Design of Formula Student Racecar Brake System

Vaibhav Vasurkar, student, Mechanical Engineering, Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, Pune

INTRODUCTION:

The Brake System was designed as a Hydraulic Disc Brake System. Generic

parameters of the vehicle that were used in the system design were a total car weight,

including the driver, of 270kg and a maximum velocity of 60kmph.

The objective of the design was to minimize the weight for lightest design possible
while at the same, designing to all of the mechanical and thermal conditions that the system

would be subjected to.

DESIGN OBJECTIVE and OVERVIEW:

The main objective of the braking system is to convert the kinetic energy of the vehicle

into thermal energy, thus allowing the vehicle to decelerate. The braking system was designed

with two master cylinders, one for braking of the front tires and one for braking of the rear

tires. Four fixed type of calipers, one located at each of the tires for a total of four calipers for

the system, as well as four brake discs.

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

Based on the competition rules and conditions,

1. The brake system must be able to lock all four wheels and it is operated by a single

control.

2. The brake system must have two independent hydraulic circuits such that in the case of
a leak or failure at any point in the system, effective braking power is maintained on at

least two wheels.

3. The system must have each hydraulic circuit with its own fluid reservoir.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, Pune

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4. The brake pedal shall be designed to withstand a force of 2000N without any failure of

brake system or pedal box.

5. The brake pedal must be fabricated from steel or aluminum or machined from steel,

aluminum or titanium.

6. BRAKE TEST: The brake system will be dynamically tested and must demonstrate

the capability of locking all four wheels and stopping the vehicle in straight line at the

end of an acceleration run at a minimum speed of 40kmph.

7. BOTS: Brake pedal over- travel switch must be installed on the car as part of the

shutdown system and wired in series with the shutdown buttons. Repeated actuation

of the switch must not restore power to these components and it must be designed so

that the driver cannot reset it. The BOTS switch must be a mechanical single pole,

single throw switch.

8.
Brake Light: The car must be equipped with red brake light. The brake light itself

has to have a black background and a rectangular, triangular or near round shape with

minimum surface area of at least 15cm2.

THEORY OF DESIGN and CALCULATIONS:

During braking, under the condition vehicle is moving in the direction of its front
wheels, the greatest deceleration rate will translate as a weight transfer from the wheels to

front wheels.

Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the weight transfer based on the average

coefficient of friction between the tires and road µ.

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From the suspension engineer the radii of the tires for both and rear were given 16in.

The diameter of rim was 10in, where the rotor sits inside the rim with caliper mounted, the

rotor’s diameter was restricted. So, the caliper clearance was approximately to be 1.5in.

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After modeling the rotor, caliper and hub in Catia, the largest diameter that could fit the

assembly was 6.49in. This was diameter used, as the largest rotor diameter would produce

the greatest torque from the caliper.

So, Disc with outer diameter 165mm and inner diameter Of 110mm was selected.

The thickness was selected to be 5mm due to optimum heat transfer required for our car.

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The total friction force of the calipers for the front and rear can be written in terms of

the ‘Normal Force’ or ‘Clamping Force’ that the calipers exert on the rotor multiplied by

brake pad friction.

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Therefore, Braking torque can be calculated for front and rear wheel as clamping

force multiplied by effective radius.

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At this stage in the design, it was necessary to select a caliper and brake pad.

The number of pistons in the caliper and the coefficient of friction of the brake pads were the

variables for the selection.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, Pune
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We decided to choose the fixed type of caliper due to its effectiveness.

The available options for the required piston diameter of the caliper were as follows:

• Yamaha R-15

• Hero karizma
• RE Thunderbird and RE Continental
• Wilwood PS1
• Piaggio Vespa
• Bybre Calipers
Out of the above options, Vespa Calipers were chosen because of their
availability in Indian market as compared to Wilwood and their effectiveness over

other mentioned counterparts.

Brake Pads selection:

We used sintered brake pads as they provide a stable coefficient of friction from hot

to cold. They can also handle the extreme heat from a lot of brake use and will not fade. Not

only will these pads perform well under extreme heat stress, but also will typically last longer

than any other type. They can perform well in just about any weather condition, including

rain, snow and mud, because of their porous nature.

The normal forces of each set of calipers both front and rear can be written in terms of the

pressure in each line and area of caliper piston.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, Pune
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The pressure in brake lines is equal to pressure from master cylinders. In dynamic
conditions, more braking force is required to lock front wheels as load transfers from rear to
front of the car. This additional force required for locking front wheels than rear wheels is

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provided by biasing. Biasing can be done by adjusting the booster length of both master
cylinders.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, Pune