New research to eliminate brake squeal electronically

Here's a link to a research paper summary that some of the geeks here might find interesting: http://www.sae.org/automag/techbrief...-111-10-24.pdf

The article of interest is on pages 9 & 10. They describe a practical, electronic caliper piston which detects high frequency vibration indicative of squealing and applies out of phase vibrations to cancel the sqealing.

Very cool!

I think I fall in to the "why the hell would you waste money on that?" category, but neat nonetheless.

Originally Posted by Nick325xiT 5spd

I think I fall in to the "why the hell would you waste money on that?" category, but neat nonetheless.

As they say in the article, "Squealing brakes cost auto manufacturers several hundred million dollars a year in warranty repairs and are among consumers' top 20 vehicle complaints." Sounds like a reasonable business opportunity to me, if the cost per unit can be brought down far enough.

Of course, the geek in me just finds the technology facinating. I worked at Bell Labs from 1986 - 2000 and had colleagues who were working on classified submarine quieting technology in the late 1980s that essentially worked the same way. It's amazing how much defense technology, such as digital spread spectrum communications, has made its way over to consumer products. In 1981, my Panasonic cordless phone would have been marked Top Secret!

This certainly falls into the category of "what the hell is going to happen when that module gets messed up?"

I've got a cheaper solution that will save them a lot of time & money.
Just chamfer the leading edge of the pads.

Originally Posted by bluer1

This certainly falls into the category of "what the hell is going to happen when that module gets messed up?"

Again, the article provides the answer: "This is fundamentally a fail-safe technology. If an actuator broke, there would still be another load path to allow the piston to operate the brakes."

Of course, I can imagine a failure mode whereby the module gets out of phase and AMPLIFIES the brake squealing. Wouldn't that be an interesting problem, particularly inside a parking garage!

Originally Posted by bluer1

I've got a cheaper solution that will save them a lot of time & money.
Just chamfer the leading edge of the pads.

The chamfer trick doesn't always work. Nor does proper bedding, anti squeal paste, shims, etc. There are just some cars out there that resist curing a squeal problem. I can usually get it to stop by using all the tricks at my disposal. But sometimes an annoying little squeak remains no matter what you do.

Originally Posted by DZeckhausen

The chamfer trick doesn't always work. Nor does proper bedding, anti squeal paste, shims, etc. There are just some cars out there that resist curing a squeal problem. I can usually get it to stop by using all the tricks at my disposal. But sometimes an annoying little squeak remains no matter what you do.

Thankfully, it's never failed to work for me.

Originally Posted by bluer1

Thankfully, it's never failed to work for me.

Cool!

Great article, Dave. Thanks for sharing.