Interesting Facts to Know About Industrial Water-Cooled Brakes
Industrial water-cooled brake systems entail a central and stationary aluminum cooling plate that has an internal chamber. This chamber is vital in circulating the water coolant. The system also has a series of mounted cast iron, which allows for contact from the friction material carried by discs. Traditional disk brakes tend to experience high temperatures that can have highly detrimental effects on their performance. However, the use of fluids like water can lower these temperatures as it is imperative to eliminate much of this friction-generated heat.
The sectors have adequate thermal capacity while allowing them to preserve the breaking process’s heat for a short while. This heat is then conducted over water for an extended period at a rate that the conductance of the thermally insulative layers determines. As such, this kind of brake design can mitigate the risk of overheating as it efficiently absorbs and dissipates braking heat. Industrial water-cooled brakes were designed for braking axles or wheels in various applications like heavy machinery and armored military vehicles.
Significance of Industrial Water-Cooled Brakes
Industrial water cooled brakes have various advantages over wet friction brakes. Some heavy vehicles employ wet friction brakes. Typically, this brake type has a frictional substance and a brake disc initiated inside an axle casing or gearbox where the circulating pump delivers cooling oil. The wet brake is enclosed inside a transmission casing, making it susceptible to contamination. During high-speed applications, viscous friction occurs in the oil between the discs and the friction material. For this reason, the high-power loss that occurs when they are not braking during high-speed applications determines the drawbacks of wet brakes.
However, when the brake is operational but at an increased system complexity, supplying the cooling oil can mitigate the drawbacks. For machines that require high-performance, another drawback when using wet friction break is that the oil’s working temperatures, which are likely to lead to oil contamination, might not exceed the brake disc’s surface temperature. Oil contamination can also be a result of brake wearing out.
The purpose of industrial water-cooled brake systems, whether stationary or rotating, is to conduct heat produced due to abrasion during the braking process to the water flowing through the discs. Through structures such as radiators, these discs help to carry the heat away for dissipation. Whenever the brakes are applied, a friction material contacts the corresponding art disc, which comprises a monolithic metal wall. However, studies show that you cannot readily achieve the combination of thermal properties that suits industrial water-cooled brakes’ performance best. This is especially concerning heavy machinery invoking consummations breaking powers of up to many megawatts using prior art discs.
In a nutshell, industrial water-cooled brakes were designed for severe high-heat and constant slip applications. Therefore, you cannot afford to have your industrial machine breaking down because of excessive heat or components wearing out at a drastic rate. This is why you need to integrate industrial water-cooled brakes into your heavy industrial machinery or vehicles.