Brake system

> General description

> wear indication > hydraulic connections > brake bleeding valve > emergency
brake operation
Aircraft brakes is used for slowing or stopping the motion of aircraft by
converting the Kinetic Energy to Heat Energy. Some aircrafts may be using cable
to control the brake system. Some aircrafts also using hydraulic fluid to control
the brake system. Besides, the Airbus 350XWB is using carbon brakes, with even
high performance. Carbon brakes for A350XWB feature high energy absorption
and faster cool down and increase fleet availability. The carbon brakes are
approximately forty percent lighter than conventional brakes.

Wear indication
Brake lining material is made to wear as it causes friction during application of
the brakes. This wear must be monitored to ensure it is not worn beyond limits
and sufficient lining is available for effective braking the aircraft manufacturer
gives specification for lining wear in the maintenance information. The amount of
wear can be checked while the brakes are installed on the aircraft.
Many brakes assemblies contain a built-in wear indicator pin. To identify the
amount of wear, the stem of the pin protruding through the cylinder head serves
as a wear indicator. From the manufacturers maintenance information it will
states the minimum length of the pin that needs to be protruding for the brakes
to be considered airworthy. ( Figure below )
Typically, the exposed pin length decreases as the lining wear, and a minimum
length is used to indicate linings must be replaced. Caution must be used as
different assemblies may vary in how the pin measured.

Hydraulic Connections

Brake Bleeding Valve

brake bleeding valve is use to purge of any air bubbles that is trapped in the
fluid. Brake bleeding is the procedure performed on hydraulic brake systems
whereby the brake lines are purged of any air bubbles.

Emergency Brake Operation

When aircraft hydraulic system failure or brake failure, it may involves another
hydraulic system for back-up or use a similar alternation of sources and brake
assemblies to maintain braking in case of hydraulic system or brake failure. In
Airbus A350 AWX it is using bogie wheel configuration, in bogie configuration
each wheel has its individual braking system therefore if one of the wheels
brake failure still able to maintain braking.

In addition to supply system redundancy, the brake accumulator is also an

emergency source of power for the brakes in many power brake systems. The

accumulator is pre-charged with air or nitrogen on one side of its internal

diaphragm. Enough hydraulic fluid is contained on the other side of the
diaphragm to operate the brakes in case of an emergency. It is forced out the
accumulator into the brakes through the system lines under enough stored
pressure so slow the aircraft. Typically, the accumulator is located upstream of
the brake control/metering valve to capitalize on the control given by the valve.