Vacuum Brake Lab Report

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CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO BRAKES

Brakes are mechanical devices that increase the frictional resistance that retards the turning motion that is supplied to the wheels of the vehicle. In a vacuum assisted hydraulic brake system, a constant vacuum is kept maintained in the brake booster using the engine. When the brake pedal is pushed down, a poppet valve opens and air pushes/rushes into the pressure chamber on the driver’s side of the booster. In a vacuum braking system, vacuum is used for the application of brakes.
Braking the train is a very complex process, particularly to rail vehicles and is of great importance because of essential contribution on the safety of the moving vehicle. This complexity comes into picture from …show more content…

It was invented in 1870 in the USA at the time of air brake, where it enjoyed popularity only for a short period primarily on narrow gauge railroads. The system took a greater hold in the United Kingdom and was being used there as the primary form of train braking until the 1970s. Vacuum braking is for all practical purposes now almost a dead technology; it is not in very large-scale use anywhere in the world, supplanted in the main by air brakes. Vacuum brakes have now been largely superseded by air brakes that work on a similar principle but use compressed air instead of a vacuum. This allows for more braking power, since the pressure differential between atmospheric pressure and a feasible vacuum is less than that between atmospheric pressure and a realistic brake-pipe pressure. …show more content…

it should be same as in the brake pipe, during brake release but that the connection to the brake pipe is closed during a brake application. It is important to close the connection as soon as the brake pipe vacuum is reduced so that a difference in pressure is created between the upper and lower sides of the brake cylinder piston.
1.4 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VACUUM BRAKES:

ADVANTAGES:
1. It provides partial release, which the air brake could not.
2. It consists of accelerator valves which help to speed up the operation on each vehicle.
3. It consists of two pipe system, in which one is brake pipe and the second was provided to give an additional supply to speed up the brake release.
4. It consists of an equalizing reservoir which helps to set the brake to the right level.
5. Door operation , whistles, warning horns, etc. can be operated using the vacuum supply.
6. It is simple in

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