Aircraft Brakes

Chapter

datum figure is exceeded, brake pressure is automatically reduced or released.

The facility to "hold off" brake pressure in
the event of a wheel bounce
operation before touchdown may also be built into the system
or to prevent brake

Systems may be mechanical or electrical, mechanical systems have been in use since the early
1950s. Most aircraft use electrical or electronic systems.

MECHANICAL ANTI-SKID SYSTEMS

The basic principle of these systems is the of the inertia of

deceleration.
use a
flywheel as a sensor of wheel

A wheel directly driven by the aircraft wheel is

in aircraft wheel velocity cause a relative
coupled to the flywheel by a spring. Any changes
displacement
wheel. This relative displacement is used as a control
between the flywheel and the driven
signal to operate
braking system to release the brake pressure. The unit may be wheel rim or axle mounted.
a valve in the hydraulic

ELECTRONICANTI-SKID SYSTEMS
The response rates of the
flywheels used in mechanical systems are low when compared with
electrical
signalling and furthermore the modulation does not always conform to the true
runway conditions.

It is also much easier to alter the

response rates and
system biases of electronic
making it simpler to adapt the circuits to match thecircuitry
different aircraft types, thus to suit
of new aircraft
types. requirements
The electronic system
gives approximately
the advantage that it can be tested
15% improvement over the mechanical unit with
prior to use.
The electronic
system comprises three main elements:
A sensor which measures wheel
A control box to speed.
compute wheel
A servo valve to modulate speed information.
brake pressure.
The basic control
loop described above offers few advantages over a mechanical
that the cycling rate is much
improved. A system refinement is that of the system except
Bias Modulation Circuit. Adaptive Pressure
This ensures that the brake
Skid Unit (A.S.U.) pressure applied immediately after a wheel is released
operation, is lower than the atter an Anti-
operation preventing an immediate return to thepressure which was applied before the
A.S.U.
pressure in the first place. conditions that caused the ASU to release
the

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Chapter6
Aircraft Brakes
The ASU
provides three important functions:
Touch down protection.
This will prevent the
controller will monitorbrakes being
the wheel applied before touch down.
The electronic
eing rer
brakes cannot be speed and
while the aircraft isair/ground logic. If no signal is anti-skid
applied
up' and apply a signal to the airborne. On touch down received the nulatia
controller which will now allow the
the brakes towheels"'spin
be
Skid prevention. applied.
The anti skid controller
will reduce the brake
is pressure to any wheel that it determines
approaching a skid by monitoring the deceleration rate of the individual
wheels
Locked wheel protection
If a wheel locks because of a
wet patch, or ice, the
pressure to that wheel completely until the wheel anti-skid controller will release the
be re-applied. spins up again and the pressure wil
(FPD)
To enable the
pilot to have full control of the brakes for
system is deactivated, either manually or taxying and manoeuvring, the anti-skid provis
below approximately 20 automatically, when the aircraft
m.p.h., it is assumed then that there is no further has slowed down to ght cre

danger of skidding. s h e a t o-

TYPICAL AIRCRAFT WHEEL BRAKE

SYSTEM o f fluid

The brakes are

powered by one of the aircraft hydraulic power systems (system 1) with automatic
switch over to an alternate
system (system 2) in the event of low system 1
normal and alternate brake
hydraulic sources are lost, an accumulator is pressure. When
to maintain
parking brake pressure. automatically selected

Antiskid Protection
The antiskid valves receive t use
hydraulic pressure from the normal brake metering valves or the
autobrake valves with the antiskid control unit
providing electrical signals to the antiskid
valves to control braking during skid conditions. Wheel )
transmit wheel speed inputs to the antiskid control unit.speed
transducers mounted in the axle rinciple
Each wheel is provided
with antiskid protection when normal brakes are individually Principl-

the antiskid controller commands the

operative. When skidding is initially detected,
respective antiskid valve to reduce brake pressure which
protects the wheel from further skidding. Touchdown braking
protection is
comparing wheel speed to IRS (inertial reference system) groundspeed. provided
During alternate by
brake
operation antiskid protection is provided to wheel pairs rather than individual wheels.

Torque Limiting
A brake torque sensor is provided at each wheel to detect excessive torque during braking to
prevent damage to the landing gear (more a problem with CARBON brakes). When excessive
torque stress is detected, a signal is sent to the antiskid valve and brake pressure to that wheel
is released.

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