1. Field
The disclosed subject matter relates to a brake system for vehicles and a method of use thereof. More particularly, the disclosed subject matter relates to arrangements of brake wires and other vehicle components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicles typically include brake systems such as parking brake systems that prevent the vehicle from moving unintentionally when parked and which provide emergency braking, if necessary. The brake system typically includes a wire arrangement with right and left wires that are routed to brake assemblies associated with the right and left rear or front wheels. The wires are typically routed in a manner that avoids sharp bends which can negatively affect performance and/or durability of the wires.
Some conventional parking brake systems include right and left wires that run separately (and sometimes parallel) to one another before turning off toward the respective right and left rear wheel parking brake assemblies. However, packaging space for the parking brake wires is limited by space requirements for other vehicle components, such as, for example, the fuel tank, muffler, and interior passenger space requirements. Therefore, running separate paths for each of the vehicle parking brake wires has a disadvantage in that it consumes a great deal of space in the vehicle.
Some conventional parking brake systems, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,613, include a pair of parallel parking brake wires that cross over each other once before being routed outward toward respective rear wheels. However, U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,613 discloses a mechanism in which parking brake wires are slidably guided by and curved along a supporting bracket to form a large radius of curvature and extend toward respective rear wheel brakes in a crossing manner, but without the wires interfering with each other. Thanks to the large radius of curvature, the wires can operate at high operation efficiency and can have an improved durability to make an efficient transmission of force to the rear wheel brakes. However, the vertical spacing requirements for the supporting bracket structure may be undesirable in light of vertical packaging space limitations, and may result in additional abrasion and performance problems associated with the additional supporting bracket structure located in the vehicle.
It may be desirable to provide parking brake systems that maintain relatively large curvatures of the parking brake wires as they are routed to their respective wheels and/or minimize vertical space requirements. It may also be desirable that such systems minimize performance loss and/or maintain high durability of the wires while minimizing noise during vehicle operation and brake operation.