Functional Design of an Articulated Reconfigurable Mechanism for Electronic Parking Brake Systems

The paper presents the preliminary and functional design of a novel reconfigurable linkage aimed at driving the parking brake system of vehicles, using Bowden cable transmission systems. This mechanism is intended to be interposed between the electric drive motor and the brake system itself to act as a torque amplifier, and it must also guarantee the irreversibility of motion when the brake command is released. The presented architecture highlights its inherent adaptability to different required values of cable stroke and brake force, also avoiding issues related to external inputs, such as the brake pads wear. The pro-posed methods are mainly focused on giving a few guidelines about the geometrical properties dimensioning to guarantee the irreversibility of motion but also get a proper trade-off between the total dimension of the system and the achiev-able maximum cable stroke. Moreover, a few details about additional components, that are fundamental to guarantee the correct functioning of the linkage during its motion are subsequently reported. The presented methods and result may be used as key guidelines for the executive design of the device.