Woldia University

Faculty of Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Motor Vehicle Engineering
(MEng 4221)
5-Brakes
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Introduction
• Brakes are the most important component of an Automobile.
• The vehicle is started, accelerated and it runs on the road. But
stopping of the vehicle is as essential as its staring.
• Brakes are provided to stop the vehicle with in the shortest
possible distance.
• Braking achieved by converting K.E in to heat energy.

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Introduction …
• The purpose of braking system is
– To reduce the speed of the vehicle or
– to keep the speed constant on the downhill gradient
– to bring it to a halt or to keep it stationary.
• Basic components of a brake system are
– Energy supply,
– Actuating (control)
– Transmission device
– The wheel brakes
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Basic Components of Brake System
• Energy Supply
– The source of energy supplies (the energy required for
braking)
– The most important types of braking energy are:
• Pneumatic
• Hydraulic
• Mechanical
• Muscles power of the driver
– Devices for regulating, conditioning and where
necessary storing the energy are also counted as a part
of the energy supply.
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Basic Components of Brake System …
• Control (Actuators)
– Those parts of the brake system which initiate the action of the
brake system and control the braking action.
– The control action can be triggered by the driver through:
• Brake pedal
• Hand lever
• Transmission
– Includes all those parts of a brake system through which the
energy is transmitted to the brakes.
– It began at the brake pedal or brake lever and ends at the wheel
brake.
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Basic Components of Brake System …
• Brake
– Is the part of the brake system which produces the
forces which oppose the motion of the vehicle or its
tendency to move.
– This braking force convert the K.E of the vehicle in to
heat.
– It can be:
• Friction brakes
• Retarders

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Classification of Brakes
• Brake systems can be classified according to four features
– Purpose
– Type of energy used
– Type of transmission
– Number of connecting lines in vehicle combinations
• According to their purpose
– Service Brake system (Foot-Brake)
– Parking-Brake system (Hand-Brake)
– Engine Brake
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Classification of Brakes …
• According to type of energy used
– Depending on whether a brake system is operated
totally, partially or not at all by muscle power a
distinction is made between
• Muscles-power brake system
• Power-assisted brake system
power generated by
• Power-brake system Compressed air
Vacuum
Hydraulic fluid

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Classification of Brakes …
• According to type of Transmission
– Single-circuit brake system
– Dual-circuit brake system

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Classification of Brakes …
• According to the No. of connecting lines in vehicle
combinations
– In vehicle combinations (tractor vehicle with trailer or semi-
trailer)
– The tractor vehicles has an additional device for the energy supply
and control of the trailer braking equipment
– Transmission take place between tractor and trailer by means of
• Single-line System
• Multi-line System (two or more line)

10/13/23 Single -line Brake Dual- line Brake 10

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Mechanical Brake System
• In this system there are only
– Levers,
– Cables and
– Cams for purpose of braking.
• When the brake pedal is pressed, the force is transmitted to the
cams by means of flexible cables that operate.
• The cams, in turn, operate the brake shoes.

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Hydraulic Brake system
• The hydraulic system is used to apply the brakes.
• It is designed to do three basic things
– Transmit motion from brake pedal to the brake shoes
– Transmit force along – with the motion
– Multiply force by varying amount to the different
wheel assemblies

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Brake Operating Principle
• Braking action is achieved by
– converting the K.E of the moving vehicle in to
rotational friction torque at the brake-shoes or brake
pads.

K.E of Vehicle Heat Energy

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Brake Fade
• A condition where heat is generated at faster rate than
they are capable of dissipating heat.
• For example during a hard stop the temperature of drums
or rotors may increase more than 100 oF in just seconds.
• It may take 30 seconds to cool.
• During repeated hard stop, overheating may occur and a
loss of brake effectiveness or even failure may result.

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Brake Fade …
• There are primary two types of brake fading caused by heat
– Mechanical fade
• Overheating of the brake drum and expand away from the
brake lining resulting in increased the brake pedal travel
– Lining fade
• Overheating of the friction material
to the point where the coefficient of
friction drops off, then friction
reduced
• It affects both drum and disc brake
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Friction material
• The type of materials being rubbed together has very
significant effect on the coefficient of friction.
• Desired characteristics
– Resist Fading with increased temp
– Resist fading when wet
– Recover quickly
– Wear gradually
– Quiet

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Operating principle
• For the brakes to convert kinetic energy into heat they must be
applied with great force.
• The force required to stop a vehicle is so great so that
– Leverage (Mechanical advantage) and
– Hydraulic force multiplication are used to facilitate a person
to apply it

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Leverages (Mechanical Advantage)
• The First Mechanical Advantage is Driver’s foot
• Length of Lever determines force applied depending on the
fulcrum point
• Pedal Ratio

10
Pedal ratio  5
2

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Hydraulic Principle
• The importance of Hydraulic system
– Transmit motion by moving a volume of the liquid.
– Transmit Force (Multiply the force)
• It is operating using Pascal’s principle

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Hydraulic Principle …
• Advantages
– Since oil is incompressible, the efficiency is very good -- almost all of the
applied force appears at the second piston.
– The pipe connecting the two cylinders can be any length and shape,
• allowing it to snake through all sorts of things separating the two pistons.
• The pipe can also fork(split), so that one master cylinder can drive more than one
slave cylinder if desired,

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Braking Ratio
• Braking Ratio refers to the comparison of front wheel to rear wheel braking
effort.
• When a vehicle stops, its weight tends to transfer to the front wheels.
• The front tire are pressed against the road with greater stop.
• The rear tires lose some of their grip on the road.
• As a result , the front wheel do more of braking than the rear.
• Therefore, front wheel brakes handle 60 to 70 percent of the braking power.

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Hydraulic Brake System
• The components of Hydraulic Brake System
– Brake pipes
• Continues fluid circuit b/n the master-cylinder and the wheel cylinders.
– Master-cylinder
• Convert the foot-pedal force to hydraulic pressure.
– Disk-brake
• Consisting of a disc bolted to the wheel hub and sandwiched between
two pistons and friction pads.
– Drum-brake
• Consists of two brake –shoes and lining supported on a back plate bolted
to the axle-casing
– Wheel cylinders
• Convert the transmitted hydraulic line pressure in to braking effort .
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Hydraulic Brake System …

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Hydraulic Brake System …

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Brake Fluid
• Brake fluid is specially blended hydraulic fluid that transfers
pressure to the wheel cylinders or calipers.
– Brake fluid must have the following characteristics
• Low freezing point ( not freeze during cold weather)
• Water tolerance ( absorb moisture that collects in the
system)
• Lubricate( reduce wear of pistons)
• Noncorrosive ( not attack metal or rubber brake system
components)
• Maintain correct viscosity ( free flowing at all temperature)
• High boiling point ( remains liquid at the highest system
operating temperature)
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Brake Fluid
• DOT Grades
– There are 3 grades of brake fluid which are determined by Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards.
– Fluid grades are rated by the minimum boiling point for both pure fluid (dry)
and water contaminated fluids (wet)
• DOT 3 –Polyglycol
– Mim boiling point 401 oF, dry, 284 oF wet
– Blends with DOT 4
• DOT 4- Polyglycol
– Min boiling point 446 oF, dry, 311 oF wet
– Blends with DOT3
• DOT 5- Silicone
– Min boiling point 550 oF dry, 356 oF wet
– Compatible by law with DOT 3 &4 but will not blend with them

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Drum Brake
• The drum brake has been more widely
used than any other brake design
• Braking power is obtained when the
brake shoes are pushed against the
surface of the drum which rotates
together with the axle.
• Drum brakes are mainly for the rear
wheel of passenger cars and trucks.
• Disc brakes are used exclusively for
front brakes

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Drum Brake Assembly
• The components
– Leading and trailing shoe
– Wheel cylinder( Shoe-
expander)
– Anchor
– Retraction springs
– Back plate
– Brake lining
– Brake drums
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Wheel Cylinder
• Two pistons operate the shoes, One at each end of the wheel
cylinder
• Consists of
– Cylinder
– Two piston
– Two rubber cups
– Springs
• When hydraulic pressure applied
– The pistons are pushed towards the shoes, forcing them against the drum.
• When the brakes are not being applied
– The piston is return to its original position by the force of the brake shoe
return spring.
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Brake Shoes
• Brake shoes are made of malleable iron, cast steel, drop-forged
steel, pressed steel, or cast aluminum
• Steel shoes expand at approximately the same rate as the Brake is
applied.
• Each brake assembly has two shoes
– Primary shoe
– Secondary shoe

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Brake Drum
• Generally made of special type of cast iron
• It is positioned very close to the brake
shoe without actually touching it and
rotates with the wheel and axle.
• The brake drum must be
– Accurately balanced
– Sufficiently rigid
– Resistant against wear
– Highly heat conductive
– Light weight

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Disc and Pad Brakes
• Because a disc brake assembly can
absorb more heat than a drum
brake assembly, most cars use disc
brakes for their front brake
systems.
• Consists of
– Cast iron Disk
– Wheel hub
– stationary caliper
– Friction pad

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Disc and Pad Brakes …
• Advantages
– The lack of any self-servo action produced constant braking.
– Good air ventilation of the disc and the friction pad provided a
low average disc temperature which reduces pad friction fade.
– The flat friction contact action between the disc and pads
produced uniform pad wear.
– Uniform hydraulic pressure on each side of provide equal grip on
the disc, so eliminating side-thrust from the disc to the hub.
• Disadvantage
– Unlike drum brakes, disc brake have limited self-energizing action
making it necessary to apply greater hydraulic pressure to obtain
sufficient braking force.
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Disk Rotor
• Generally, the disk rotor is
made of gray cast iron, and
either
– Solid
• Found on the rear of 4
wheel disc brake system
and the front of earlier
model vehicle

– Ventilated
• Consists of a wider disc with
cooling fins cast through the
middle to ensure good
cooling
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Caliper (Cylinder Body)
• Houses 1-4 pistons
• Is mounted to the torque plate and steering
knuckle or wheel carrier
– Floating caliper
• Has piston located in one side of caliper
– Fixed caliper
• Has pistons located
in both sides of caliper

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Brake Pad
• The requirements are
– Constant coefficient of friction over wide range of temperature
– Must not wear out rapidly nor should they wear the disc rotors
– Should resistance high temperature without fading
– No noise
• The brake pad material is bonded to stamped steel backing plate
with a high temperature.
• Friction material should always be thicker than steel backing plate.

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Brake Booster
• The brake booster is deigned to create a greater braking force from
a minimum pedal effort.
• The common types of boosters are
A. Vacuum-Booster
B. Hydro-Booster
• The brake booster is located between the brake pedal and the
master cylinder.

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Pneumatic/Air Braking Systems (ABS)
• The purpose of pneumatic/Air braking system is
– To reduce the speed of the vehicle or
– to keep the speed constant on the downhill gradient
– to bring it to a halt or to keep it stationary.

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Groups of ABS Component
• Every compressed air brake system is constructed in modular
form using component groups.
– Component Group A
• Compressed air supply (compressed-air production and
storage)
– Component Group B
• Service Brake system
– Component Group C
• parking Brake system
– Component Group D
• Trailer control

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Connection Designation in ABS
• There are two types of connection designations
• With only one digit:
• 0 - intake port( from atmosphere)
• 1 - Energy supply
• 2 - Energy out let ( not out let to the atmosphere)
• 3 - port ( out let) to the atmosphere.
• 4 - control port ( the input to the components)
• 5 & 6 - Unassigned
• 7 - antifreeze port
• 8 - Lubrication oil port
• 9 - cooling water port

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Connection Designation in ABS …
• With two digits:
• A second digit is provided if there are a number of ports of the same
type.
– Example.
» 21 – Energy outlet to the energy storage device( compressed-
air reservoir)
» 22 – energy outlet ( switching port)
• If one port can perform several functions. It must be designated
using two( initial ) digits. These are to be separated from one another
by means of a dash,
• e.g. 1-2 operationally the energy supply or the energy outlet.

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Component Group A:- Compressed Air supply
Air compressor:
• Purpose :- To produce and store compressed
air.
– It is the source of energy of a compressed
air
Brake system.
– The required compressed air is produced
here.

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Component Group A:- Compressed Air supply …

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Component Group A:- Compressed Air supply …
• Pressure Regulator:
• Purpose:- Conducts the
compressed air supplied by the air
compressor to the air reservoirs.
• It regulates the supply pressure of
the compressed air brake system
which remains within the
operating range.
– i.e. between the cut-in
pressure and cut-off pressure
of the pressure regulator.

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Component Group A:- Compressed Air supply …
• Four Circuit protection valve:
• Purpose: It is used to supplying compressed air
and safe grading the system.

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Component Group A:- Compressed Air supply …
• Air Reservoir:
• Purpose:
– Is used for storing the air compressed by the air compressor in
the compressed air brake systems of vehicles.

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Component Group B:- Service Brake
• Service-Brake Valve:
• Purpose:
• The dual circuit service brake valve
controls two independent pneumatic
brake circuits in a tractor vehicle and by
way of the trailer control valve the
service brake system of the trailer.

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Component Group B:- Service Brake …
• Diaphragm Actuator:
• Purpose:
– The diaphragm actuator operates
the wheel brakes of Motor vehicle
and trailers by converting
pneumatic force Into mechanical
force.

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Component Group B:- Service Brake …
• Combi-brake cylinder:
• Purpose:
– It is a component of the service brake system and of the parking
brake system of a motor vehicle and actuates the wheel brakes
for both systems.

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Component Group A:- Service Brake …

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Component Group C:- Parking Brake System
• Parking Brake valve:
• Purpose:
– Controls the parking brake system
• When the brake are not applied, the
spring brake cylinder is pressurized
and depressurized when the brakes are
applied.

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Component Group C:- Parking Brake System …

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Component Group C:- Parking Brake System …
• Relay Valve:
• Purpose:
– The relay valve is used to pressurize
and depressurize the brake cylinders
at a faster rate.
– In this manner, it accelerates the
brake response of the service brake
and/or parking brake system.

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Component Group C:- Parking Brake System …

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Component Group D:- Trailer Control
• Trailer Control Valve:
• Purpose :
– To control the brake system of
the trailer and supply it with
compressed air.

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Component Group D:- Trailer Control …

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Component Group D:- Trailer Control …

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 Schematic
Diagram of
Compressed
Air Brake
System

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 The End

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