Seen this? Electronic Wedge Brake Brings Drive-by-Wire to New Level

[MELLO*SOS]

Just saw this little article on some new electronic braking system & thought some of you might be interested. BTW the InventorSpot Blog is a great invention related blog if you're into that kind of stuff, all kinds of crazy new shit gets posted up there.

Originally Posted by FTFA on InventorSpot

The Siemens EWB uses motors to move a wedged plate along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. This plate moves rollers that fit into the similarly-wedged back plate of the brake pad. As the wedges tighten against each other, the force of the vehicle’s forward momentum actually presses the pad tightly against the brake disc, rather than hydraulic pressure. This system achieves vastly improved stopping power over traditional hydraulic systems with the additional benefit of significant weight and power savings.

Now, with the elimination of an entire hydraulic system, think of what vehicle designers can eliminate. Brake vacuum boosters, master cylinders, slave cylinders, anti-lock braking modules, brake fluid reservoirs, brake lines, pistons, brake fluid; the list goes on and on. Siemens claims that the EWB system will free up 22 liters in the engine bay, giving designers more room for other components.