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Chapter-10

Dynamic braking

_______________________________________________________________________ _ A common option on Diesel-electric locomotives is dynamic (rheostat) braking. Dynamic braking takes advantage of the fact that the traction motor armatures are always rotating when the locomotive is in motion and that a motor can be made to act as a generator by separately exciting the field winding. When dynamic braking is utilized, the traction control circuits are configured as follows: The field winding of each traction motor is connected across the main generator. The armature of each traction motor is connected across a forced-air cooled resistance grid (the dynamic braking grid) in the roof of the locomotive's hood. The prime mover RPM is increased and the main generator field is excited, causing a corresponding excitation of the traction motor fields.

Fig 34 air brake system

The aggregate effect of the above is to cause each traction motor to generate electric power and dissipate it as heat in the dynamic braking grid. Forced air-cooling is provided by a fan that is connected across the grid. Consequently, the fan is powered by

the output of the traction motors and will tend to run faster and produce more airflow as more energy is applied to the grid. Ultimately, the source of the energy dissipated in the dynamic braking grid is the motion of the locomotive as imparted to the traction motor armatures. Therefore, the traction motors impose drag and the locomotive acts as a brake. As speed decreases, the braking effect decays and usually becomes ineffective below approximately 16 km/h (10 mph), depending on the gear ratio between the traction motors and axles. Dynamic braking is particularly beneficial when operating in mountainous regions, where there is always the danger of a runaway due to overheated friction brakes during descent (see also comments in the air brake article regarding loss of braking due to improper train handling). In such cases, dynamic brakes are usually applied in conjunction with the air brakes, the combined effect being referred to as blended braking. The use of blended braking can also assist in keeping the slack in a long train stretched as it crests a grade, helping to prevent a "run-in," an abrupt bunching of train slack that can cause a derailment. Blended braking is also commonly used with commuter trains to reduce wear and tear on the mechanical brakes that is a natural result of the numerous stops such trains typically make during a run. Advantages: Regenerative braking. No gear shifting. No backlash and breaking of couplings during shifting. Constant availability of maximum diesel generator power. Easy addition of multiple power units. Less maintenance with modern ac generators and motors without commutators.

Disadvantages: More weight. Less efficient in fuel use. Needs high tech electronics with use of ac generators and motors.

10.1 BRAKE: A traditional clasp brake: the brake shoe (brown) bears on the surface (tyre) of the wheel (red), and is operated by the levers (grey) on the left

Fig.35 brake

Brakes are used on the vehicles of railway trains to slow them, or to keep them standing when parked. While the principle is familiar from road vehicle usage, operational features are more complex because of the need to control trains, i.e. multiple vehicles running together, and to be effective on vehicles left without a prime mover.

10.2

Early days:

In the earliest days of railways, braking technology was primitive. The first trains had brakes operative on the locomotive tender and on vehicles in the train, where porters or, in the United States brakemen, traveling for the purpose on those vehicles operated the brakes. Some railways fitted a special deep-noted brake whistle to locomotives to indicate to the porters the necessity to apply the brakes. All the brakes at this stage of development were applied by operation of a screw and linkage to brake blocks applied to wheel treads, and these brakes could be used when vehicles were parked. In the earliest times, the porters travelled in crude shelters outside the vehicles, but assistant guards who travelled inside passenger vehicles, and who had access to a brake wheel at their posts supplanted them. The braking effort achievable was limited, and an early development was the application of a steam brake to locomotives, where boiler pressure could be applied to brake blocks on the locomotive wheels.

As train speeds increased, it became essential to provide some more powerful braking system capable of instant application and release by the train driver, described as a continuous brake because it would be effective continuously along the length of the train. However there was no clear technical solution to the problem, because of the necessity of achieving a reasonably uniform rate of braking effort throughout a train, and because of the necessity to add and remove vehicles from the train at frequent points on the journey. (At these dates, unit trains were a rarity). The chief types of solution were: The chain brake, such as the Heberlein brake, in which a chain was connected continuously along the train. When pulled tight it activated a friction clutch that used the rotation of the wheels to tighten a brake system at that point; this system has severe limitations in length of train capable of being handled, and of achieving good adjustment. The simple vacuum system. An ejector on the locomotive created a vacuum in a continuous pipe along the train, and the vacuum operated brake cylinders on every vehicle. This system was very cheap and effective, but it had the major weakness that it became inoperative if the train became divided or if the train pipe was ruptured. The automatic vacuum brake. This system was similar to the simple vacuum system, except that the creation of vacuum in the train pipe exhausted vacuum reservoirs on every vehicle and released the brakes. If the driver applied the brake, his driver's brake valve admitted atmospheric air to the train pipe, and this atmospheric pressure applied the brakes against the vacuum in the vacuum reservoirs. Being an automatic brake, this system applies braking effort if the train becomes divided or if the train pipe is ruptured. Its disadvantage is that the large vacuum reservoirs were required on every vehicle, and their bulk and the rather complex mechanisms were seen as objectionable.

Fig.36 Rotair Valve Westinghouse Air brake Company

The Westinghouse air brake system. In this system, air reservoirs are provided on

every vehicle and the locomotive charges the train pipe with a positive air pressure, which releases the vehicle brakes and charges the air reservoirs on the vehicles. If the driver applies the brakes, his brake valve releases air from the train pipe, and triple valves at each vehicle detect the pressure loss and admit air from the air reservoirs to brake cylinders, applying the brakes. The Westinghouse system uses smaller air reservoirs and brake cylinders than the corresponding vacuum equipment, because a moderately high air pressure can be used. However, an air compressor is required to generate the compressed air and in the earlier days of railways, this required a large reciprocating steam air compressor, and this was regarded by many engineers as highly undesirable. 10.3 Later British practice: In British practice, only passenger trains were fitted with continuous brakes until about 1930, and goods and mineral trains ran at slower speed, and relied on the brake force from the locomotive and tender, and the brake van a heavy vehicle provided at the rear of the train and occupied by a guard. Goods and mineral vehicles were provided with hand brakes, by which the brakes could be applied by a hand lever operated by staff on the ground. These hand brakes were used where necessary when vehicles were parked, but also when these trains needed to descend a steep gradient; the train then stopped before descending, and the guard walked forward to pin down the handles of sufficient brakes to give adequate braking effort. Early goods vehicles had brake handles on one side only, and random alignment of the

vehicles gave the guard sufficient braking, but from about 1930 so-called "either-side" brake handles were provided. These trains, not fitted with continuous brakes were described as "unfitted" trains and they survived in British practice until about 1985. However from about 1930 semi-fitted trains were introduced, in which some goods vehicles were fitted with continuous brakes, and a proportion of such vehicles marshalled next to the locomotive gave sufficient brake power to run at somewhat higher speeds than unfitted trains. In the early days of diesel locomotives, a purpose-built brake tender was attached to the locomotive to increase braking effort when hauling unfitted trains. The brake tender was low, so that the driver could still see the line and signals ahead if the brake tender was propelled (pushed) ahead of the locomotive, which was often the case. 10.4 Continuous brakes: As train loads, gradients and speeds increased, braking became a problem. In the late 19th century, significantly better continuous brakes started to appear. The earliest type of continuous brake was the chain brake which used a chain, running the length of the train, to operate brakes on all vehicles simultaneously. The chain brake was soon superseded by air operated or vacuum operated brakes. These brakes used hoses connecting all the wagons of a train, so the driver could apply or release the brakes with a single valve in the locomotive. These continuous brakes can be simple or automatic, the essential difference being what happens should the train break in two. With simple brakes, pressure is needed to apply the brakes, and all braking power is lost if the continuous hose is broken for any reason. Simple non-automatic brakes are thus useless when things really go wrong, as is shown with the Armagh rail disaster. Automatic brakes on the other hand use the air or vacuum pressure to hold the brakes off against a reservoir carried on each vehicle, which applies the brakes if pressure/vacuum is lost in the train pipe. Automatic brakes are thus largely "fail safe", though faulty closure of hose taps can lead to accidents such as the Gare de Lyon accident. The standard Westinghouse Air Brake has the additional enhancement of a triple valve, and local reservoirs on each wagon that enable the brakes to be applied fully with only a

slight reduction in air pressure, reducing the time that it takes to release the brakes as not all pressure is voided to the atmosphere. Non-automatic brakes still have a role on engines and first few wagons, as they can be used to control the whole train without having to apply the automatic brakes.

10.5 Types Of Brakes


10.5.1 Air versus vacuum brakes: In the early part of the 20th century, many British railways employed vacuum brakes rather than the air brakes used in America and much of the rest of the world. The main advantage of vacuum was that the vacuum can be created by a steam ejector with no moving parts (and which could be powered by the steam of a steam locomotive), whereas an air brake system requires a noisy and complicated compressor. However, air brakes can be made much more effective than vacuum brakes for a given size of brake cylinder. An air brake compressor is usually capable of generating a pressure of 90 psi (620 kPa) vs only 15 psi (100 kPa) for vacuum. With a vacuum system, the maximum pressure differential is atmospheric pressure (14.7 psi or 101 kPa at sea level, less at altitude). Therefore, an air brake system can use a much smaller brake cylinder than a vacuum system to generate the same braking force. This advantage of air brakes increases at high altitude, e.g. Peru and Switzerland where today vacuum brakes are used by secondary railways. The much higher effectiveness of air brakes and the demise of the steam locomotive have seen the air brake become ubiquitous; however, vacuum braking is still in use in India, in Argentina and in South Africa, but this will be declining in near future. 10.5.2 Air brake enhancements: One enhancement of the automatic air brake is to have a second air hose (the main reservoir or main line) along the train to recharge the air reservoirs on each wagon. This air pressure can also be used to operate loading and unloading doors on wheat wagons

and coal and ballast wagons. On passenger coaches, the main reservoir pipe is also used to supply air to operate doors and air suspension. Air Brake System: Most air brake equipped vehicles on the road today are using a dual air brake system. The system has been developed to accommodate a mechanically secured parking brake that can be applied in the event of service brake failure. It also accommodates the need for a modulated braking system should either one of the two systems fail. It is actually two brake systems in one, with more reservoir capacity resulting in a much safer system. At first glance, the dual system might seem complicated, but if you understand the basic air brake system described so far, and if the dual system is separated into basic functions, it becomes quite simple. As its name suggests, the dual system is two systems or circuits in one. There are different ways of separating the two parts of the system. On a twoaxle vehicle, one circuit operates the rear axle and the other circuit operates the front axle. If one circuit has a failure, the other circuit is isolated and will continue to operate.

Fig.37 Compressor

In the illustration, air is pumped by the compressor (1) to the supply/wet reservoir (5) (blue), which is protected from over pressurization by a safety valve (4). Pressurized air moves from the supply/wet reservoir to the primary/dry reservoir (8) (green) and the secondary/dry reservoir (10) (red) through oneway check valves (7). At this point, the dual circuits start. Air from the primary/dry reservoir is directed to the foot valve (31). Air is also directed from the secondary/dry reservoir to the foot valve. The foot valve is similar to the one described earlier in the basic air brake system, but is divided into two sections (two foot valves in one). One section of this dual foot valve controls the primary circuit and the other controls the secondary circuit. When a brake application is made, air is drawn from the primary reservoir through the foot valve and is passed on to the rear brake chambers. At the same time, air is also drawn from the secondary reservoir, passes through the foot valve and is passed on to the front brake chambers. If there is air loss in either circuit, the other will continue to operate independently. Unless air is lost in both circuits, the vehicle will continue to have braking ability. The primary and secondary circuits are equipped with low air pressure warning devices, which are triggered by the low air pressure indicator switch (9) and reservoir air pressure gauges (29) located on the dash of the vehicle.

10.5.3 Electro pneumatic brakes:


A higher performing EP brake has a train pipe delivering air to all the reservoirs on the train, with the brakes controlled electrically with a 3-wire control circuit. This can give seven levels of braking, from mild to severe, and allows the driver greater control over the level of braking used, which greatly increases passenger comfort. It also allows for faster brake application, as the electrical control signal is propagated effectively instantly to all vehicles in the train, whereas the change in air pressure which activates the brakes in a conventional system can take several seconds or tens of seconds to propagate fully to the rear of the train. This system is not however used on freight trains due to cost. The system adopted on the Southern Region of British Railways in 1950 is more fully described at Electro-pneumatic brake system on British railway trains

10.5.4 Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes:


Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes (ECP) are a development of the late 20th Century to deal with very long and heavy freight trains, and are a development of the EP brake with even higher level of control. In addition, information about the operation of the brakes on each wagon can be returned to the driver's control panel. With ECP, a power and control line is installed from wagon to wagon from the front of the train to the rear. Electrical control signals are propagated effectively instantaneously, as opposed to changes in air pressure which propagate at a rather slow speed limited in practice by the resistance to air flow of the pipe work, so that the brakes on all wagons can be applied simultaneously rather than from front to rear. This prevents wagons at the rear "shoving" wagons at the front, and results in reduced stopping distance and less equipment wear. There are two brands of ECP brakes under development, one by New York Air Brake and the other by Wabtec. A single standard is desirable, and it is intended that the two types be interchangeable. 10.5.5 Brake Control: The brake control varies the air pressure in the brake cylinders to apply pressure to the brake shoes. At the same time, it blends in the dynamic braking, using the motors to slow the train down as well.

The engineer also has a host of other controls and indicator lights.

Fig. 38 The brake and throttle controls

A computerized readout displays data from sensors all over the locomotive. It can provide the engineer or mechanics with information that can help diagnose problems. For instance, if the pressure in the fuel lines is getting too high, this may mean that a fuel filter is clogged.

Fig. 39 This computerized display can show the status of systems all over the locomotive.

10.5.6 Reversibility: Brake connections between wagons may be simplified if wagons always point the same way, such as in Tasmania. An exception would be made for locomotives which are often turned on turntables or triangles. On the new Fortescue railway opened in 2008, wagons are operated in sets, although their direction changes at the balloon loop at the port. The ECP connections are on one side only and are unidirectional

10.5.7 Vacuum brake: The vacuum brake is a braking system used on trains. It was first introduced in the mid 1860s and a variant, the automatic vacuum brake system became almost universal in British train equipment, and in those countries influenced by British practice. It enjoyed a brief period of adoption in the USA, primarily on narrow gauge railroads. Its limitations caused it to be progressively superseded by compressed air systems, in the United Kingdom from the 1970's. The vacuum brake system is now obsolescent; it is not in large-scale use anywhere in the world, supplanted in the main by air brakes.

10.5.8 How the automatic vacuum brake works:

Fig40 Vacuum brake cylinder in running position: the vacuum is the same above and below the piston

Fig. 41 Air at atmospheric pressure from the train pipe is admitted below the piston, which is forced up

In its simplest form, the automatic vacuum brake consists of a continuous pipe -- the train pipe -- running throughout the length of the train. In normal running a partial vacuum is maintained in the train pipe, and the brakes are released. When air is admitted to the train

pipe, the air pressure acts against pistons in cylinders in each vehicle. A vacuum is sustained on the other face of the pistons, so that a net force is applied. A mechanical linkage transmits this force to brake shoes which act by friction on the treads of the wheels. The fittings to achieve this are therefore: A train pipe: a steel pipe running the length of each vehicle, with flexible vacuum hoses at each end of the vehicles, and coupled between adjacent vehicles; at the end of the train, the final hose is seated on an air-tight plug; An ejector on the locomotive, to create vacuum in the train pipe; controls for the driver to bring the ejector into action, and to admit air to the train A brake cylinder on each vehicle containing a piston, connected by rigging to the A vacuum (pressure) gauge on the locomotive to indicate to the driver the degree

pipe; these may be separate controls or a combined brake valve; brake shoes on the vehicle; and of vacuum in the train pipe. The brake cylinder is contained in a larger housing - this gives a reserve of vacuum as the piston operates. The cylinder rocks slightly in operation to maintain alignment with the brake rigging cranks, so it is supported in trunnion bearings, and the vacuum pipe connection to it is flexible. The piston in the brake cylinder has a flexible piston ring that allows air to pass from the upper part of the cylinder to the lower part if necessary. When the vehicles have been at rest, so that the brake is not charged, the brake pistons will have dropped to their lower position in the absence of a pressure differential (as air will have leaked slowly into the upper part of the cylinder, destroying the vacuum). When a locomotive is coupled to the vehicles, the driver moves his brake control to the "release" position and air is exhausted from the train pipe, creating a partial vacuum. Air in the upper part of the brake cylinders is also exhausted from the train pipe, through the ball valve.

If the driver now moves his control to the "brake" position, air is admitted to the train pipe. According to the driver's manipulation of the control, some or all of the vacuum will be destroyed in the process. The ball valve closes and there is a higher air pressure under the brake pistons than above it, and the pressure differential forces the piston upwards, applying the brakes. The driver can control the severity of the braking effort by admitting more or less air to the train pipe. Practical considerations: The automatic vacuum brake as described represented a very considerable technical advance in train braking. In practice steam locomotives had two ejectors, a small ejector for running purposes (to exhaust air that had leaked into the train pipe) and a large ejector to release brake applications. Later Great Western Railway practice was to use a vacuum pump instead of the small ejector. Graduable brake valve (right) and the small (upper) and large ejector cocks from a GWR locomotive The driver's brake valve was usually combined with the steam brake control on the locomotive. The ejectors on steam locomotives are set to create a certain degree of vacuum in the train pipe; in British practice a full release is 21 inches of mercury (533.4 Torr). An absolute vacuum is about 30 inches of mercury (760 Torr), depending on atmospheric conditions; the Great Western Railway adopted 25 inches of mercury (635 Torr) as its standard degree of vacuum. Release valves are provided on the brake cylinders; when operated, usually by manually pulling a cord near the cylinder, air is admitted to the upper part of the brake cylinder on that vehicle. This is necessary to release the brake on a vehicle that has been uncoupled from a train and now requires to be moved without having a brake connection to another locomotive, for example if it is to be steam ejector shunted. In the United Kingdom the pre-nationalization railway companies standardized around systems operating on 21 inches of vacuum, with the exception of the Great Western Railway, which used 25 inches. This could cause problems on long distance crosscountry services when a GWR locomotive was replaced with another company's engine,

as the new engine's large ejector would sometimes not be able to fully release the brakes on the train. In this case the release valves on each vehicle in the train would have to be released by hand. This time consuming process was not infrequently seen at large GWR stations such as Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads. The provision of a train pipe running throughout the train enabled the automatic vacuum brake to be operated in emergency from any position in the train. Every guard's compartment had a brake valve, and the passenger communication apparatus (usually called "the communication cord" in lay terminology) also admitted air into the train pipe at the end of coaches so equipped. This is called pulling the tail. When a locomotive is first coupled to a train, or if a vehicle is detached or added, a brake continuity test is carried out, to ensure that the brake pipes are connected throughout the entire length of the train.

Limitations: The progress represented by the automatic vacuum brake nonetheless carried some limitations; chief among these were: The practical limit on the degree of vacuum attainable means that a very large brake piston and cylinder are required to generate the force necessary on the brake blocks; when a proportion of the British ordinary wagon fleet was fitted with vacuum brakes in the 1950's, the physical dimensions of the brake cylinder prevented the wagons from operating in some private sidings that had tight clearances; For the same reason, on a very long train, a considerable volume of air has to be admitted to the train pipe to make a full brake application, and a considerable volume has to be exhausted to release the brake (if for example a signal at danger is suddenly lowered and the driver requires to resume speed); while the air is traveling along the train pipe, the brake pistons at the head of the train have responded to the brake application or release, but those at the tail will respond much later, leading to

undesirable longitudinal forces in the train. In extreme cases this has led to breaking couplings and causing the train to divide. The existence of vacuum in the train pipe can cause debris to be sucked in. An accident took place near Ilford in the 1950's, due to inadequate braking effort in the train. A rolled newspaper was discovered in the train pipe, effectively isolating the rear part of the train from the driver's control. The blockage should have been detected if a proper brake continuity test had been carried out before the train started its journey. A development introduced in the 1950's was the direct admission valve, fitted to every brake cylinder. These valves responded to a rise in train pipe pressure as the brake was applied, and admitted atmospheric air directly to the underside of the brake cylinder. American and continental European practice had long favoured compressed air brake systems, the leading pattern being a proprietary Westinghouse system. This has a number of advantages, including smaller brake cylinders (because a higher air pressure could be used) and a somewhat more responsive braking effort. However the system requires an air pump. On steam engines this was usually a reciprocating steam pump, and it was quite bulky. Its distinctive shape and the characteristic puffing sound when the brake is released (as the train pipe has to be recharged with air) make steam locomotives fitted with the Westinghouse brake unmistakable, for example in old films. In the UK, the Great Eastern Railway, the North Eastern Railway, the London Brighton and South Coast Railway and the Caledonian Railway adopted the Westinghouse system. It was also standard on the Isle of Wight rail system. Inevitably this led to compatibility problems in exchanging traffic with other lines. It was possible to provide through pipes for the braking system not fitted to any particular vehicle so that it could run in a train using the "other" system, allowing through control of the fitted vehicles behind it, but of course with no braking effort of its own. 10.6 Dual brakes: Vehicles can be fitted with dual brakes, vacuum and air, provided that there is room to fit the duplicated equipment. It is much easier to fit one kind of brake with a pipe for continuity of the other. Train crew need to take note that the wrong-fitted wagons do not

contribute to the braking effort and make allowances on down grades to suit. Many of the earlier classes of diesel locomotive used on British Railways were fitted with dual systems to enable full usage of BR's rolling stock inherited from the private companies which had different systems depending on which company the stock originated from.

Fig.42 Dual Brake System

When spring brakes are added to a dual air brake system, the same type of dash control valve discussed previously is used. Blended air is used to supply the spring parking brake control valve (27). Blended air is air taken from the primary and secondary circuits through a twoway check valve (26). With this piping arrangement the vehicle can have a failure in either circuit without the spring brakes applying automatically. If air is lost in both circuits, the spring brakes will apply. Air brakes need a tap to seal the hose at the ends of the train. If these taps are incorrectly closed, a loss of brake force may occur, leading to a dangerous runaway. With vacuum brakes, the end of the hose can be plugged into a stopper which seals the hose by suction. It is much harder to block the hose pipe compared to air brakes. 10.6.1 Twin pipe: Vacuum brakes can be operated in a twin pipe mode to speed up applications and release. Braking is provided by a mechanism that is similar to a car drum brake. An air-powered piston pushes a pad against the outer surface of the train wheel.

Fig.43 The brakes are similar to drum brakes on a car.

In conjunction with the mechanical brakes, the locomotive has dynamic braking. In this mode, each of the four traction motors acts like a generator, using the wheels of the train to apply torque to the motors and generate electrical current. The torque that the wheels apply to turn the motors slows the train down (instead of the motors turning the wheels, the wheels turn the motors). The current generated (up to 760 amps) is routed into a giant resistive mesh that turns that current into heat. A cooling fan sucks air through the mesh and blows it out the top of the locomotive -- effectively the world's most powerful hair dryer. On the rear truck there is also a hand brake -- yes, even trains need hand brakes. Since the brakes are air powered, they can only function while the compressor is running. If the train has been shut down for a while, there will be no air pressure to keep the brakes engaged. Without a hand brake and the failsafe of an air pressure reservoir, even a slight slope would be enough to get the train rolling because of its immense weight and the very low rolling friction between the wheels and the track. The hand brake is a crank that pulls a chain. It takes many turns of the crank to tighten the chain. The chain pulls the piston out to apply the brakes. 10.7 Vacuum brakes in 2007: Today's largest operators of trains equipped with vacuum brakes are the Railways of India and Spoornet (South Africa), however there are also trains with air brakes and dual brakes in use. Other African railways are believed to continue to use the vacuum brake. Other operators of vacuum brakes are narrow gauge railways in Central Europe, largest of them is Ferrovia Retica.

Vacuum brakes have been entirely superseded on the National Rail system in the UK, although they are still in use on most heritage railways. They are also to be found on a number (though increasingly fewer) main line vintage specials. C & E has developed the automatic vacuum brake and designed it in its simplest form; the automatic vacuum brake consists of a continuous pipe -- the train pipe -- running throughout the length of the train.

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