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Truck air-actuated disc brake. An air brake or, more formally, a compressed-air-brake system, is a type of friction brake for vehicles in which compressed air pressing on a piston is used to both release the parking/emergency brakes in order to move the vehicle, and also to apply pressure to the brake pads or brake shoes to slow and stop the vehicle.
It is normally powered by air, but hydraulic power can be used too. The S-cam foundation brake is being used in over 85% of vehicles in the U.S. that run with air brakes. [1] S-cam's are only used with drum brakes because the cam pushes on the brakes which rubs against the rotating drum, and thus slowing the vehicle. [2]
A comparatively simple brake linkage. In the air brake's simplest form, called the straight air system, compressed air pushes on a piston in a cylinder. The piston is connected through mechanical linkage to brake shoes that can rub on the train wheels, using the resulting friction to slow the train.
When the brake pipe and car components are charged with air, the brakes release. When the engineer needs to make a brake application, control valves in the locomotive reduce the brake pipe pressure. As the brake pipe pressure is reduced, the service portions on each car divert air from their reservoirs to their brake cylinders.
Foundation components are the brake-assembly components at the wheels of a vehicle, named for forming the basis of the rest of the brake system. These mechanical parts contained around the wheels are controlled by the air brake system. The three types of foundation brake systems are “S” cam brakes, disc brakes and wedge brakes. [3]
The driver's brake valve is a complicated valve system for controlling the compressed air brake of a railway vehicle. [1] Depending on its setting, it controls whether the brake pipes of a compressed air brake are evacuated and thus whether braking is applied or maintained; or if the brake pipes are connected to a compressed air reservoir, it ...
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In aeronautics, air brakes or speed brakes are a type of flight control surface used on an aircraft to increase the drag on the aircraft. [1] When extended into the airstream, air brakes cause an increase in the drag on the aircraft. When not in use, they conform to the local streamlined profile of the aircraft in order to help minimize drag. [2]