International automotive supplier Continental has developed a concept for an Electric Parking Brake (EPB) for drum brakes. It is especially tailored to the lower-priced automotive segment that, up until now, has had to make do with mechanical parking brakes built into the existing drum brake on the rear axle.

"By combining drum brakes and electric parking brakes, we can offer easy, push-button operation on compact cars. These cars can offer the same convenience and safety functions found on higher-priced models but at a comparatively modest cost", says Matthias Matic, Executive Vice President of the Hydraulic Brake Systems Business Unit of Continental's Chassis & Safety Division. The electric parking drum brake will go into serial production by 2017.

The system consists of two actuators which are integrated into the drum-brake base panel on the rear axle, in addition to its control software. The electronics that electrically activate the actuators of the electric parking brake are integrated into the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system.

A common construction for light compact cars, it features solid bracing for the two brake shoes, a dual-acting hydraulic cylinder for the service brake, and mechanical adjustment. "Low-priced drum brakes, built-in control elements and activation via the ESC represent a happy mixture of low weight, high efficiency and low overall costs, making them ideal for light, compact cars", says Bernhard Schmittner, head of core development foundation brakes / EPB for Continental's Chassis & Safety Division.