Carabulea Ionut-Laurentiu

Air brake

History and etymology

An air brake or, more formally, a
compressed air brake system, is a type of
brake used by vehicles in which
compressed air pushes a piston in order to
apply pressure on the brake pad, stopping
or slowing the vehicle by friction between
brake shoe and drum.

A compressed air brake system is

divided into a supply system and a control
system. First system compresses, stores
and supplies high-pressure air to the
control system as well as to additional air
operated auxiliary truck systems, while the
control system act upon the brake at the
wheel.

Invented
by
the
American
entrepreneur
and
engineer
George
Westinghouse in the early 1870s, air
brakes are an effective method of bringing
large, heavily loaded vehicles from a
certain speed to a lower one or to stop, all
in safe conditions. The first use of the air
brakes was on railway service, to be used
later, in the early 20th century also on large
vehicles. [1]

All vehicles using air brakes have

one of two main brake types at the wheels
drum brakes (use a drum with brake
shoes and linings inside the drum) or disc
brakes (use a disc-shaped rotor and a
caliper containing brake pads).
Drum brakes are used at most at
large size vehicles. Because of longer
distances covered by large commercial
vehicles, the advantage of using drum
brakes because of longer corrosion life in
comparison with the disc brake used on
small vehicles is obvious. Also the simpler
reconditioning
of
wheel
cylinders
compared to calipers of the disc brake is a
reason of drum brake usage at large
vehicles.

The name of the air brake come

from joining together the name of the main
source of action fluid with the name of the
system used to slow down or to stop a
vehicle.
General description
Air brake systems are typically
used on heavy trucks and buses. The
system is made up of several subsystems:

Air Supply
Service Brake
Spring
(Parking
Emergency) Brake

and

Fig. 1 - Drum Brake

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compressor to stop pumping air when the

pressure is high enough in the system and
to start pumping air again when the
pressure drops to a certain point.

Design and function

The air brake is divided into two
main systems:
1. Supply system

A normal pressure range is used in

order to check if the pressure inside the
tanks is in the normal range (5.52 9.32
bar), differing from state to state.

The supply system (or air-supply

system) is the part of the air brake which is
responsible of producing, storing and
managing the compressed air. It is made of
several components:

Air compressor produces air

for the brake
system.

Fig. 2 - Truck Air Compressor

The compressor
draws in air at
normal pressure
and forces it in a
smaller space, as a
tank, increasing
the pressure.

It is used to
reduce
the
amount
of
moisture
and
humidity that
passes into the
air
brake
system.

The normal range of air pressure is

between 552 and 932 kPa (5.52 9.32
bar).

Fig. 4 - Electronic Air Drier

The air compressor is powered

directly by the vehicles engine, by the use
of belts and pulleys, which must be kept in
good conditions permanently, to ensure a
constant supply of compressed air.

Air tanks storing air came

from the air compressor

The air tanks are located under the

frame of the vehicle, and they can be made
of steel. These tanks can be on, two, three
or more and sometimes they are housed
within only one, using an internal separator
between them.

Governor stops/allows the air

to go further from the air
compressor.

Air compressor
produces
air
continuously,
even more than
is needed by the
brake system, so
the
governor
causes

Air drier dries the air that

goes from the air compressor to
the wet and dry
tanks.

As the moisture, humidity or oil

used to lubricate the air compressor
condenses or drops out, they settle to the
bottom of the tank.

Fig. 3 - Governor

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Air tanks are divided into two:

if one circuit fails, the other circuit will

provide enough brake function to slow
down or stop the vehicle.

o Supply or Wet tanks

collects most of the
moisture and oil that drops
out of air.

Other components of the supply

system are:
-

This tank is used to

collect most of the
moisture and oil because,
if these go through the
brake system, they can
damage
the
other
components of it, by
Fig. 5 - Air Tank with Drain Valve
to remove Moisture and Oil
freezing
in
cold
temperatures, reducing the volume of air
and cause brake failure etc.

These tanks also have a drain valve

to drain out the moisture and oil from the
bottom of them.

Air pressure gauge let the driver

to know what is the pressure or the
air inside the brake system, to have
normal operation conditions.
Safety valves in the case that the
governor fails.
Low air-pressure warning devices
alert the driver if the air pressure in
either primary or secondary tank
falls below the minimum amount
required to bring the vehicle to a
safe stop.
2. Control system

Control system is also divided into

two subsystems:

Between the supply tank and the

rest of the system, it is a one-way check
valve, which does not let the air returns in
the respective tank.

a) Service Brake Subsystem

Air brake chambers metal
containers found at each wheel, where the
compressed air is converted into
mechanical force by pushing the brake
pedal.

o Dual-service (primary and

secondary) tanks
When air leaves the supply tank, it
splits into two circuits with same function.
The air is accumulated in the dual-service
tanks, also called
dry
tanks
because
they
collect
less
moisture
and
humidity then the
wet tanks.

A service brake chamber contains a

flexible disc made of rubber called
diaphragm, a rod made of metal called
pushrod and a return spring. When the
brake pedal is pushed, the air enters inside
the brake chamber, causing the diaphragm
to move, moves also the pushrod. When
the brake is released, the air inside the
chamber goes out and the spring pushes
back diaphragm.

There are used

two tanks because
of safety reasons;

The pushrod and a lever (slack

adjuster) link the brake chamber to the

Fig. 6 - Air Tank with Drain Valve

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brake assembly. When the pedal is pressed,

the pushrod extends and makes the shaft
that is connected to the slack adjuster to
rotate and this rotates the s-cam from the
other, and so causing the brake shoe to
make contact with the brake drum.

b) Spring Brake Subsystems

All vehicles with air brakes must
have a way of stopping the vehicle if the
service brake fails. Most vehicles have a
combination of parking-brake system with
emergency braking system, called spring
brakes.
Spring brakes chambers are
different in appearance from the service
brake chambers, and also in activating it.
The difference in appearance is that this
brake uses a much larger spring, because in
contrast to the service brake, the spring
brake is active when the spring is
decompressed. A certain air pressure (414
kPa) is needed to compress the spring and
release the brake.
The spring brake control valve is
normally a push/pull type valve. Most
spring brake control valves are pushed to
supply air and release the spring brakes,
and pulled to exhaust air and apply the
spring brakes.

Fig. 7 - Service Air Brake Chamber

The pushrod stroke is dependent on

the pressure of the compressed air that
enters the brake chamber, the braking of
the car rises linearly with the stroke of the
brake pedal.
It is very important, especially for a
large vehicle, to be able to maintain
steering control while stopping. Because of
this reason, when stopping on slippery
surfaces, with the help of a front wheellimiting valve, the force acting on front
wheels will be at half in comparison with
the other wheels, to prevent locking. When
needed, the force restored at full pressure.
Most current vehicles use automatic valves
which cannot be controlled by the driver,
while on older vehicles the front wheellimiting valve is operated manually.

Fig. 8 - Spring Brake and Service Brake Chambers

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It is very important the case when

the air brake pressure falls below its
normal operating range (normally 414 kPa
or 60 psi), the spring brakes will begin to
apply automatically.

Demands on brakes while driving

Several factors affect how the
vehicles brake works. These include the
speed of the vehicle, the weight, brake
adjustment and anti-lock braking systems

Foundation Brake

a) Vehicle speed and weight

The foundation brake is the part of

the braking system that has direct contact
with the wheels in order to slow down or
stop the vehicle.

At increasing how fast the vehicle

is driven or how much weight the vehicle
carries, the brakes must do more work in
order to stop the vehicle in safe conditions.

The most common type of

foundation brake used on commercial
vehicles with air brake systems is the S
cam brake. This is a drum brake that uses
air brake chambers and linkage to press the
brake shoes against the surface of the brake
drum. The stroke of the air brake chamber
pushrod acts on the slack adjuster attached
to the end of the camshaft. Pushrod stroke
causes the camshaft to rotate. The S
shape on one end of the camshaft forces
the brake shoes apart and against the brake
drum. The brake shoes and drum can be
found within the wheel, along the parts
used to hold these components in position.

Because
brake
systems
are
designed for use on vehicles that are
loaded within their rated capacity,
exceeding the weight capacity may lead to
an abnormal behavior of it. So, for a
vehicle that is overloaded, the work done
by the brake system will be linear with
respect to the overload.
In the case of exceeded speed, the
demand on brakes increases at a rate that is
greater than the change in speed. For
example, when the speed is doubled, the
work that has to be done by a brake to stop
the car for the same time and distance
should increase by four times.

Fig. 10 - Vehicle Weight

Fig. 9 - S-Cam Brake

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(excessive water, snow, ice, black ice etc.)

at the contact between wheel and road.
Under normal driving conditions on clean
dry roads, it will not be noticed any
difference between vehicles with anti-lock
braking and those without it.

Fig. 11 - Vehicle Speed

Fig. 12 - Anti-lock
Braking System (ABS)

b) Heat
By the friction between shoes and
drum, the friction energy is converted into
heat. When brakes are used repeatedly
such as driving in stop-and-go traffic,
when are used on long periods as travelling
down a hill or when severe brakes takes
place, the operating temperature of brakes
become higher than normal, even much
higher, producing severe damages to brake
components.

All by all, the anti-lock braking

systems help to prevent wheel lock but do
not shorten vehicle stopping distance. [2]
Advantages
Air
brakes,
compared
with
hydraulic brakes, have several advantages
for large multi trailer vehicles:

c) Anti-lock braking systems

When a wheel locks, the tire will
skid, so the vehicle will lose steering
control and directional stability. Under
certain driving conditions, it may be found
it difficult to get the wanted brake force
without blocking one or more wheels.
Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) are
designed to sense the speed of the wheel
when the brake is applied, and, if the
Electronic Command Unit (ECU) receives
the information that the wheel is locked at
a certain braking force, it will send an
impulse to the brake to release the wheel.
This process is done for eight to ten times a
second, time in which people cannot do
that in such short intervals. This is done
especially when the driving conditions do
not permit good friction coefficient

The air supply is practically

unlimited, so the brake system
can never run out of operating
fluid. Minor leaks in air brake
system do not result in brake
failures as in the case of
hydraulic ones;
The risk of getting air inside the
tubes
that
connect
the
subsystems (as in the case of
hydraulic brakes) is removed,
since the operating fluid is air;
Air brakes are much more safer
than hydraulic brakes because,
even the compressor fails, there
will always be enough air stored
inside the air tank to stop the
vehicle in safe conditions; [1]

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automatically, this type of braking system

is used at most heavy vehicles nowadays.

Conclusion
For large vehicles, the air brake
system is more adequate than the hydraulic
brake system because of several reasons. In
my opinion, the impossible way of
braking failure for the air brake system is
the main reason to choose that brake
system in the case of heavy vehicles. For
that reason, and also because the air supply
is unlimited, so in the case of leaks the
functioning
liquid
is
filled
up

References
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_brake_(r
oad_vehicle)
[2]
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/handboo
k/airbrake