DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to mounting or support brackets in commercial or heavy vehicles. In particular, the invention relates to the brackets for mounting air-chamber and actuator in commercial vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to low-weight and low-deflection mounting brackets for air-chamber and actuator in commercial vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The mounting brackets or support brackets are used in commercial/heavy vehicles, e.g. trucks, buses etc., for mounting air-brake chambers and actuators to mount the air chamber and actuator connected to rotary actuator mounted on s-cam shaft of the brake assembly. The mounting bracket is bolted on axle housing at one end and the other end is used for mounting the actuation unit.

The mounting bracket takes the actuation loads coming from chamber /actuator as well as from the cam. A high deflection mounting bracket adversely affects the braking performance.

US4754857 relates to a universal chamber mounting bracket (40) for mounting an air chamber (41) to a rotary cam (32) actuated brake (10) is provided. The bracket includes a slot aperture (70) and a multiple hole aperture (72) for receiving air chamber mounting fasteners (44 and 46) for properly and positively positioning the air chamber for use with various length (54) slack adjuster levers (39). The slot aperture and the multiple-hole aperture are centered about a longitudinal axis (74) for constant alignment of the air chamber in each selected mounting position thereof. However, this patent claims the overall construction of the bracket mounting thereof. It is prone to high deflections. Since it is made of sheet metal, there is no possibility of any improvement as offered by the present invention.

CN 203819227 U relates to an air chamber bracket for engineering vehicles, and particularly to the field of air chamber bracket used for mounting an air chamber. An air chamber connecting bolt left upper end penetration hole (1) and an air chamber connecting bolt right lower end penetration hole (15) are respectively formed in an air chamber mounting block upper convex lug (4) and an air chamber mounting block lower convex lug (5), which are arranged on an air chamber mounting block (2); a supporting plate rear side left upper reinforcing rib (13) and a supporting plate rear side right lower reinforcing rib (14) are arranged between the bottom of the air chamber mounting block (2) and the rear part of a supporting plate(10); a supporting plate front reinforcing rib (3) is arranged at the front part of the supporting plate (10); a cam shaft mounting hole (9) is formed in a cam shaft mounting seat (11); an axle housing connecting bolt penetration hole (8) is formed in a base plate (6), so that the base plate (6) is connected with an axle housing body (7). The air chamber bracket for engineering vehicles is simple in structure and high in strength. Although, this air-chamber bracket is also designed as a cast bracket, it is not optimized with various desired design parameters. Moreover, this cast bracket does not have any specific shape. More material is required to be used for obtaining the targeted strength. Finally, this air-chamber bracket is also prone to high deflections.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE PRIOR ART

After studying various types of air-chamber brackets designs, it has been observed that the current brackets have the following major disadvantages:

• High Weight: To achieve a specific strength, the existing brackets are much heavy, thereby show low strength to weight ratio.

• Deflection: The existing air-chamber brackets are prone to higher deflections.

The air-chamber brackets presently available all over the world use ribs and substantial amount of material to achieved the desired parameters, e.g. stress and deflection.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Some of the objects of the present invention - satisfied by at least one embodiment of the present invention - are as follows:

An object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which has higher stiffness.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which shows low deflection.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which shows higher rigidity.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which reduces stresses developed therein.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which is low-weight.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which has improved fatigue life thereof.

Yet further object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which requires less material to manufacture, thereby the overall lower manufacturing cost thereof.

One more object of the present invention is to provide an air-chamber and/or actuator mounting bracket for heavy vehicles, which substantially lowers the weight to strength ratio thereof.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when read with the accompanying figures of drawing, which are, however, not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a bracket for mounting air chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle, the bracket comprises a low-weight construction without any deflection on loading the actuation loads thereon, exerted by the chamber/actuator and cam, wherein an I-section with a curved bottom rib is combined with a plurality of angular ribs for substantially enhancing the strength of the mounting bracket under brake chamber actuation loads.

Typically, the I-section joins the two ends of the mounting face to provide a rigid support to sustain the brake chamber actuation loads.

Typically, the top edge of hexagonal support structure is extended outward by configuring an extended rib running along the upper edge thereof, which is formed during the casting of the mounting bracket for reducing the deflection thereof.

Typically, the complete geometry is obtained through casting of the mounting bracket as a single cast product.

Typically, the I-section with angular ribs is shaped in a banana boom construction for avoiding any deflection of the mounting bracket.

Typically, the rear-side of the mounting bracket is configured with two elliptical ribs joining the two faces thereof, i.e. the chamber mounting face and the upper inclined surface on the central I-section 128.

Typically, a circular hexagonal support structure is configured for supporting the rotating arm to increase the section modulus and thereby rigidity of the air chamber and actuator mounting bracket.

Typically, the weight of the mounting bracket is reduced by 15 to 25%, preferably 20% with respect to the existing mounting brackets.
Typically, the deflection of the mounting bracket is reduced by 20 to 40%, preferably 30% with respect to the existing mounting brackets.

In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a mounting bracket for mounting air chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle, the bracket comprises an I-section configured with a curved bottom rib combined with a plurality of angular ribs forming a banana boom construction, the I-section joining the two ends of the mounting face and the top edge of hexagonal support structure extending outward as an extended hexagonal rib running along the upper edge thereof, formed through casting of the mounting bracket as a single cast product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The present invention will be briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which include:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a portion of the wheel axle assembly of a heavy vehicle showing the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket configured in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a conventional brake-chamber/ chamber and actuator mounting bracket for mounting air- chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle.

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a conventional brake- chamber and actuator mounting bracket for mounting the air- chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle.

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the brake- chamber and actuator mounting bracket in accordance with the present invention configured for mounting the air- chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle.

Figure 5 shows another perspective view of the brake- chamber and actuator mounting bracket in accordance with the present invention configured for mounting the air- chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle.

Figure 6 shows an enlarged perspective view of a conventional brake- chamber and actuator mounting bracket 10 shown in Figure 2.

Figure 7 shows an enlarged view of the brake- chamber and actuator mounting bracket in accordance with the present invention shown in Figure 4.

Figure 8 shows the enlarged view of the bracket where the bottom rib is shaped in banana boom design to reduce the deflection.

Figure 9 shows a perspective side view depicting the overall geometry, in which details of I-shaped banana boom constructed by using angular ribs 104 and hexagonal center support 106 are shown.

Figure 10 shows the rear side view of the bracket where two elliptical shaped ribs joins two faces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

In the following, different embodiments of the present invention will be described in more details with reference to the accompanying drawings without limiting the scope and ambit of the present invention in any way.

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a portion of the wheel axle assembly 50 of a heavy vehicle depicting the mounting bracket 100 configured in accordance with the present invention for mounting the air-chamber/and actuator 110 and the rotary actuator 120 is connected to the s-cam shaft 130 of the brake-shaft assembly 140 fitted on the brake drum 150 thereof, which in turn in mounted on the wheel axle assembly 50 of heavy vehicle (not shown).

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a conventional brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 10 for mounting the air-chamber and actuator connected to rotary actuator on s-cam shaft of the brake-shaft assembly in a heavy vehicle.

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a conventional brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 10 for mounting the air-chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle. It includes a circular rotating cam support area 12 and generic or regular ribs 14 near the bottom section thereof. This requires a greater amount of material and thus its manufacturing cost is significantly higher. This construction also makes it quite heavy thereby more difficult to handle which assembling/dismantling the same.

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100 in accordance with the present invention configured for mounting the air-chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle. This bracket construction includes an I-section bottom rib 102 in a bow-shape. This bottom I-section imparts significantly more strength to the bracket, particularly during the brake chamber actuation. This I-section joins the two ends of the mounting face and provides support to the actuation loads.

Figure 5 shows another perspective view of the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100 in accordance with the present invention configured for mounting the air-chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle. This bracket construction has a bottom rib 102 in bow-shape and which is further stiffened by a plurality of small angular ribs 104 formed during the casting itself. This bottom I-section 102 imparts significantly higher strength to the bracket, particularly during the brake chamber actuation. This I-section joins the two ends of the mounting face and provides support to the actuation loads. The angular ribs 104 have an angular spacing there between. The overall stiffness of mounting bracket 100 is enhanced with the reduction of stress and deflection because of this unique combination of bottom rib 102 and angular ribs 104. In addition, the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100 is provided with a circular hexagonal support 106 to increase the section modulus thereof and to impart substantially higher stiffness or rigidity thereof. The top edge of hexagonal support 106 is extended outward by means of an extended hexagonal rib 108 running along the upper edge thereof for reducing the deflection and to provide more rigidity to the bracket 100. This complete geometry is combined together through casting process as a single product.

Figure 6 shows an enlarged perspective view of a conventional brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 10 shown in Figure 3. Here as well, a circular rotating s-cam support area 12 in the top end portion and regular rib 14 in the bottom section and ribs 16 in the middle section are depicted, which substantially increase the weight of the bracket 10. Here, more material is used to obtain the required strength, which makes the manufacture thereof costly thereby increasing the overall cost of this assembly.

Figure 7 shows the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100 configured in accordance with the present invention and used for mounting the air-chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle. As already described in respect of Fig. 2, the wheel axle assembly 50 is mounted via mounting bracket 100, which includes a front face 112 for mounting the air-chamber/and actuator 110. The rotary actuator 120 (Figure 1) is fixed on the upper inclined surface 122 thereof and s-cam shaft 130 of the brake-shaft assembly 140 is passed through a hole 132 provided thereon, which is fitted on the brake drum 150 of the heavy vehicle.

Figure 8 shows the enlarged view of the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100, where the bottom rib of I-section 102 with angular ribs 104 is shaped in banana boom construction to reduce the deflection of the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100.

This banana boom construction excellently works against vertical loads. This shape is combined with the angular ribs 104 to work together to obtain the targeted advantages in terms of low-weight with reduced deflection of the mounting bracket.

Figure 9 shows the overall geometry of the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100, in which the details of the banana boom shaped I-section 102, angular ribs 104 and hexagonal center support 106 are shown. The above shapes are natural shapes, which work on concept of minimum material with higher strength. The mounting bracket in accordance with the present invention is configured with all these technical shapes combined together to support the air-chamber and actuator load with minimum material requirement, thereby can be manufactured at substantially low-cost.

Figure 10 shows the perspective view depicting the details on the rear-side of the brake-chamber and actuator mounting bracket 100, in which two elliptical shaped ribs 116 joins its two faces i.e. the chamber mounting face 112 and the upper inclined surface 122 with the central I-section 128.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The mounting bracket in accordance with the present invention having a bow section, angular ribs and hexagonal support structures, eliminates the disadvantages associated with the conventional mounting brackets described earlier.

This mounting bracket is lighter by about 20% in comparison to the existing mounting brackets. The deflection of the bracket is also reduced by up to 30%.

The improved functions of the important features of the present invention are described in the following:

Hexagonal support: The rotating cam supporting area is converted into a hexagonal circular boss to increase the section modulus, which in turn substantially increases the stiffness of the mounting bracket. In addition, the top edge of hexagonal support is extended outward to achieve lower deflection and increased rigidity of the mounting bracket.

Bow-shaped bottom I-section: In contrast to the conventional mounting brackets having regular ribs, in the mounting bracket according to the present invention, a bow-like structure in a banana boom configuration is provided with an I-section at the bottom thereof, this facilitates in increasing the mounting bracket strength during actuation of the brake air-chamber. This I-section also joins the two ends of the mounting face and supports brake-actuation loads.

Angular structured ribs: A plurality of smaller ribs with angular spacing is provided on the I-section, which substantially enhances the stiffness of the inventive mounting bracket arranged. Further, this combined structure of I-section bottom with angular ribs increases the overall stiffness of the component, which in turn reduces stress as well deflection therein.

Weight reduction: The above described combined structure reduces the weight of the mounting bracket by up to 20-25%, thereby also reducing the overall design weight to strength ratio thereof.

Deflection: The above described configuration of the bracket for mounting the brake air-chamber and actuator also lower the deflection of the joint in a range of 30 to 40%. This enhancement in deflection leads to substantially reduced stress levels, which in turn facilitates in longer fatigue life of the bracket.

As the major commercial / business objectives of this /invention, the weight reduction of 20-25% itself brings about a substantial cost benefit, which are of the order of approximately INR 30 Lakhs per year.

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

The mounting bracket in accordance with the present invention for mounting the brake air-chamber and actuator on the s-beam of the brake assembly of a heavy vehicle has the following main advantages:
• Low-weight.
• Reduced deflection of the joint.
• Low-stress.
• Reduced material / manufacturing cost.
• Increased weight to strength ratio.
• Higher fatigue life.
• Cost reduction.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments.

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. The description provided herein is purely by way of example and illustration. The various features and advantageous details are explained with reference to this non-limiting embodiment in the above description in accordance with the present invention.

The descriptions of well-known components and manufacturing and processing techniques are consciously omitted in this specification, so as not to unnecessarily obscure the specification.

It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, the skilled person will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments described herein and can easily make innumerable changes, variations, modifications, alterations and/or integrations in terms of materials and method used to configure, manufacture and assemble various constituents, components, subassemblies, assemblies and in terms of the size, shapes, orientations and interrelationships without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
It is also to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.

The numerical values given of various physical parameters, dimensions and quantities are only approximate values and it is envisaged that the values higher or lower than the numerical value assigned to the physical parameters, dimensions and quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure unless there is a statement in the specification to the contrary.

Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, shall be understood to implies including a described element, integer or method step, or group of elements, integers or method steps, however, does not imply excluding any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or method steps.

The use of the expression “a”, “at least” or “at least one” shall imply using one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as used in the embodiment of the disclosure in order to achieve one or more of the intended objects or results of the present invention. ,CLAIMS:We claim:

1. A bracket for mounting air chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle, the bracket comprises a low-weight construction with reduced deflection on loading the actuation loads thereon, exerted by the chamber/actuator and cam, wherein an I-section with a curved bottom rib is combined with a plurality of angular ribs for substantially enhancing the strength of the mounting bracket under brake chamber actuation loads.

2. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the I-section joins the two ends of the mounting face to provide a rigid support to sustain the brake chamber actuation loads

3. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the top edge of hexagonal support structure is extended outward by configuring an extended rib running along the upper edge thereof, which is formed during the casting of the mounting bracket for reducing the deflection thereof.

4. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the complete geometry is obtained through casting of the mounting bracket as a single cast product.

5. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the I-section with angular ribs is shaped in a banana boom construction for reducing the deflection of the mounting bracket.

6. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rear-side of the mounting bracket is configured with two elliptical ribs joining the two faces thereof, i.e. the chamber mounting face and the upper inclined surface on the central I-section 128.

7. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein a circular hexagonal support structure is configured for supporting the rotating arm to increase the section modulus and thereby rigidity of the air chamber and actuator mounting bracket.

8. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weight of the mounting bracket is reduced by 15 to 25%, preferably 20% with respect to the existing mounting brackets.

9. The mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the deflection of the mounting bracket is reduced by 20 to 40%, preferably 30% with respect to the existing mounting brackets.

10. A mounting bracket for mounting air chamber and actuator in a heavy vehicle, the bracket comprises an I-section configured with a curved bottom rib combined with a plurality of angular ribs forming a banana boom construction, the I-section joining the two ends of the mounting face and the top edge of hexagonal support structure extending outward as an extended hexagonal rib running along the upper edge thereof, formed through casting of the mounting bracket as a single cast product.

Dated: this day of 30th September, 2015. SANJAY KESHARWANI
APPLICANT’S PATENT AGENT