Abstract

In phase of vehicle braking system designing, besides of mechanical characteristics, it is also necessary to take under consideration the system's thermal features. This is because it is not enough just to achieve proper braking power, for the brake system to be effective but equally important thing is the dissipation of heat to the environment. Heat developed in the friction surfaces dissipate into the environment over the disk in one hand and through the brake linings and caliper, in the other. The striving is to make that greatest amount of heat to dissipate not threw the brake pads but threw disc. The experimental researching of heat transfer process taking place at vehicle brakes was made in the R&D Center of "Zastava automobili" car factory in order to increase the efficiency of brake system. The standard laboratory and road test procedures were used, according to factory quality regulations. The modern equipment such as thermo camera, thermo couples, torque transducers, signal amplifiers, optical speed measuring system and laptop computer were used. In this paper will be shown the part of the experimental researching, which refers to the thermal conductivity of brake pad friction linings.