Examination of a laboratory system to reduce dust emission from braking systems of automotive vehicle

Dust is one of the factors that pose most serious danger to human health, especially in densely populated central parts of urban agglomerations. A significant part of dust emissions comes from the motor traffic. Among the dust emission sources related to the vehicle traffic, an important item is the emission of dust from braking systems. A concept to reduce the dust emission from braking systems was developed at PIMOT. A test facility was built, which included a laboratory system to reduce dust emission from braking systems. Preliminary results of the tests carried out showed the proposed solution to be very effective. Empirical tests of the laboratory system were carried out and used for the construction of a mathematical model of the dust emission reduction processes, with the model having been built in accordance with the principle of functional similarity (a behaviouristic model); the results of the tests have been presented in this paper. To identify the model, results of empirical tests carried out on a Krauss test stand were employed. The model examination results presented here provide a possibility of reasonable selection of parameters of the laboratory system. Tests were also carried out to determine the correlation between the coefficient of effectiveness of the reduction of dust emission from the braking system and the independent variables of the model. The examination of the mathematical model unequivocally showed that the effectiveness of the reduction of dust emission most strongly depended on the negative pressure in the pneumatic system. Guidelines for the development work on the proposed concept of a system to reduce dust emission from braking systems have also been presented in this paper.