Riding a car is a great chance of having fun. But if your car brakes are not working properly, your fun will turn out a nightmare as car brake failure can lead to a serious accident. It is the most important thing of safety and performs the road traffic condition.
Advance technology increases the effectiveness of the car braking system so if you know how the brakes work, you can easily repair the problem or take your car to a repair shop. Sometimes thinking about your car save your money and time also prevents nasty collision.
Car brakes work very surprisingly. Although the working process of brakes seems very easy( just press the padel and your car stops), but the internal action is not the same.
It takes energy and power to slow down the car speed as the brakes have to remove the energy from its function. Seems interesting? I will try to cover the details here.
Types of Car Braking
A modern car has various types of braking systems such as drum brakes, disc brakes, power brakes, anti-lock brakes, etc. Every system is different but all they do is slow down your car. But before I said, their internal process is not the same. Some of them work very smoothly and others are slightly complicated.
A similar process is, when you press the brake pedal, it gets force from your foot and transfer it to the braking system. Every system has hydraulic action, clamping action, and friction to work. The car gets two types of force from our foot, leverage, and hydraulic force.
Leverage and Hydraulic Action
The brake pedal plays a vital role here. It is connected with the master cylinder and the cylinder is filled with brake fluid. There are brake calipers and pistons that also connect with the master cylinder. The brake fluids flow through the line and go to the other section. when the brake pedal gets force by your foot, it transmits the force to the piston and the piston compresses the brake fluid and creates pressure to the brake system. So the brake line gets pressure and it gives force to the car brakes and slows down the car.
The pistons are connected with fluid filled pipes so when you give pressure to one piston, it transfers the force to another piston. The il efficiency should be good enough so the second piston gets a good pressure. There is no limitation of pipe length and shape, so it can use multiple force easily.
Friction
Here the hydraulic force is turned into friction by the calipers. The brake pads and brake rotors also create friction. Brake pads have friction materials on the slab and the calipers have opposite sides that are used by the brake pads. So the brake pads and calipers face friction when they are working together.
There are two slabs in that area, one is big and another is slightly small. A brake rotor works between those two slabs. It bolted to the wheels so the wheel speed and rotor speed are almost the same. When the brake rotor spins, the calipers and slightly moves with it.
Clamping Action
Every wheel has calipers that work like a clamp. The clamping force starts working when the calipers get pressure from the master cylinder and the rotor generates friction to slow down the car. So when he calipers clamping, the friction added to the wheels to slow down it.
Some vehicles have a brake drum that also works with hydraulic pressure. The clamping action starts after the brake pedal gets pressure. The brake rotor spins toward one another and slowly reduce the speed.
When you release the brake pedal, the hydraulic pressure, clamping action reduces the pressure and presses the friction materials to a spinning surface, and slows down the wheel.
Brake System Parts and Function
The baking system has some parts and function that works with together and halt the car. They are
- Pedal
- Master cylinder
- Brake booster
- Proportioning valve
- Drum brakes
- Disc brakes
- Emergency brakes
- Anti-lock brakes etc
How Drum Brake Works
The drum brake system uses friction by its hollow drum in a different way. It has two brake shoe and piston that works with spinning surface and the surface is work as a drum. Drum brakes are mainly located at the rear wheel and front of the disc brake section.
In the interior part, it has an adjust mechanism, springs, and emergency halt system that works with each other. When you press the brake pedal, the pedal gives pressure to the piston and the piston pushes the brake shoe. Then the brake shoe contact with the drum.
There has a small piston that works with extra braking force but it also creates wedging action so the brake shoe use more pressure to release the brakes. The brake shoe won’t move much as the spring holds it and adjust it with the actuator.
When the drum rotates, it pulls the bake shoe and increases the braking. Every shoe has a single cylinder and a piston so it can powerfully restrict the rear brakes.
When it releases the brake, the return spring pulls the shoe, and the shoe travels to the adjuster quickly. the older adjuster has friction lining wear and the friction slowing the wheel.
How Disc Brake Works
Disc brake can work both front wheel and four wheels. All the parts help to slow down the car. Some disc brake has a single piston and some works with two. Brake pad, calipers, and the rotor is the main part of the disc brake. First of all, the brake pad pushes the rotor and the force goes to the cable and makes friction. The friction slows down the disc and remove the energy from the car and make the car halt.
Duel circuit disc brake has more piston and that moves very little when you press the paddle. The pads don’t have any return spring so when the brakes are released, the disc normally works very rarely. A ring has wrapped around the piston so it won’t slip off and there is no adjustment needed. Also if the pads have a sensor, it embedded the pads as it creates a short circuit to the metal disc and gives warnings to the other section.
How Power Brake Works
A power brake is not necessary for all types of cars. A drum brake is enough but if your car has disc brakes, then it creates some power assist itself. Power assist brake has a brake booster that uses vacuum to multiply the force when you press the pads. The vacuum booster has a valve and diaphragm so when you press the brake pads it directly hit the diaphragm.
There is a rod connected to the master cylinder and vacuum booster which is called servo units and they both are situated on two sides. Here the master cylinder has primary and secondary pistons, springs primary and secondary reservoir, brake lines, etc.
The vacuum booster also has a check valve that helps to prevent the air from entering the booster. The drivers can stop their car several times because of the vacuum booster. A vacuum booster needs a vacuum source so it works better in gasoline powered cars. When you press the brake pedal, it hits the rod and the rod passes pressure to the master cylinder.
The piston actuating the pressure and creates a vacuum source to the vacuum booster and closes the valve that is linked with the diaphragm and opens another valve that allows air to come in.
The air gives forces to the diaphragm that release brakes. Also when you release the pads it seals the air supply and the diaphragm goes to the return position.
How Handbrake Works
All car has handbrakes that work only two wheels. The effectiveness is limited and it only slows down the other braking system, not the entire car. The handbrake is connected to some pair of cables that are linked with hydraulic brakes. It has a lever and pulleys that also works when you apply handbrakes.
The disc and drum brakes are connected to the lever So the calipers piston has a connection to the corKscrew that works against the piston. The handbrake is very important whenever the hydraulic brake fails.
How Anti-lock Brake Works
Anti-lock brake works when you have to stop your car in a hurry. It is very challenging when you are on a slippery road. The antilock system has some components such as a speed sensor, pump, valves, controller, etc.
When the speed sensor works, the controller monitored all the systems and prepared themself when the wheel is on the problem. When it gets declaration, the system locked the wheels quickly and stops the car in five seconds.
When you apply the anti-lock, it increases and reduces the brake pressure and does acceleration and deceleration. Then the tire stop spinning and you can use this system at least 15 times per second.
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