2016 Maintenance Innovation Challenge Sphere Brake System PROBLEM

2016 Maintenance Innovation Challenge Sphere Brake System PROBLEM STATEMENT Due to significant up-armoring on light duty to heavy duty tactical vehicles for austere operating environments, reliability, stability and costs associated with maintenance and sustainment have skyrocketed. Specifically, total cost of ownership has skyrocketed for vehicle braking systems that wear at quintuple the rate. Current technology, which include both disc and drum brake systems, do not provide holistic solutions to the Warfighter. They are very heavy, contain lots of parts, require hours upon hours of maintenance to perform simple tasks such as changing out brake pads, and require axle modifications for installation. TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION The Sphere Brake Systems leverages the simplicity of the s-cam configuration with the mechanical efficiency of disc brake systems. Under brake application, the hemispherical pads enclose around the sphere brake surface in a multi-axial manner which significantly increase torque in a smaller package than disc or drum brakes can achieve. This allows unprecedented packaging features on heavy duty tactical vehicles that current technology would not be able to attain. Due to inherent design the sphere brake as it is designed and installed on our Class 8 heavy duty Mack truck is lighter, has fewer parts, out performs disc and drum brakes, and provides a means to change out brake pads without ever removing wheels. BENEFITS Reduces total cost of ownership and logistics tail associated with heavy duty trucks through the following features: • Is the lightest heavy duty brake system weighing 39 lbs as opposed to the disc which weighs 79 lbs and drum at 108 lbs. • Has the fewest parts with a total of only 22, 13 of which are off the shelf parts. • Doesn’t require wheel removal to change out brake pads. This provides unprecedented flexibility in the field and unit readiness throughout the force. • Is designed as a bolt on package. Through use of existing drum configured axles, the sphere brake system can be bolt on to any heavy duty tactical vehicles that currently have drum brake systems. • Out performs disc and drums brakes as a smaller system. GRAPHIC