Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Peter Kowalow

Yuri Anatoly Karpenko

J Chris Oakwood

Charles K Evans

James Maurice Boileau

Laura Dammeyer

Steven Swisher

Andrew D Niedert

Kevin Stanton Giaier

Moses Alexander Fridman

Robert Gordon Rentschler

Zachary Konchan

Joshua Norwood

David C Allen

Jinkoo Lee

Jorge Rivas

Bryce Reinert

Rebecca Giaier

Todd Anthony Brittingham

Ravi Lanka

A brake pad for a motor vehicle is provided. The brake pad includes a body having an upper edge and a lower edge. The upper edge is configured for positioning relative to an outer diameter of a rotor. The brake pad also includes a friction surface extending between the upper edge and the lower edge for engaging the rotor. The brake pad further includes a relieved portion located along a section of the upper edge. The relieved portion is configured to reduce squeal noise caused by tangential modes of the rotor, during engagement of the brake pad with the rotor, by minimizing contact between the friction surface of the brake pad and the outer diameter of the rotor at an area of the rotor having a potential for high modal displacement in a tangential direction.

Noise reducing brake pads

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for a load-sensing hitch utilizing a system of strain gauges. An example apparatus includes a hitch including a first support including a first end, a second end, and a mid-portion located between the first end and the second end, the mid-portion having a cross-sectional area smaller than the cross-sectional area of the first end or the cross-sectional area of the second end, a strain gauge located at the mid-portion of the first support, a frame attachment to couple the hitch to a frame of a vehicle, the support coupled to the frame attachment, and a load manager to determine a load condition based on sensor data from the strain gauge.

Methods and apparatus for a load-sensing hitch utilizing a system of strain gauges

A brake pad for a motor vehicle is provided. The brake pad includes a body having upper and lower edges and a friction surface extending between the upper and lower edges for engaging a rotor. A notch is located along a section of the upper edge of the brake pad. The notch has an arc length of about &#xbc; to about &#xbd; of an arc length of the pad and a depth of about &#x215b; to about &#x2159; of a height of the pad. During engagement with the rotor, the notch is configured to reduce squeal noise caused by tangential modes of the rotor.

A friction damping cast component and method of production are disclosed. The components may be rotary, such as a cast brake rotor, or may be non-rotary, such as a cast suspension part or a cast engine block. Regardless of the type of component, a two-part vibration-damping insert having a thin metal core and a thin metal sheath is provided. The sheath fully encompasses the core in such a way that a dry sliding friction contact develops at their interfaces. The outer surface of the sheath with the metal core inside is rigidly bonded to the cast material that surrounds it during the casting process. The sheath surfaces may have a number of openings that allow a limited infiltration of molten cast iron material just inside the immediate vicinity of the sheath openings for spot rigid bonding between the surrounding cast material and the insert surfaces during casting.

Coulomb friction damped components and method for manufacturing same

A brake component may include a body and at least one sheathed cable positioned within the body. The at least one sheathed cable may include a plurality of wires, each of the plurality of wires having a surface in sliding contact with a surface of at least one adjacent wire of the plurality of wires. During braking of the motor vehicle, relative sliding movement between the surfaces of the plurality of wires may dampen a resonant vibration of the component.

Damped brake components and methods of manufacturing the same

A method and system for increasing damping capacity in cast metal parts by utilizing dry friction between individual wires of a sheathed rope is disclosed. The rope is embedded into the part during casting. Sheathing the ropes in a thin layer of the same metal as the casting prevents molten metal from infiltrating individual wires during casting, thus allowing inter-wire friction during the part vibration. There are two ways to distribute the ropes within a part during casting. The first way is to distribute the ropes uniformly across an entire part whereby damping capacity of the metal part increases uniformly as well. The second way of distributing the ropes is to spatially distribute them according to a pattern to increase the damping capacity only in the part regions that have the highest vibration amplitudes or stress during system vibration. Both methods of distribution may be combined in a single part.

Dry friction damped mechanical and structural metal components and methods of manufacturing the same

A brake component for a motor vehicle may include a body and at least one cable positioned within the body. The at least one cable may include a plurality of wires positioned relative to one another, each of the plurality of wires having a surface in sliding contact with surfaces of adjacent wires of the plurality of wires. During braking of the motor vehicle, sliding movement of the surfaces of the plurality of wires relative to each other may dampen a resonant frequency of the component.

Methods and apparatus to control braking of a vehicle during low deceleration operations are disclosed. A disclosed apparatus includes a controller configured to determine a deceleration of a vehicle, compare the deceleration to a threshold, and modulate, at a predetermined frequency, a brake pressure of the vehicle in response to the deceleration being below the threshold.

Growing community of inventors

Windsor, CA, United States of America

Peter Kowalow