Design and fabrication of air brake system using IC engine exhaust gas

The aim of this project is to design and fabricate an Air Brake System based on Exhaust gases of an IC engine. The main objective is to reduce the workloads of the engine drive to operate the air compressor, because the compressor is not operated by the engine drive. A turbine is placed in the path of exhaust from the engine. The turbine is connected to a dynamo by means of coupling, which is used to generate power. Depending upon the airflow the turbine will start rotating, and then the dynamo will also start to rotate. A dynamo is a device which is used to convert the kinetic energy into electrical energy. The generated power can be stored in the battery and then this electric power has loaded to the DC compressor. The air compressor compresses the atmospheric air and it stored in the air tank and the air tank has pressure relief valve to control the pressure in the tank. The air tank supplies the compressed pneumatic power to the pneumatic actuator through solenoid valve to apply brake. The pneumatic actuator is a double acting cylinder which coverts pneumatic pressure into linear motion. The generated electric power from the turbine used to compress the air in the DC compressor then supplied the pneumatic power to the air braking system. The exhaust gas was effectively utilized to perform the air braking system in addition to the conventional braking system and found the improvement in the braking performance.