Design of an Innovative Zero-Emissions Braking System for Vehicles

The automotive industry is going through one of the most challenging and revolutionary times of its history: the seek for a carbon neutral vehicle, allowing the spread of Electric Vehicles (EV) for breaking down direct emissions. It is equally important, however, to reduce or cut out the secondary emissions coming from the tires and the braking system. Starting from the on-market available technological zero-emission braking solution, in this paper an innovative Magneto-Rheological (MR) braking system is proposed. The innovative system is capable of fitting into a vehicle and at the same time satisfying the strict performance requests that a pivotal component, as the vehicle brake, should execute. During the validation process, it has been possible to digitally obtain higher torques respect other similar braking systems, capable of stopping a vehicle with a deceleration typical of an emergency braking maneuver. It has been possible thank to the innovative coupling of the MR brake to an in-wheel motor, obtaining an optimal fit and speeding-up the on-market readiness of the technology.