Thursday 26 May 2011

Vacuum Brakes


The main competitor to the air brake is the vacuum brake, which operates on negative pressure. The vacuum brake is a little simpler than the air brake, with an ejector with no moving parts on steam engines or a mechanical or electrical "exhauster" on a diesel or electric locomotive replacing the air compressor. Disconnection taps at the ends of cars are not required as the loose hoses are sucked onto a mounting block.

However, the maximum pressure is limited to atmospheric pressure, so that all the equipment has to be much larger and heavier to compensate. This disadvantage is made worse at high altitude. The vacuum brake is also considerably slower acting in both applying and releasing the brake; this requires a greater level of skill and anticipation from the driver. Conversely, the vacuum brake had the advantage of gradual release long before the Westinghouse automatic air brake, which was originally only available in the direct-release form still common in freight service.

A primary fault of vacuum brakes is the inability to easily find leaks. In a positive air system, a leak is quickly found due to the escaping pressurized air. This problem left the British railways in a terrible condition, where trains would have to be stopped at the top of grades to set the manual brakes on each car. Purchase and maintenance of a mechanical air pump on hundreds of engines is nothing compared to keeping the vacuum line in good order across a fleet of tens of thousands of freight cars.

Electro-vacuum brakes have also been used with considerable success on South African electric multiple unit trains. Despite requiring larger and heavier equipment as stated above, the performance of the electro-vacuum brake approached that of contemporary electro-pneumatic brakes. However, their use has not been repeated.

No comments:

Post a Comment