Performance evaluation of an electro-pneumatic braking system for commercial vehicles

The brake system is one of the vital systems in an automobile that ensure its safety on the road. Air brake systems are usually used in commercial vehicle such as buses, trucks and tractor-trailers. The brake system should ideally operate with the least effort from the driver and should stop the vehicle within the shortest possible distance. The brake time lag and the brake response time are two important parameters that play a major role in determining the stopping distance. The conventional air brake system uses mechanically actuated valves that have an intrinsic time lag associated with them. An electro-pneumatic brake will use electronically actuated valves that will reduce the stopping distance of the vehicle by decreasing the time lag and the response time of the brake system. The work presented in this paper focuses on a comprehensive performance evaluation of an electro-pneumatic brake system in comparison with the conventional air brake system. This is carried out by performing exhaustive experiments and analyzing the collected data. The best configuration of the electro-pneumatic brake system is determined considering both system performance and system cost and complexity. © 2012 IEEE.