as generators. That's what's already done in standard hybrids to some extent (the batteries there can't take up the full power generated in this way, so you still need normal brakes). It's also used in electric RC cars.

As an aside, that Mini must have terrible ride and handling. A motor in each wheel would add a huge amount of unsprung weight.

 

[brewnog]

Warping, squeal, fade, performance at low temperatures, performance at high temperatures, corrosion, judder, proportionality, life, wet performance, heat dissipation, control, balancing...