COMPONENTS OF AN AIR BRAKE SYSTEM:

Air brake system consists of the following components :

Compressor-
The compressor generates the compressed air for the whole system.

Reservoir-
The compressed air from the compressor is stored in the reservoir.

Unloader Valve-
This maintains pressure in the reservoir at 8bar.When the pressure goes
above 8 bar it immediately releases the pressurized air to bring the system to
8-bar pressure.

Air Dryer-
This removes the moisture from the atmospheric air and prevents
corrosion of the reservoir.

System Protection Valve-

This valve takes care of the whole system. Air from the compressor is
given to various channels only through this valve. This valve operates only at
4-bar pressure and once the system pressure goes below 4-bar valve
immediately becomes inactive and applies the parking brake to ensure safety .

Dual Brake Valve-

When the driver applies brakes, depending upon the pedal force this
valve releases air from one side to another.

Graduated Hand Control Valve-

This valve takes care of the parking brakes.

Brake Chamber-
The air from the reservoir flows through various valves and finally
reaches the brake chamber which activates the S-cam in the brake shoe to
apply the brakes in the front.

Actuators-
The air from the reservoir flows through various valves and finally
reaches the brake chamber, which activates the S-cam in the brake shoe to
apply the brakes in the rear.
WORKING OF AN AIR BRAKING SYSTEM:
Air brakes are used in commercial vehicles, which require a heavier braking
effort than that can be applied by the driver’s foot. The following layout shows
the arrangement of the air braking systems in heavy vehicles. Compressed air
from compressor passes through the unloader valve and maintains its pressure.
This air is stored in the reservoir. From the reservoir it goes to the Brake
Chambers through many brake valves. In the brake chamber this pneumatic
force is converted into the mechanical force and then it is converted into the
rotational torque by the slack adjuster, which is connected to S-cam. This
torque applies air brakes. Pipelines connect the brake system components.
When the brake pedals are pressed, the exhaust passage closes, and
the air intake route opens, and the compressed air moves back into
the chamber. During the return stroke, the exhaust passage opens
while the intake is closed and the air used goes into the atmosphere.
The system is equipped with an emergency mechanical brake, which
can be used when the air supply fails the air brake system, known as
the air-assisted hydraulic braking system.When the driver of the
vehicle presses the brake pedal to stop or stop the vehicle, the
following procedures take place – When the driver starts the engine,
the brake compressor starts because it is powered by the engine,
which in turn starts compressing atmospheric air and the compressed
air is sent to the compressed air reservoir with this optimal air through
the compressor governor Which always contains some amount of air
stored from the previous cycle.With this friction contact between the
brake pads and the rotation, drum line brakes are applied to the wheels
to stop or stop the vehicle. When the driver presses the brake pedals,
the outlet valve of the triple valves closes, and the inlet valve opens,
which in turn passes the compressed air from the reservoir to pass
through the brake lines of the system.
These compressed-air flowings through the brake lines are then
transferred to the brake cylinder, which has a piston inside it.When
compressed air pressurizes the piston inside the brake chamber, the
piston moves away from its original position, which converts this
pneumatic energy into mechanical energy.At the wheel end of the
brake cylinder, brake drums are placed inside, which is a housing of
mechanical actuators such as springs or slacks with brake pads at the
outer end. Due to the piston speed due to the pressure applied by the
compressed air, the mechanical actuator inside the brake drum
expands, which pushes the brake pads in an outward direction to
create frictionless contact with the rotating drum lines. Air is
pressurized by an engine-mounted compressor. The air compressor
then pumps the air into the air storage tanks, which store the
compressed air until it's needed. Air pressure is used to apply the
service brakes and release the parking brake. There are multiple air
circuits in the system.

IMPORTNACE AND DEFINITION OF RESPONSE

TIME:
There are different types of tests for measuring efficiency of air brake system.
Two important tests are mentioned below.
Firstly,

 The efficiency specified for Brake devices shall be based on the

stopping distance or the mean fully developed deceleration. The
efficiency of a brake device shall be determined by measuring the
stopping distance in relation to the initial speed of the vehicle or by
measuring the mean fully developed deceleration during the test.
 The stopping distance shall be the distance covered by the vehicle from
the moment when the driver begins to actuate the control of the braking
system until the moment when the vehicle stops; The initial vehicle
speed (V1) shall be the speed at the moment when the driver begins to
actuate the control of the braking system; The initial speed shall not be
less than the 98% of the prescribed speed for the test in question. The
mean fully developed deceleration dm shall be calculated as the
deceleration averaged with respect to distance over the interval V b to
Ve according to the following formula-
MFDD (dm) = ((Vb2 - Ve2) / (25.92 (Se - Sb)) m/s2
Where;
Vb ---------- vehicle speed at 0.8V1 km/h
Ve ---------- vehicle speed at 0.8V1 km/h
Sb ---------- distance traveled between V1 and Vb in meters and
Se ---------- distance traveled between V1 and Ve in meters

The speed and distance shall be determined using instrumentation having an

accuracy of +-1% at the prescribed speed for the test. The d m may be
determined by other methods than the measurement of speed and distance.
Secondly,
Dynamic Test-

 Type P-Test -------------- Ordinary test (as mentioned above)

carried out with Brakes Cold. The Type-P-Test is carried out with
engine connected and also in engine-disconnected condition.

 Type-F-Test -----------The test mentioned above is carried out with

repeated braking.

Static Test-

 Line pressure in the front and rear are measured against the pedal
force in steps of 10kgs up to 70kgs.

 Then the response time is measured which is the sum of the actuation
time and the build up time. The values of build up time are acquired
using a proper pressure transducer and Data acquisition system and
the actuation time is assumed to be 0.1 seconds .

DEFINITION OF RESPONSE TIME:

Let
ta ------------------ actuation time (experimentally calculated as 0.1s)
tb -------------------- build up time (should be calculated depending upon
various factors)
tr ----------------- response time (should be calculated depending upon
various factors)
Various factors influencing build up time:
tb --------------------- f (Pipe restrictions Valve restriction Actuator volume)
From the above-mentioned equations it can be seen that response time is the
sum of the buildup time and the actuation time.
tr = ta + tb
BASIC ALGORITHM:
The calculations are being carried out as the flowchart shown below.
Start

Assume initial conditions

Calculate pressure ratio

Calculate Flow rate

Calculate mass flow for t -

m (t ~ 0.0001s)

Calculate Delivery pressure

using PV = mRT with increase
NO in mass m

Calculate inlet pressure using

PV = mRT with decrease in
mass m

Store pressure and time values

Is P2 = P1? YES Stop

RESPONSE TIME CALCULATIONS:

TWO RESERVOIR SYSTEMS-

ASSUMPTIONS-

1. The air flow through the pipes is a isothermal process

2. Frictional losses are considered to be negligible.
3. The flow area is assumed to be a constant inside each valve.
4. Each valve is considered to be an orifice.

CALCULATIONS-

Let us take a simple two-reservoir system into consideration:

Orifice

P1, V1 P2, V2
A

In the above mentioned figure

P1 ---------- Initial Pressure
P2 ---------- Delivery Pressure
V1 ---------- Initial Reservoir Volume
V2 ---------- Delivery Reservoir Volume
A ---------- Orifice Area
P2 / P1 -------- Pressure Ratio
For air  = 1.4
When (P2/P1) < 0.528 then there is going to be no change in mass flow rate.
If (P2 / P1) = 0.528 then the Flow Rate (Q) is going to be a function of
initial and final pressures.
If the pressure ratio is less than 0.528 then the Critical Flow rate (Q*) is
denoted by the following equation

Q*  0.685{ [ P1 * ( P1 * 1.29)]} * A
When the pressure ratio is greater than 0.528 then the following equation
is used.
 (2 /  ) ((   1 ) /  )

{
2
( P2) (
P2) }
(  1)
Q

P1 P1
((   1 ) / 2 (  1 ))
Q*
2
( 1)
Finally the mass flow rate is calculated by

Q= (Q / Q*) * (Q*)

After calculating the mass flow rate we need to calculate the mass flow using
the following equation

m = Q * t (assume initial time to be 0.0001s)

In the above equation we are calculating the mass flow between two reservoirs
by multiplying mass flow rate by time.
In the next step we are calculating the initial masses (m1, m2) of the two
reservoirs by using the following equations:

Initial mass of the first reservoir m1 = P1 * 1.29 * V1

Initial mass of the second reservoir m2 = P2 * 1.29 * V2

After calculating the initial masses the change in mass in the two reservoirs is
calculated as stated below.
m11 = m1 - m
m22 = m2 + m

After calculating the change in mass, the pressure values are calculated

P1 = m11 / (1.29 * V1)

P2 = m22 / (1.29 * V2)

When P2 = 0.95P1 stop the calculation and plot the values of delivery pressure
and time.
Time corresponding to 75% delivery pressure is response time.
MULTI RESERVOIR / ORIFICE SYSTEM-
ORIFICE

P1, V1 P2, V2 P3, V3

A1
A2
FORMULAE NOTATION-

Q1* ------------ Critical Flow rate between first and the second reservoir
Q2* ------------ Critical Flow Rate between second and third reservoir
Q1 ------------ Flow rate between first and the second reservoir
Q2 ----------- Flow Rate between second and third reservoir
m1 ---------- Mass flow between first and second reservoir
m2 ---------- Mass flow between second and third reservoir
m11 ---------- Change in mass between first and second reservoir
m22 ---------- Change in mass between second and third reservoir
P1 ---------- Pressure in the first reservoir.
P2 ---------- Pressure in the second reservoir.
P3 ---------- Pressure in the third reservoir

CALCULATIONS-

The calculation of the above shown system is as follows;

If the pressure ratio is less than 0.528 then the Critical Flow rate (Q*) is
denoted by the following equation

Q *  0.685{ [ P
1 1
* ( P 1 * 1.29)]} * A

Q *  0.685{ [ P
2 2
* ( P 2 * 1.29)]} * A

When the pressure ratio is greater than 0.528 then the following equation is
used
 (2 /  ) ((  1 ) /  )

{
2
( P2) (
P2) }
Q (  1)
 1 P1 P1
((   1 ) / 2 (  1 ))
Q*1 2
( 1)

(2 /  ) ((  1 ) /  )

{
2
( P3) (
P3) }
Q (  1)
 2 P2 P2
((  1 ) / 2 (  1 ))
Q *
2 2
( 1)
Finally the mass flow rate is calculated by

Q1 = (Q1 / Q1*) * (Q1*)

Q2 = (Q2 / Q2*) * (Q2*)

After calculating the mass flow rate we need to calculate the mass flow using
the following equation
m1 = Q1 * t (assume initial time to be 0.0001s)
m2 = Q2* t (assume initial time to be 0.0001s)

In the above equation we are calculating the mass flow between two reservoirs
by multiplying mass flow rate by time.

In the next step we are calculating the initial masses (m1, m2) of the two
reservoirs by using the following equations:
Initial mass of the first reservoir
m1 = P1 * 1.29 * V1

Initial mass of the second reservoir

m2 = P2 * 1.29 * V2

Initial mass of the third reservoir

m3 = P3 * 1.29 * V3
After calculating the initial masses of the two reservoirs the change in mass
in calculated as stated below.
m11 = m1 - m1
m22 = m2 - m2 + m1
m33 = m3 + m2

After calculating the change in mass, the pressure values are calculated

P1 = m11 / (1.29 * V1)

P2 = m22 / (1.29 * V2)
P3 = m33 / (1.29 * V3)
When P3 = 0.95P1 stop the calculation and plot the values of delivery pressure
and time.
Time corresponding to 75% delivery pressure is response time.

Using similar methods as stated above the program has been developed for
four and n-reservoirs.

AIR BRAKE SYSTEMS WITHOUT RELAY VALVE:

After completing those programming for those systems we have to program
for simple air brake systems.
Firstly we have started programming for a Swaraj Mazda Air
Brake System. As the first step the whole air brake system has been
converted into orifices and reservoirs. The converted circuit is shown below.

AIR Brake Circuit without Relay Valve

 Similarly, as stated above the program has been developed for the
Swaraj Mazda braking system also. In the Beginning stage the program has
been developed by taking the Brake chamber volume to be constant. But it
has been found that when the volume is taken to be constant, the time taken
by the brake chamber to rise from the dead volume to the maximum stroke is
not being considered. So, the theoretical response time was earlier than the
actual response time.
In order to account for the losses in time, the brake chamber volume was
taken to be varying.

BRAKE CHAMBER CALCULATIONS:

Let us consider the brake chamber to be a spring-loaded cylinder with stopper.
The cylinder has a dead volume (i.e.) volume at zero stroke is V0 ~ 0.1124 lit
The cylinder has threshold pressure P0 ~ 1.4 bar
The cylinder has a stopper at stroke St ~ 30mm
Minimum pressure required to reach the stroke St is Pst ~ 1.6 bar

Brake Chamber with Spring Loaded Cylinder

Stroke x
Effective diameter of the cylinder De ~ 7741.92 mm2 (type 12 brake chamber)
Cylinder pressure P ~ found out in the program

Volume = V0 +(x * /4 * De^2)

x = 0 when P < P0
x = St when P > Pst
When P > P0 and P < Pst
x = St *((P – P0)/ (Pst – P0))
AIR BRAKE CIRCUIT WITH RELAY VALVE:

After all the validations program has been developed by taking relay valve
into consideration. The air brake circuit has been modified as the diagram
shown below.

AIR Brake Circuit with Relay Valve

RELAY VALVE:
Signal port

Delivery port
Relay Valve
Relay valve is used in brake circuits in order to speed up the brake application
or to reduce the response time. The relay valve consists of two portions
namely the control portion and relay portion.
WORKING OF RELAY VALVE-

While applying the brakes first the dead volume is filled until the o-ring
friction is overcome. Then relay piston moves till the valve is contacted and
crack off pressure is overcome. After this the relay piston moves further till
the inlet travel is completed. In terms of pressure the pressure rises in the dead
volume up to crack off pressure. Once the pressure reaches the crack off
pressure, the piston starts moving according to the mass inflow and when it
reaches the full opening the pressure starts building up further.
In the relay portion, the flow area is zero until the piston reaches the
lap position. Lap position is the position in which the piston exactly comes in
contact with the valve seat and both the inlet and delivery valves are in closed
condition. The flow area is maximum when the inlet travel is complete. In
between the lap position and fully open position the area is proportional to
valve travel.
Taking the above constraints into account a program has been
developed by incorporating the relay valve.

CALCULATIONS FOR RELAY VALVE-

Let us consider the R-6 relay valve:

The crack-off the relay valve is 0.29 bars.
So when the pressure at the signal port is going to be less than 0.29 then the
delivery pressure is not going to vary, and once the delivery pressure rises
above 0.29 bar the delivery pressure starts increasing depending upon the
length of travel of piston (Y).

If pressure_signal_port < 1.29 then

Y=0
Else
Y = 4.1971 / 1000
Volume relay = (dead_volume *0.001) +(Y * (area_relay /1000000))
Pressure_delivery_relay = (mass_value_relay / (1.22 * volume relay))

The inlet travel for relay valve is calculated as stated below

Length of travel of piston for maximum stroke = 5.7411 mm
Length of travel of piston for Exhaust travel = 1.5440 mm
Length of travel of piston for inlet travel = (5.7411 - 1.5440) = 4.1971 mm
As stated above the relay vale is included in the circuit and response time is
calculated.
 VALIDATION OF THEORETICAL RESULTS:
After developing the program for an air brake system the program was
validated by keying in the various values from the old reports.
The results are shown below. The various data that are taken from the reports
are shown below. If we are going to give these data in the program the results
that we are going to get is shown below.
CONDITIONS SWARAJ EICHER JAC,Truck,
MAZDA, Truck CAIRO
PIPE ID (mm) 8(Uniform 12,11(from T to SBA 8(Uniform
throughout) and from T to BC) throughout)
21 tank to dual 6200 mm 5325 mm 3800 mm
brake valve length
Dual Brake valve 6900 mm 6983 mm 6250 mm
delivery to rear T-
connector length
T- connector to right 600 mm 710 mm 2400 mm
SBA length
22 tank to dual 6200 mm 6023 mm 200 mm
brake valve length
Dual Brake Valve to 2000 mm 1834 mm 3800 mm
front T-connector
length
Front T-connector 1700 mm 1679 mm 650 mm
to left Brake
Chamber

RESPONSE TIME MEASUREMENTS FOR REAR WHEEL

REPORT REFERENCE THEORETICAL EXPERIMENTAL DIFFERENCE

VEHICLE VALUE (from VALUE(from
MAKE program) reports)

SWARAJ R&D/TSG/Field/070/03 0.37 0.31 + 0.06

MAZDA
EICHER R&D/Field/Eicher/105/01 0.36 0.27 + 0.09
JACTruck R&D/Field/JAC/136/02 0.54 0.47 + 0.07
 RESPONSE TIME MEASUREMENTS FOR FRONT WHEE

REPORT THEORETICA EXPERIMENTAL DIFFERENCE

VEHICLE REFERENCE LVALUE(from VALUE(from
NAME program) reports)
SWARAJ R&D/TSG/Field/070/03 0.35 0.27 + 0.08
MAZDA
EICHER R&D/Field/Eicher/105/0 0.33 0.3 + 0.03
1
JACTruck R&D/Field/JAC/136/02 0.50 0.43 + 0.07

VALIDATION OF BRAKE CHAMBER VOLUME:

TEST ARRANGEMENT-

A ball valve is connected to the inlet port of the test unit. The ball valve is
connected to reverse, i.e. the inlet port of the valve is connected to the inlet
port of the test unit. The facility is done to facilitate trapping of pressurized
water inside the test unit itself.A quick-change adaptor is connected to the
delivery port of the ball valve for easy and quick removal of test unit for
weighing purpose.A 25 litre reservoir is positioned vertically and the top end
of the reservoir is connected to an air source through a pressure regulator,
directional control valve and pressure transducer as shown in the appendix .A
flexible hose with quick change coupling is connected at the bottom end of
the reservoir, to facilitate quick connection to the test unit.The air pressure is
used to force the water into the test unit under the required pressure.

TEST PROCEDURE-

1. Assemble the fixture, ball valve and a quick-change adaptor (as mentioned) with
the test unit and measure the combined weight (W0grams).
2. Adjust the pressure regulator valve to the required pressure (8 bar to this test)
3. Fill the test unit with water to expel any air present inside the test unit. Close the
ball valve.
4. Connect the test unit with reservoir and open the ball valve as shown below.
5. Now pressurized water will be trapped inside the brake chamber.
6. Close the ball valve.
7. Detach the test unit and measure the weight along with the trapped water (W1
grams).
8. The test unit volume at the tested stroke is given by (W1 – W0) CC.
9. Repeat the steps 4 to 10 for the various brake chambers.
DEAD VOLUME RESULTS-

Type of Brake Volume (cc)

Chamber
Stroke (mm)
0.00 9 (M845690) 19.6
0.00 12 (M850240) 49.74
0.00 16 (M845800) 53
0.00 20 (M845860) 40
0.00 24 (M845490) 124

BRAKE CHAMBER VOLUME AT DIFFERENT STROKES AT 8 bar

PRESSURE-

Brake Volume at Volume at Volume at Volume at

Chamber Type 20mm (cc) 25mm (cc) 30mm (cc) 35mm (cc)
Type 9 226.5 234.7 278.9 289.3
Type 12 280.6 317.2 358.5 397.1

Type 16 314.9 374 415.13 466.5

Type 20 359.8 383.6 453.7 512.2
Type 24 783.3 870.9 914.9 975.4

Brake Chamber Volume at 8 bar Pressure at different strokes

-Deviation of Theoretical and Experimental Brake chamber Volumes = 10-17%

CONNECTIONS FOR MEASURING IN VEHICLE:

Connections for Measuring Response Time

TEST PROCEDURE:
When the driver presses the brake pedal depending upon the force applied the
dual brake valve releases air to the brake chambers and actuators through the
various valves. Depending on the pressure variations the transducer will be
sending data to the data acquisition system. The variation in time and pressure
values are plotted to get the final response time.

CONCLUSION:
After the comparison of the experimental and theoretical values we can infer that
 For an air brake system without relay valve the deviation between the
theoretical and experimental response time was found to be 10 to 16 %
 For an air brake system with relay valve the deviation was found to be less
than 10 %
This makes sure that with the help of this system created by using visual
basic software makes it to be a user friendly one for the designers enrolled in the
R & D of any company. This project was done by us with the help of engineers
in Sundaram Clayton Ltd. Padi, Chennai.
Therefore, this project is a private version of the Sundaram Clayton
Limited and the source code with all the results of the software will be shown at
the time of presentation if this paper is selected, and please consider this fact into
an important account.
The air brake system is quick to act and the pressure applied on the
brake is directly proportional to the air brake system. The efficiency of air brake
system is relatively high when compared to the other types of brakes.
INTRODUCTION:
“Brakes are as important as an engine for an automobile” very rightly
said as if we require an engine to run a vehicle than we also require
brakes to stop it, This statement also resembles with the Newton’s first
law, we all are familiar with. As we know now a day in light vehicles we
use hydraulic brake system to stop or decelerate the vehicle, But the
questions arises, Is the hydraulic brake system effective when it comes to
heavy vehicles? If not then, What do we need to stop or decelerate the
heavy vehicles like buses and trucks?- A pneumatic brake or compressed
air brake system is the type of brake system in which the compressed
liquid fluid from the hydraulic system is replaced with the compressed air
for applying pressure to the master cylinder’s piston which in turn
presses the brake pads in order to stop or decelerate the
vehicle.Pneumatic air brake system is usually used in heavy vehicles like
buses and trucks.

Why do We Need Air Brake System?

As we have already discussed brake system is the need of an automobile

vehicle but as we all know when it comes to the application every vehicle
is not same as some vehicle are used for light utility purposes like cars
and bikes and some are used for heavy purposes like buses and trucks,
so there is a need of different braking systems due to the following
reasons-
 As the load over light vehicle and heavy vehicle varies the
brake force required to stop the heavy vehicle is far more
than that of light vehicle, so the heavy vehicles should be
equipped with a braking system that can provide the enough
brake force that can stop or decelerate the vehicle.
 When we talk about light weight vehicles, hydraulic brakes
provides more than enough brake force to stop or decelerate
the vehicle due to its short dimension but when it comes to
the heavy vehicles which are large in size the effectiveness of
hydraulic brake system is a great concern.
 As the fluid is used to press the piston in hydraulic braking
system the safety is the great concern as if there is any leak
 in the components of the hydraulic system the efficiency of
the braking is readily reduced or even lost completely, since
air is always available so the brake failure due to leakage is
the less concern in the air braking system.
 The components (master cylinder, brake lines etc.) size of
the hydraulic brake system increases with the increase in the
size of the vehicle which in turn makes it very complex to
install, which is not a problem with the air brake system.
 Due to safety measures like brake failure and efficiency,
Government has made it compulsory for heavy vehicles like
buses and trucks to use air brake system.

So due to these above mentioned reasons on March 1872, George

Westinghouse introduced an air braking system for the braking system in
railways due to its fail-safe feature.
 CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Components Of An Air Brake System
3. Working Of An Air Braking System
4. Importnace And Definition Of Response Time
5. Definition Of Response Time
6. Basic Algorithm
7. Response Time Calculations
8. Air Brake Systems Without Relay Valve
9. Brake Chamber Calculations
10.Air Brake Circuit With Relay Valve
11.Relay Valve
12.Validation Of Theoretical Results
13.Validation Of Brake Chamber Volume
14.Connections For Measuring In Vehicle
15.Test Procedure
16. Conclusion