Thursday, 9 July 2015

BRAKING SYSTEM


BRAKING SYSTEM



The vehicle brake used to slow down a vehicle by converting its Kinetic Energy into Heat energy.
It basically inhibits motion, slowing down or stopping a moving object or preventing its motion.
REQUIREMENTS OF A BRAKING SYSTEM
  Stops the vehicle within smallest possible distance.
  Acts instantaneously in case of an emergency.
  Strong enough to sustain sudden braking force.
  Neither slips nor should cause any skid the vehicle.
  Operates with the least effort.

TYPES OF BRAKES
  MECHANICAL BRAKES
  HYDRAULIC RAKES
  PNEUMATIC BRAKES
  ELECTRIC  BRAKES

HYDRAULIC BRAKES
Hydraulic brakes are actuated by the hydraulic pressure (pressure of a fluid). It is commonly used in the automobiles.


WORKING PRINCIPLE : Hydraulic brakes work on the principle of Pascal’s law.

PASCALS LAW :
“Pressure at a point in a fluid is equal in all directions in space”.


DISC BRAKE
The disc brake is a wheel brake which slows rotation of the wheel by the friction caused by pushing brake pads against a brake disc with a set of callipers.

 DRUM BRAKE
A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press against a rotating drum-shaped part called a brake drum. The term drum brake usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surface of the drum.

ADVANTAGES OF DISC BRAKE OVER DRUM BRAKE
  Lighter in weight .
  Better performance in wet conditions.
  Less prone to brake fade due to better heat   dissipation. Brake ducts may be installed to improve heat dissipation further.
   It also has the advantage of being self adjusting.
   It is more efficient.

ANTILOCK BRAKING SYSTEM (ABS)
ABS addresses two conditions related to brake application, wheel lockup and vehicle directional control. Without ABS when brakes are applied with enough force to lock the wheels, the vehicle may slide uncontrollably. ABS Systems use speed sensors at the wheels. The speed sensors are monitored by ECU.






Wednesday, 8 July 2015

KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM



 KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM




A kinetic energy recovery system (often known simply as KERS) is an automotive system for recovering a moving vehicle's kinetic energy under braking. The recovered energy is stored in a reservoir (for example a flywheel or high voltage batteries) for later use under acceleration. Formula One has stated that they support responsible solutions to the world's environmental challenges, and the FIA allowed the use of 60 kW (82 PS; 80 bhp) KERS in the regulations for the 2009 Formula One seasonTeams began testing systems in 2008: energy can either be stored as mechanical energy (as in a flywheel) or as electrical energy (as in a battery or supercapacitor). Kimi Räikkönen took the lead of the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix with a KERS-aided overtake and subsequently won the race. With the introduction of KERS in the 2009 season, only four teams used it at some point in the season: Ferrari, Renault, BMW and McLaren. Eventually, during the season, Renault and BMW stopped using the system. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes became the first team to win a F1 GP using a KERS equipped car when Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26, 2009. Their second KERS equipped car finished fifth. At the following race, Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to take pole position with a KERS car, his team mate, Heikki Kovalainen qualifying second. This was also the first instance of an all KERS front row. On August 30, 2009, Kimi Räikkönen won the Belgian Grand Prix with his KERS equipped Ferrari. It was the first time that KERS contributed directly to a race victory, with second placed Giancarlo Fisichella claiming "Actually, I was quicker than Kimi. He only took me because of KERS at the beginning"


TYPES OF KERS
There are two basic types of KERS systems:
Electrical and Mechanical. The main difference between them is in the way they convert the energy and how that energy is stored within the vehicle


WORKING PRINCIPLE

ELECTRICAL KERS
In electrical KERS, braking rotational force is captured by an electric motor / generator unit (MGU) mounted to the engines crankshaft. This MGU takes the electrical energy that it converts from kinetic energy and stores it in batteries. The boost button then summons the electrical energy in the batteries to power the MGU. The most difficult part in designing electrical KERS is how to store the electrical energy. Most racing systems use a lithium battery, which is essentially a large mobile phone battery.
Batteries become hot when charging them so many of the KERS cars have more cooling ducts since charging will occur multiple times throughout a race. Super-capacitors can also be used to store electrical energy instead of batteries; they run cooler and are debatably more efficient.

MECHANICAL KERS
The concept of transferring the vehicle’s kinetic energy using flywheel energy storage was postulated by physicist Richard Feynman in the 1950. The mechanical KERS system has a flywheel as the energy storage device and it does away with MGUs by replacing them with a transmission to control and transfer the energy to and from the driveline. The kinetic energy of the vehicle ends up as kinetic energy of a rotating flywheel through the use of shafts and gears. Unlike electrical KERS, this method of storage prevents the need to transform energy from one type to another. Each energy conversion in electrical KERS brings its own losses and the overall efficiency is poor compared to mechanical storage. To cope with the continuous change in speed ratio between the flywheel and road-wheels, a continuously variable transmission (CVT) is used, which is managed by an electro-hydraulic control system. A clutch allows disengagement of the device when not in
Braking at the wheels dissipates the kinetic energy of the vehicle that is therefore completely lost. Conversely, KERS may store the kinetic energy of the vehicle during braking and return it under acceleration. The system utilises a flywheel as the energy storage device and a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) to transfer energy to and from the driveline to the rotating flywheel. The transfer of the vehicle kinetic energy to the flywheel kinetic energy reduces the speed of the vehicle and increases the speed of the flywheel. The transfer of the flywheel kinetic energy to the vehicle kinetic energy reduces the speed of the flywheel and increases the speed of the vehicle. The CVT is used because the ratios of vehicle and flywheel speed are different during a braking or an acceleration event. can change steplessly through an infinite number of effective gear ratios between maximum and minimum values. This contrasts with other mechanical transmissions that offer


ADVANTANGE OF MECHANICAL KERS OVER ELECTRICAL KERS
 Battery-based electric hybrid systems require a number of energy conversions each with corresponding efficiency losses. On reapplication of the energy to the driveline, the global energy conversion efficiency is 31–34%. The mechanical hybrid system storing energy mechanically in a rotating fly wheel eliminates the various energy conversions and provides a global energy conversion efficiency exceeding 70%, more than twice the efficiency of an electric system.

Monday, 6 July 2015

STEERING




 STEERING

FUNCTIONS
Convert rotary movement of the steering wheel into angular 
turn of the front wheel.
Reduce the driver’s effort.
It also absorbs a part of road shocks.

RACK AND PINION STEERING SYSTEM
A rack-and-pinion gear set is enclosed in a metal tube, with each end of the rack protruding from the tube.
The Pinion gear is attached to the steering shaft. When 
steering wheel is turned, the gear spins, moving the rack. 
The tie rod at each end of the rack connects to the steering 
arm on the spindle.
 


PITMAN ARM STEERING SYSTEM
Pitman arm mechanisms have a steering 'box' where the shaft from the steering wheel comes in and a lever arm comes out - the pitman arm. This pitman arm is linked to the track rod or centre link, which is supported by idler arms. The tie rods connect to the track rod. There are a large number of variations of the actual mechanical linkage from direct-link where the pitman arm is connected directly to the track rod, to compound linkages where it is connected to one end of the steering system or the track rod via other rods.



STEERING RATIO
Steering ratio refers to the ratio between the turn of the steering wheel (in degrees) or handlebars and the turn of the wheels (in degrees).
A higher steering ratio means that you have to turn the 
steering wheel more, to get the wheels turning, but it will be 
easier to turn the steering wheel.
Most cars have a steering ratio of around 17:1, to have a 
light steering Larger and heavier vehicles will often have a 
higher steering ratio, which will make the steering wheel 
easier to turn.
 


STEERING GEOMETRY
You might be surprised to learn (or some of you may even already know!) that when you turn your car, your front wheels are not pointing in the same direction i.e., they do not turn by the equal angles.



POWER STEERING
Power steering helps drivers steer vehicles by augmenting steering effort of the steering wheel. Hydraulic or electric actuators add controlled energy to the steering mechanism, so the driver needs to provide only modest effort regardless of conditions.


ELECTRIC POWER STEERING
 It uses an electric motor to assist the driver  of a vehicle. Sensors detect the position and torque of the steering column, and a computer module applies assistive torque via the motor, which connects to either the steering gear or steering column.



HYDRAULIC POWER STEERING
It is a hydraulic system for reducing the steering effort on 
vehicles by using hydraulic pressure to assist in turning the 
wheels. The working liquid, also called "hydraulic fluid" or 
"oil", is the medium by which pressure is transmitted.