BRAKING SYSTEM

FUNCTION:
The function of the braking system is to retard or stop the vehicle in motion and
prevent accidents.

TYPES
Mechanical brakes
Hydraulic brakes (Drum and Disc brakes)
Power assisted brakes
Air operated brakes
Auxiliary brakes (retards)
Antilock brakes (ABS)

Mechanical brakes
 They are mounted at the ends of the axles and they consist of a non-rotating
back plate and shoe assembly which is enclosed by the drum.
 The back plate is rigidly bolted to the stub axle at the end of the axle casing. The
drum rotates with the road wheels.
 Two shoes are mounted on each back plate and each carries a frictional lining of
asbestos material.
 The shoes are fitted between an expanded unit, which is free to move slightly on
the back plate and an adjuster unit which is riveted to the back plate.
 Both the expander and adjuster tappets have slots machined where the shoe end
are fitted. The shoes are forced towards each other by two strong springs.
 The braking torque is transmitted to the axle by a rigid adjuster and back plate.

Layout of the system

 The pedal force is transmitted to the wheel brakes by means of cables, rods, or
shafts. The force between the pedal and the shoe brakes is multiplied by means of
different levers, cams, toggles or wedges to produce effective braking.
 The cross-shaft has arms ‘A-B’, ‘C-D’ and ‘S’ and ‘P’ respectively. ‘S’ and ‘P’ are
fitted almost to the Centre of the cross-shaft and fitted to the foot brake and
the hand brake.
 All the sides of the arms consist of brake rods connected to the respective
actuating levers. The cross-shaft is attached to the vehicle frame facilitating twist
of the arms on its axis. (cross-shaft)
 From the diagram, when the pedal is depressed the rod ‘x’, ‘y’, ‘z’ and ‘u’ are
pulled. This forces the actuating levers fitted to them to turn trough small angles
thus expanding and contracting the drums.
 This may result to vehicle pulling in one side when the brakes are applied. The
remedy to this to adjust the length of the brakes rods
 This mechanism is fitted to eliminate the above stated problem. The mechanism
consists of a compensating or balance beam.

Operation
 Assuming there is more clearance in the off-side brakes than that of in the near
side one; pedal depressed, rod ‘p’ and ‘Q’ will be pulled in the same direction.
 The balance beam will move parallel to itself until the shoe of the near side brake
contact the drum. When this happens, the near side end of the beam will act as a
fulcrum when the pedal is depressed continuously.
 Under this condition, the balance beam will tilt to one side until the shoe of the
off-side brake also comes into contact with the brake drum.

 Thus the brakes are applied approximately equally at each pair of the wheels. In
vehicles the construction of the linkages may be more compact than that of simple
system but the principle of these other arrangements is the same as the balanced
beam.
 Other arrangements are such as ‘vehicle beam and cross-shaft system’, ‘pulley and
flexible cable system’, ‘bevel wheel and shaft system’ etc. These costly but
modified systems of linkages.

Hydraulic brake system:

Layout:
 The system consists of a fluid tank or reservoir, master cylinder, a system of rigid
and flexible pipes, pipe junctions, and wheel cylinder assemblies.
 The reservoir may be combined with master cylinder.
 Wheel cylinder may operate shoes and lining or disc pads.
 A pressure operated switch is fitted at the first junction from the master cylinder.
It controls the brake warning lamp.
 In the Lockheed system a spring-loaded check valve is used to maintain a minimum
pressure of about 55kN/m2 in the pipe line and wheel cylinders.
 The purpose of residual or standing pressure is to:
a) Enables the shoes or pads to move out to contact the drums or discs the
moment the pedal is depressed.

b) Ensure that any leakage is fluid escaping and is not of air entering in the
system.

NB: The girling system does not employ a standing pressure.

Brakes fluid must:
a) Have a low freezing point.
b) Have a high boiling point
c) Have low viscosity under a wide range of temperature.
d) Not attack the rubber and metal parts of the system.
e) Not deteriorate except over a long period of service.

Drum Brakes
 The shoes and their operating and adjustment mechanism are enclosed by the drum
which rotates with the wheel.
 The shoes are mounted upon a circular back-plate bolted rigidly to either a front
stub axle or the rear axle case.
 Where the expander forces a shoe outwards in the same direction of the drum the
resulting friction causes the shoe to force itself harder against the drum. i.e the
shoe has a self-applying or servo action. Such a shoe is called a leading shoe.
 In a leading and trailing shoe assembly the leading shoe provides about three
quarters of the total retarding force.
 Where the expander forces a shoe outwards in the opposite direction from the
rotation of the drum, the resulting friction forces the shoe away from the drum.
Such a shoe is called a trailing shoe.

 The trailing shoe provides only about one-quarter of the retarding force of the
leading and trailing shoe assembly.
 Two different shoe assemblies are:
a) The leading-and-trailing shoe assembly (L & T)
b) The two leading shoe assembly (2LS)

Leading-and-trailing shoe assembly (L & T)

 Both shoe pivot about the same point and a single expander unit forces the other
end of the shoe outwards in the opposite direction.
 The shoes are held in position by a slotted and rigidly mounted anchor plate which
transmits the rotation force from the back-plate and the rear axle case.
 A wheel cylinder is fitted between the ends of the shoes diametrically opposite the
anchor plate and slightly below the rear axle.
 The cylinder is free to slide in a slot cut in the back-plate.

 Two different springs are used to hold the shoe to the anchor and to the back-
plate, the coil spring being fitted across the anchored end of the shoe.
 The cylinder is of aluminum alloy casting and its one end is sealed. This end is
slotted to locate the moving end of the trailing shoe.
 The cylinder has a piston, a rubber cup, a plastic cup spreader and a small spring.
 The piston is made up of two halves. The inner half having a flat face which is
sealed by the rubber cup.
 The piston carries a metal dust excluder and is slotted to support a ‘micram
adjuster.
 A pivot lever, operated by the hand brake is arranged so that its shorter end fits
between the two halves of the piston inner faces being slotted for this purpose.
Advantages:
1) Pedal travel stays fairly constant under severe usage
2) Retardation or stopping power is not greatly reduced by small quantities of
oil or water on the lining.
3) Same stopping power is available in both directions of wheel rotation.
4) Easy to in-corporate both mechanical and fluid methods of operation.
Disc brakes
Construction:
 The disc is made of cast iron and bolted to the wheel hub so that its flat surface
is venerated.
 An inverted U-shaped caliper of cast iron is fitted over the disc and is bolted to
the stub axle assembly.
 Each side of the caliper contains a fluid cylinder and a piston, a rubber piston
sealing set in a recess in the cylinder wall, a dust cover, and pad assembly.
 Cylinders are interconnected by a bridge pipe or by a drilled hole. The hole nearer
the master cylinder being connected to the system by a flexible hose.
 Each pad assembly consists of a steel back-plate to which is bonded a segment
shaped pad of special friction material.
 The pads are located and retained in the caliper by bolted-on retainer plates or
lock pins.
 They must never be split during normal service but this may be done during a
complete overhaul.

Operation:
 When the brakes are applied, little or no wear takes place. The slight piston
movement is obtained without relative movement between the piston and its seal.
i.e the piston movement distorts the seal.
  When the brakes are released the seal regains its shape and retract the piston
maintaining a rubbing contact between the pad and the disc.
 This is due to the combination of friction between the seal and the piston, and
the static head of brake fluid. i.e this is a hydro-static brake.
 As the pads wear, the piston moves slightly through its seal to take up a new
position in the cylinder. i.e automatically compensate for the wear.
 The hydrostatic effect automatically ensures correct light rubbing contact when
the brakes are released.

Service:
System:- The fluid system requires the normal service procedure.
Pad wear: May be checked by direct inspection. Pads should be replaced when
worn down to about 3mm thickness.
Disc wear: After a very long period of service, the disc may be found to a badly
scored, distorted or to suffer from surface cracking. Faulty disc should always be
replaced with a new unit.

Master cylinder:
Function
To convert pedal force into pressure that is equally applied at the same time to each
of the wheel cylinders.
Construction
 The unit consist of a cast iron (or Aluminum alloy) cylinder. The cylinder has
mounting lugs for attachment to the chassis or scuttle.
 The bore is accurate in size and fine in finish and contains a piston with main and
secondary rubber cups.
 A double acting checking check valve controls the flow of fluid to and from the
pipe system
 The check valve is held to the rubber seal by a long spring. The other end of the
spring is located by a cup spreader fitted inside the main rubber cup.
 The pressure face of the piston has a ring of small drilled holes and the piston
operates in fluid at all times. This feature reduces cup wear and possibility of air
entering the cylinder.
 A large hole, or port supplies fluid to the rear of the piston while a small, or by-
pass port connects the forward position of the cylinder to the reservoir.

Operation
Brakes Applied
 When the pedal is depressed, the push rod moves the piston and the main cup.
The movement of the cup causes its edge to make a pressure-tight seal against
the wall when the cup passes the by-pass port.
 The fluid in the forward position is totally enclosed. Further pedal movement
increases the fluid pressure than that maintained in the pipe line system.
 This force the check valve rubber cup away from the body at once high pressure
acts in the wheel cylinder forcing the shoes to press hard against their drums.
 Further pedal force increase the fluid pressure hence the shoe-operating pressure.
As the shoe rubs against their drum the energy of the vehicle is converted into
heat which is carried away by the cooling air stream.
 As the energy is absorbed and dissipated so the motion of the vehicle is reduced or
stopped.

Brakes Released
 When the pedal is released the push rod is withdrawn by the action of the pedal
return spring.
 The piston spring force the piston to return very quickly and this create a sudden
drop in the forward part of the cylinder.

 The shoe pull-off spring force the wheel cylinder piston to move inwards and fluid
returned to the master cylinder forcing the check valve assembly away from the
rubber end seal.
 The fluid is forced through the by-pass port back to the reservoir. The
displacement of fluid by the returning fluid ensures that the cylinder is always full
and ready for use.
 The returning action continues until the line pressure is equaled by the loading of
the piston spring.
 At this point the spring is able to close the check valve down and so isolated the
cylinder from the pipe line maintaining a pressure of 55kN/m2.

The check valve has two functions:

a) To maintain standing pressure in the system and enables the brakes to
operate at once.
b) Ensure that any leak will be of fluid from the system and not air being drawn
into the system.

Brake fluid:
The fluid used in hydraulic brake system is of vegetable oil with certain additives.
It must:
i. have low freezing point
ii. Have a high boiling point
iii. Have low viscosity under a wi9de range of temperatures
iv. Not attack the rubber and metal parts of the system
v. Not deteriorate4 except over a long period of service

Brake lining material:

i. The lining material must have the following properties:
ii. A low coefficient of friction when used with iron or steel.
iii. A coefficient of friction which does not reduce as the temperature is increased.
iv. The ability to resist wear.
v. Comprehensive and tensile strengths enough to resist the highest stress imposed
during sever braking.
vi. The ability to be molded into shape.

Automatic brake control:

Pressure limiting valve