m

22-2d March 1983, University of Technology, Loughborough, UK

Braking of Road Vehicles

Most engineers are interested in minimizing friction; the brake engineer is one of the few people who wants lots of friction. He wants the maximum possible friction between tyro and road surface, and he wants friction iv,. definite and controlled amounts between friction material (pad or lining) and rotor (disc or drum). The ways in which he goes ab out controlling and using the friction between material and rotor to slow down and stop the vehicle; and the problems he meets in so doing, formed the subject matter of the second conference on the Braking of Road Vehicles, organised by the Automobile Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and held at Loughborough University of Technology in March 1983. Nearly 200 delegates attended the Conference and it was every bit as successful as the first conference held in 1976. The critical zone in a brake is the interface between friction material and rotor, tf the temperature at the interface is too high, the coefficient of friction (g) may fall (the material may 'fade'), wear increases, and components - including the rotor - may be damaged. The first paper ~ showed how the trend towards higher aerodynamic efficiency on cars reduces the cooling airflow round the brake discs and drums, and some experimental findings were described. Two authors reported the present stage in the development of friction materials that do not contain asbestos; obtaining adequate life is still rather a problem, particularly on heavy goods vehicles (hgv's), as is also covering a wide range of # !evels. Ar~ interesting attempt was made at Mintex to predict the ultimate life of pads in service from measurements on part-worn pads (from 162 similar vehicles) and an exponential equation proposed to relate uttimate and projected (extrapolated) life 2 . Results were compared with life predicted from.tests on a p r o t o t y p e vehicle. A second paper on pad tife came from Belgrade University a . The authors assumed linear wear at constant temperature and that brake lining temperature during service follow a Weibult distribution. Measurements have been made on a passenger car and the results have been encouraging. There were a number of papers concerned with testing. The value of # between friction material and rotor depends on many factors, including the past history of the rubbing surfaces, and so during testing relevant variables such as brake temperatures, pressures, and speeds eta are recorded and attempts are made to match these as closely as possible to conditions met in service. The ways in which microprocessors are used to cope with the resulting flood o f data obtained were described in papers b y Ferodo a3 , and Don International 2 i Ford Tefitb.anen, Belgium, described the elaborate system they are developing which involves a computer-controlled display on a vdu in the vehicle, enabling the test driver to see at a glance how the test is proceeding, and what corrective action, if any, he should make ~9 . A test machine which characterises the performance o f a friction material in terms of pressure, speed and temperature, and results obtained with it, were described in a paper ~9 from E a t o n Corp. USA; the information obtained b y testing small samples under rather artificial conditions however has to be treated with caution, not to say scepticism. The papers on braking systems and brakes themseives were not particalarly relevant to tribotogy, but were interesting nevertheless. Several papers dealt with specific components of the braking system such as air-dryers 22 and foot-brake valves" for air systems, and inertia valves for hydraulic systems 4 , and a number dealt with the brake assemblies themselves, and in particuiar cam-operated drum brakes and disc brakes~3,~4 for commercial vehicles (cvs). One particularly interesting

paper Ix described the use of fimte element analysis to investigate the way in which the torque output o2 an Scam brooke varies when the oressurc distribution along the linings changes because of thermal expansion anc: wear. The authors investigated the problem in depth, and showed how important the friction in the carn-sl-Laft bearings can be. Despite the sopbhstication of the anatysis the paper is practical. Leyland Vehicles a!sc reported a detailed study o[ g-cam brakes 27, and concluded that asef.~ improvements in performance could still be obtained b y close attentio~ to dotal1 design. Two papers ~'-3 one fro~: each major brake manufacturer dealt with brakes for medium weight cv:-;. Disc brakes have many advantage~ but do not have the capacity to dissipate heat that drum brakes have. and the Lucas Girtmg paper gave a b asis t~-~ determining the area of braking surface and volume of friction material to ensure satisfactory brake iife. Both papers discussed the actual hardware in detail. Braking can be a problem no~ only rc;~ hgv's but also for veNctes at the other end of the load spectrum. %r children on bicycles can have great diffi.cuit2 h:. stoppmg quickly in wet conditions, as some disturbing figures from T R R L showed s Other papers were concerned with more specialized top~cs, such as the effect of brake design on fuel consump tion 3 , the operation of anti-iock systems by false signals when braking on rough roads ~v , power hydraulic
systems for city buses a~ . and the

matching of tractor and trailer systems on articulated vehicles34 o One o~" the most intractable prob!ems in braking is brake oqueaio ~ ~ and in a ~aper from Mintex disc vibrations were described. and a strategy suggested for their sola.tion which has led to the rational use of existing noise remedies and t2~e development of novel ones28 ~ There were three papers 3n retarders '~s'~6'32 . These are auMiiary brakes intended ~o take some o f the load off the ser~ice brakes on cv's and so permit the latter to run cooler, giving longer linin8 life and less tro'oMe generally. In the Ferodo retarder ~6 a stack of sintered metal and cast iron annuli are clamped together and wen._'

274

October t 9 8 3 Vod 16 No 5

is minimized by running them in a lubricant which also removes the frictional heat developed. The lubricant has to be very stable as it is only replaced during major engine overhauls. Two papers described operational experience gained on public service vehicles23'24 , one from London Transport, and the other from Strathclyde Passenger Executive, Glasgow (where the buses are called bananas because they are yellow and come in bunches). They make very interesting reading. Legislation has had an enormous effect on brakes and braking systems, not only in setting performance targets, but also in ensuring that vehicles are braked in a stable and controlled manner and that, for example, the rear brakes do not lock prematurely sending the vehicle into a rear-end skid, or an articulated vehicle jack-knife. Since April 1983 all new vehicles in the UK have had to meet the requirements of the EEC braking directives, and one paper reviewed current national and European braking regulations26 . Another described the complications that have to be sorted out in order to harmonise EEC legislation with that elsewhere, and in particular with that in the USA 2s . It is a pity that the discussions following the papers are not reported in the Proceedings*, particularly those on the papers describing operators' experiences, and those on legislation. The friction brake is crude in concept, but as the Conference showed, so long as the friction material technologist and the metallurgist can come up with materials that will cope with the conditions in the brake assembly - and in particular with the temperature - and so long as the engineer continues to design efficient and reliable braking systems and brake assemblies, the friction brake will continue to flourish.

3.

Duboka C. and Todorovi6 J. Linear wear hypothesis for the prediction of brake lining life Paper C15/83 Young A.J. Inertia valves for braking systems Paper C28/83 Watts G.R. Brakes on pedal cycles

19. CilissenM. Introduction of a new test instrumentationsystem for performance tests on motor vehicles Paper

4. 5. 6.

C29/83
20. McLoughlin W;T. and Pratt B.H. The measurement and analysis of brake performance under service conditions

Paper C33/83
yon Glasner E.C. Computer and test-

Paper C19/83
21. Stomrud S. Brake spectrum - a fundamental parameter for design of brakes Paper C26/83 22. Larsson S-O. Air treatment for heavy road vehicles Paper C27/83
23. Lockhead M., Douglas J.A. and Young

assisted simulation of handling and braking characteristics of commercial vehicles PaperC25/83 7. Lenasi J. and Todorovi6 J. The stochastic approach to the lateral stability of vehicles under braking conditions

Paper C16/83
8. CroUaD.A. and Dwyer M.J. The braking of off-road vehicles on road surfaces Paper C12/83 Thoms E.K. The human aspect in the design of a footbrake valvePaper

D.C. Operational experience with braking systems used on public service vehicles Paper C23/83 24. Curtis C.H. Maintenance and operational experience with braking systems on public service vehicles Paper C34/83 25. Oppenheimer P. Harmonisafion of braking regulations Paper C32/83 26. Murphy P.B. 1983 review of national and European braking legislation

9.

C20/83
10. CoganH.F. A simple method for the estimation of air brake systems actuation times Paper C17/83 11. Day AJ. and Harding P.R.J. Performance variation of cam operated drum brakes PaperC10/83 12. Fitzpatrick-Ellis J.F. and Hales E.C. Brakes for commercial vehicles current and future PaperC24/83 13. Ingram B. APplication of disc brakes to commercial vehicles Paper C30/83 14. Johnston P.M. and Latvala B.E. Design/ development of disc brakes for air braked vehiclesPaper C31/83 15. FaneherP.S. andWinkler C.B. Downhill speed control and the use of retarders on heavy trucks Paper C13/83 16. Moore D.J. The development of the Ferodo retarder Paper C21/83 17. Satoh M. and Shiraishi S. Excess operation of antilock brake system on a rough road Paper C18/83 18. SlackI.R. The development and proving of an individual wheel brake torque measurement system (IWBTM)for commercial vehiclesPaper C22/83

Paper C14/83
27. MeCallnm J. and Tolan B. Advances in S cam brake design Paper C36/83 28. Lang A.M. and Smales H. An approach to the solution of disc brake vibration problems Paper C37/83
29. Nueman R.F., Urban J.A. and MeNineh

J.H. Performance characterization of dry friction materials PaperC38/83 30. Joynes B. The effect of fuel conservation on brake design Paper C39/83 31. Hawker MJ. A power hydraulic braking system for the modem city bus

Paper C40/83
32. Thoms E. A retarder as an integrated part of the brake system PaperC41/83 33. Cripps R.P. and Sherwood R.P. The Ferodo colour dot matrix printer/ recorder system Paper C42/83 34. Shilton B.R. Advances in non-rigid commercial vehicle braking systems

Paper C43/83

11--14 April 1983, Reston, VA, USA

R. T. Spurr

Papers presented*
1. Garrett D and Munson W. Cooling of brakes - a conflict of interests Paper

Wear of Materials
This meeting was the fourth in a biennial series devoted to recent developments in all aspects of wear research. Following comments arising after the last conference, a particular effort was made on this occasion to ensure, by multiple refereeing, that only high-quality papers were accepted. Overall, this procedure seems to have worked very well; the few mistakes which have been made are presumably due to the fact that not even referees can always maintain a uniformly high standard. In all, 87 research papers were presented over a four-day period, and a complete list is given at the end of this review. They are available in a b o u n d volume, published by ASME and the editors are to be complimented on the quality of this production. In addition, four review papers were presented, outlining current and future

C35/83
2. Harding P.R.J. An investigation into the operational wear life of disc brake pads Paper Cll/83

~l"heProceedingsof the conference 'Baking of road vehicles' are published by Mechanical:EngineeringPublicationsLimited, PO Box 24, NorthgateAvenue, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6BW, UK, pricedat 30.00 (UK) or 39.O0 (elsewhere). ISBN 0 85298 509 6

TR I BO LOGY international

275