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Brakes that don't need air? Learn about electronic mechanical braking systems
If in the future braking means abandoning our traditional air pump, what do you think would happen? Let's talk about it today.
Air brakes are almost considered common knowledge for heavy trucks. We also browsed through some forums and found that many truck drivers are discussing issues related to air brakes, such as air pump wear and air leaks in the lines.
To help truck drivers better understand, let's first talk about the basic principles of air brakes before moving on to today's topic.
Baidu Encyclopedia states: 'Braking, also known as deceleration, refers to the action of causing a running locomotive, vehicle, or other transportation tools or machinery to stop or reduce speed.'
In simple terms, it is the action of making a vehicle stop. When applied to the braking system, it is essentially a form of energy conversion.
In simple terms, it is a process in the braking system where the kinetic energy accumulated from the vehicle's motion is converted into heat energy through the friction between the brake pads and the brake disc (or the brake shoes and the brake drum), and then dissipated into the air.
The air brakes on our trucks are mainly composed of an air pump, air tanks, and brake chambers (brake actuators).
When we press the brake pedal, the compressed air stored in the air tanks by the air pump is released into the brake chambers, which then pushes the diaphragm to generate force, thereby actuating the brake calipers or brake drums to achieve braking.
And within this system, if any component such as the air pump, air tank, valves, pipelines, brake slave cylinders, or even parts inside the slave cylinders like diaphragms and springs malfunctions, the brake system can exhibit abnormalities or even fail.
That's why there are many discussions on forums about air brake failures or other related issues.
In addition, we will find that there are many steps of energy conversion inside. For example, the power output by the engine needs to be converted into high-pressure gas through the air pump.
Then, the pressure of the compressed air needs to be converted back into kinetic energy in the brake cylinder to drive the brakes. With so much transmission and conversion, energy loss is very likely to occur. For our cars, this means a lot of fuel is wasted unnecessarily.
If you don't use air for braking, what should you use? How do truck drivers feel about using electric brakes? And this is exactly what we're going to talk about today: electronic brakes.
Actually, what is commonly referred to as an electronic brake should more accurately be called an 'Electromechanical Brake (EMB),' commonly abbreviated as 'EMB.'
Compared to traditional air brakes, the difference isn't that significant. The biggest change is that the original air-driven system has been replaced with a motor-driven system.
We found a paper on the 'Fresh Graduate Website' titled 'Analysis of the Principles and Control Methods of Electro-Mechanical Brakes (EMB),' which discussed information about the structure of EMB.
According to the paper: 'In the widely used electro-mechanical brakes today, they mainly consist of an EMB controller, EMB motor controller, reduction device, motor, motion conversion device, electronic brake pedal, and communication network.'
We can understand it this way: when we press the brake, the EMB controller sends a signal to the motor, causing it to start working. Through its own rotation, it clamps the brake and stops the vehicle.
When we release the brake, the motor reverses or releases the brake, allowing the vehicle to continue moving.
So what are the benefits of doing this? On one hand, it simplifies the brake structure, turning the original components like air pump, air tank, valve body, and wheel cylinders into just a motor, controller, and battery.
By simplifying the structure, the number of components is reduced, which in turn lowers the failure rate of the braking system. After all, the more precise something is, the more likely it is to break, which is something everyone knows.
In addition to this, there is another key benefit: fuel efficiency. Why does it save fuel? Let's take a look at a set of data.
As we mentioned earlier, air brakes go through many energy conversions. For example, the air pump, which is the air compressor, if it is electric, has an efficiency of only about 24%. After the compressed air passes through the dryer, its efficiency further drops to around 85%.
In addition, components like the air reservoir and brake chambers also cause efficiency losses. Some data show that the overall final efficiency can only reach about 15%.
The EMB electric brake uses the generator found in traditional vehicles, which is not even needed in hybrid or electric cars.
It draws energy directly from the battery to power the motor, then operates through a gear set and calipers, ultimately achieving an efficiency of around 41%.
And the energy saved here, when applied to cars, translates into reduced fuel and electricity consumption. In other words, this can make gas cars more fuel-efficient and electric cars run farther.
● Editor's Note:
In fact, besides these benefits, electronic braking can respond faster because the electrical signals are transmitted more quickly, without needing the time to build up air pressure as in pneumatic brakes. This also provides a better user experience. So, what do you think about this technology?
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