ABS Mechanism and Details
ABS Mechanism and Details
ABS Mechanism and Details
ABS in not a new concept for four wheeler and two wheeler as well. In 1988, BMW introduced the first motorcycle with an electronic-hydraulic ABS: the BMW K100. Honda followed suit in 1992 with the launch of its first motorcycle ABS on the ST1100 Pan European. In 2007, Suzuki launched its GSF1200SA (Bandit) with an ABS.
In 2005, Harley-Davidson began offering ABS as an option for police bikes. In 2008, ABS became a factory-installed option on all Harley-Davidson Touring motorcycles and standard equipment on select models. Now let us enlighten how ABS works on bikes.
Skidding Mechanism
Skidding of a vehicle leads to disaster in many cases. Skidding starts when force applied by driver on the brake lever is more than the required. Skidding results when friction in brakes become more than the friction exists between tyre and road surface. That means wheel gets locked and start skidding on road surface. Less force leads to poor braking and more force leads to skidding. So to avoid the skidding of vehicle, the braking force should remain in limit. In normal bikes, the brake lever is directly connected with calliper. The force applied by the driver on lever is directly exerted on calliper & disc without any interrupt. In the case of ABS, this braking force is exerted through ECU and Hydraulic valve. The ABS prevents the wheels from locking during braking. It does this by constantly measuring the individual wheel speeds and comparing them with the wheel speeds predicted by the system. This speed measurement is done by individual speed sensors. If, during braking, the measured wheel speed deviates from the systems predicted wheel speed, the ABS controller takes over, correcting the brake force to keep the wheel at the optimum slip level and so achieving the highest possible deceleration rate.
This is carried out separately for each wheel. Controller is nothing but an ECU with appropriate programming. This program avoids the rotational speed of wheel to become zero (Locking). This is done by temporary releasing the brake force by shutting off the valve in oil reservoir. The ECU constantly monitors the rotation speed of each wheel. When it detect that any number of wheel are rotating slower than the other (this condition will bring the tyre to lock), it moves the valves to decrease the pressure on the braking circuit, effectively reduce the braking force on that wheel. The wheels turn faster and when they turn too fast, the force is reapplied. This process is repeated continuously, and this is causes characteristic pulsing feel through the brake pedal.
Figure show major parts of Antilock-Braking System. Basic of antilock braking system consists of three major parts; 1. Electronic Speed Sensor: This sensor will measure the wheel velocity and vehicle acceleration. LOCATION: On wheel Hub 2. Toothed Disc: It helps the speed sensor to read the speed of wheel. LOCATION: With Brake Disc 3. Electrical Control Unit (ECU). ECU is a microprocessor based system contains program. LOCATION: Under the Drivers Seat
4. Electrically Controller Valve. This controller valve will control the pressure in a brake cylinder. LOCATION: With ECU The following are the 3 major benefits of ABS
1. Stopping Distance
As the braking force is controlled and applied electronically, the stopping distance reduces considerably in comparison with normal bike.
2. Sudden Braking
In the case of ABS, the braking is intermittent in nature. So vehicle remains easily steerable during braking also. Below figure shows the comparison of normal bike and ABS bike at sudden braking.
In the ABS-enabled mode, for each load/speed/brake combination, the stopping distances were very consistent from one run to another. In this mode, the braking force was applied in a controlled and consistent manner by the ABS mechanism. With the exception of having to react to the possibility of the rear wheel becoming airborne under high deceleration, the rider did not require significant experience or special skill in order to achieve a high level of performance. In the ABS-disabled mode, the stopping distances were less consistent because the rider while modulating the brake force, had to deal with many additional variables at the same time. Up to six runs were allowed for the rider to become familiar with the motorcycles behaviour and to obtain the best stopping distance. Test results from non-ABS motorcycles were noticeably more sensitive to rider performance variability. Despite being compared to the best stopping distances without ABS, the average results with ABS provided an overall reduction in stopping distance of 5%. The stopping distance reduction was more significant when the motorcycle was loaded (averaging 7%). The greatest stopping distance reduction (averaging 17%) was observed when only the rear foot pedal was applied to stop the motorcycle from 128 km/h.
shortest stopping distance without losing vehicle control or having any wheel lockup above a speed of 10 km/h. As with the dry surface tests, practically no learning process was required for the operator to achieve the best performance with the operation of ABS. In the ABS-disabled mode, the stopping distances improved as the rider became more familiar and comfortable with the braking system. On the wet surface, the overall average stopping performance with ABS improved on the best non-ABS stopping distance by 5.0%. The stopping distance reduction with ABS was more significant when both brakes were applied, with an overall improvement averaging 10.8% over the best stops without ABS. The greatest stopping distance reduction with the use of ABS was observed when the motorcycle was loaded and both brakes were applied, averaging a 15.5% improvement over the best stops without ABS.
In general, the test results demonstrated an improvement in braking performance with the use of ABS, whether braking on a dry or wet surface even compared with the best stops obtained without ABS.