- Brake system function: Brake use friction to decelerate the vehicle.
The wheels have energy
in form of movement, the brake applies friction and creates heat energy. Once all the
movement energy is transformed into heat, the car stop. So basically for cars to stop, you
need friction.
- History:
The very first brake was a piece of wood that pushed on the wheels. This
works but it damages the wheels.
In 1900, Wilhem Mayback became the first car maker to put the drum on the
wheel to assist with braking. The drum was inside the wheel so it won’t
damage the wheel.
Early cars also used bunch of cables and pulleys to get the pressure from the
pedal to the wheel. When you push the pedal, it pulls the cable and the brake .
Because of that, the wires needed a lot of maintenance and they often snap
when applied too much force.
Another downside was the precision required. If the wires were tensioned
wrong, the different wheels will get different braking pressure and that’s not
safe. The wheels will have different velocity and the car will slip or spin.
Hydraulic brakes system on the other hand, use pressurized fluid to push the
brakes. When you push the pedal, a plunger depresses in the master cylinder.
That sends the pressure through all the brake lines to all 4 wheels at once.
Hydraulic lines rarely rupture and don’t require the maintenace of the
mechanical lines. They also need less force exert on the brake pedal to work.
That’s why in the 1950s, hydraulic brakes really the only braking system left
in cars.
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However, when under intense conditions with frequent braking, as the shoes
were inside the drum (the case), they got really hot thus cannot transform
kinetic energy into heat. So the disk brake was born to solve this problem.
With a large area directly contacts with the outside environment and many
holes are drilled on, the heat dissipates quickly, thus improving braking
performance.
- Basic hydraulic braking system woking mechanism:
When the brake pedal is pressed, it sets the brake fluid within the brake master
cylinder in motion. The fluid goes through the connected tubes to the wheel
brake cylinders, and transmit the force to them. The brake cylinder expands
outward on both side and push the shoes to the drum. The friction cause by
them make the wheels stop.
- Vacuum booster:
Location: Loacate next to the brake pedal.
Function: Support more force when pressing brake pedal.
Component:
o Note: The blue color represents vacuum and the red color represents
atmospheric pressure.
o Power piston.
o Valve poppet.
o Valve operating rod
o Variable pressure chamber. The pressure can be adjust from
atmospheric pressure to vacuum.
o Stable pressure chamber. Constant vacuum.
o Diaphram return sping.
Power piston
Floating control valve
(Valve poppet)
Diaphragm Valve operating rod
return spring
Stable pressure chamber Variable pressure chamber
o Valve body.
o Air filter
o Valve return spring.
o Air valve.
o Diaphram.
o Port A.
o Port B.
Diaphragm Power piston
Valve poppet
Poppet return spring
Port
A Valve body
Stable
pressure
chamber
Air valve
(Plunger)
Valve operating
rod
Valve Air
return filter
Variable spring
pressure Port B
chamber
Working principle:
o At normal state, the front part of the control housing is filled with air
with the atmospheric pressure (red area), and both the pressure
chambers are at vacuum as they are connected with each other through
port A. The vacuum is either provided either by an engine or by a
pump.
o As the driver depresses the brake pedal, the poppet valve separates the
two chambers from each other by closing port A.
o The plunger then presses on the rubber reaction disc (green plate)
which gets deformed due to the force of the plunger.
o Consequently, a coonection between the front part of the control
housing and the pressure is establish. This creates the atmospheric
pressure in the variable preussre chamber.
o The pressure difference between the two chambers increases the
braking force until the driver does not movce the brake pedal further
forward.
o Finally, the valve poppet disconnects the front part of the control
housing from the pressure chamber.
o During full braking, the plunger and valve poppet are permanently kept
open, atmospheric pressure is constantly exerted its full force on the
diaphram that separate the two chambers.
Power Diaphragm
Port A
piston Stable pressure
Valve poppet
chamber Valve poppet
Poppet return spring
Poppet return spring
Push rod
Plunger
Valve operating rod
Port B Air filter
Plunger Variable pressure chamber
Port B Reaction disc
o When the driver releases the brake pedal, the compressed poppet-
return-spring will pull the plunger back thus disconnected port B from
the outside environment and connect the two chambers through port A.
o The engine or plumper will make the two pressure chambers vacuum
again.
