Analytical and experimental

investigation of the
phenomenon of self-locking
of brakes
R. VENKATACHALAM* and M. SYDULU**, Regional Engineer-
ing College, Warangal-506004, Andhra Pradesh, India.
*〈chalamrv@yahoo.com〉 **〈msydulu@recw.ernet.in〉

Received 6th November 1997

Revised 7th October 1999

The phenomenon of self-locking is encountered in mechanical brakes. When a bake is self-

locking, the friction torque tries to lock the brake drum completely; entirely on its own. In
this paper, an attempt is made to investigate the phenomenon of self-locking, mathemati-
cally. An attempt is next made to verify the analytical development, through an experiment.
Both the analytical and the experiment investigations agreed closely in the basic aspect that
the braking torque grows very rapidly with time. The analytical development predicted that
the braking torque grows as an exponential function of time. But the experimental investiga-
tion showed that the growth of braking torque is an exponential function of a power of time,
indicating that the torque grows much faster.

Key words: mechanical brakes, self-locking, growth of braking torque

1. NOMENCLATURE

F brake effort or applied force

K constant of proportionality
L length of the brake lever
N, No normal reactions
R radius of the brake drum
TB braking torque
T1, T2 tensions in the rope
a, b, c brake lever dimensions
t time
V voltage
θ angle of wrap
µ coefficient of friction

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234 R. Venkatachalam and M. Sydulu

2. INTRODUCTION

The brake is a mechanism, which is used to absorb the kinetic energy of a rotating part and
thereby stop or retard the motion. The brake absorbs the kinetic energy and releases to the
surroundings in the form of heat. The brakes are of different types namely, mechanical,
electrical and fluid brakes.
The mechanical brakes mainly depend on the frictional losses between one surface (brake
drum) which is moving relative to a stationary surface (brake shoe or a belt). The friction
between the two surfaces produce the braking or retarding torque. The mechanical brakes are
not only capable of retarding the motion but also are capable of bringing the motion to a
complete stop. Electrical brakes produce retarding torque by working against an electrical
load. The fluid brakes produce the braking torque by working against fluid friction. The
electrical and the fluid brakes are very effective for retarding the motion. But to achieve a
complete stop, they must be supplemented by mechanical brakes [1]. This is because the
braking torque in the case of electrical or fluid brakes falls sharply as the speed is reduced.
There are varieties of arrangements of mechanical brakes namely, shoe brakes, band
brakes, band and block brakes. Self-energizing and self-locking are the phenomena com-
monly encountered in mechanical brakes. Self-energizing enables the reduction of braking
effort while the self-locking can completely lock the brake drum and prevent it from rota-
tion. A brake which is self-locking is also self energizing, but the reverse may not always be
true. The self-energizing may be employed because it reduces the braking efforts, but the
self-locking is not preferred especially in applications like automobile brakes because it
prevents the rotation totally. Self-locking, however, is created intentionally in applications
like hoists and elevators for the purpose of safety.

3. PHENOMENON OF SELF-LOCKING

The phenomenon of self-energizing and self-locking can be explained as follows. Fig 1

shows a simple shoe brake arrangement with different lever arrangements. The brake lever is
acted upon by three forces, namely, the applied force F, the normal reaction N, and the
friction force µN. The braking torque TB is given by

TB = µNR (1)
where R is the radius of the brake drum and µ is the coefficient of friction between the brake
shoe and the brake drum.
In Fig. 1(a) the lever arrangement is such that the line of action of the friction force
passes through the pivot of the lever. The static equilibrium of the lever may be described by
F = N (a L) (2)

and the braking torque is given by

TB = µF( L a) R (3)
It is to be noted that the brake torque is the same even if the brake drum reverses its direction
of rotation.
In Fig. 1(b) the brake drum is shown to be rotating in the counter-clockwise direction and
pivot of the lever is at a distance (c – R) from the brake drum centre. The static equilibrium
of the lever may be described as

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Investigation of the phenomenon of self-locking of brakes 235

Fig. 1. Simple shoe brake with different lever arrangements.

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236 R. Venkatachalam and M. Sydulu

F = N ( a + µc) L (4)

and the braking torque is given by

TB = µF[ L ( a + µc)]R (5)

In Fig. 1(c) the brake drum arrangement is exactly the same as that in Fig. 1(b) but the
direction of rotation of the drum is clockwise. The static equilibrium of the lever and the
braking torque may be expressed as

F = N ( a − µc) L (6)

and
TB = µF[ L ( a − µc)]R (7)

A comparison of equation (7) with equation (5) reveals that for the same applied force F,
the braking torques produced are different in these two cases. Hence, the brake is not equally
effective for both the directions of rotation. Further, to achieve the same value of the braking
torque TB, the required applied force F, when the direction of rotation is clockwise, is less
than that when the direction of rotation is counter-clockwise. This is because the sense of the
moment of the friction force is the same as that of the applied force when the drum is
rotating in a clockwise direction. When the drum is rotating in a counter-clockwise direction,
the direction of the moment of the friction force is opposite to that of the applied force.
The brake lever is acted upon the three forces, namely, the applied force F, the normal
reaction N, and the friction force µN. The applied force always tries to press the shoe against
the drum. The normal reaction always tries to lift the lever from the drum. Thus the functions
of the applied force and the normal reaction are clear. However, the function of the friction
force is not definite, because its direction depends upon the direction of rotation of the brake
drum. When the drum rotation is counter-clockwise, the friction forces tries to help the
normal reaction in lifting the lever away from the drum. When the drum rotation is clock-
wise, the friction force tries to help the applied force in pressing the lever against the drum.
When the friction force tries to help the normal reaction, the value of the applied force will
be more because it has to counteract both the normal reaction and the friction force. When
the friction force acts against the normal reaction and tries to help the applied force, naturally
the value of the applied force will be reduced. By comparing equations (4) and (6), this fact
can be seen mathematically. A situation in which the friction force tries to help the applied
force is called ‘self-energizing’. As a rule of thumb, it may be stated that the brake is a self-
energizing brake if there is a scope for the applied force F to become negative; equation (6).
If the applied force F really becomes negative then the brake is said to be ‘self-locking’. In
the brake arrangements discussed above, the brake is self-energizing when the drum is
rotating in a clockwise direction as in Fig. 1(c). This brake becomes self-locking if a < µc;
equation (6). In a self-locking situation, the friction force keeps away the necessity of the
applied force and on its own, taking the entire burden, the friction force produces a large
braking torque, which ultimately brings the drum to a complete stop. A self-locking brake
must be a self-energizing brake first, but a self-energizing brake need not be a self-locking
brake. It is to be noted that in a self-locking brake, the brake lever is acted upon by only two
forces, namely, the normal reaction N and the friction force µN.
The phenomenon of self-locking may be explained physically, by considering the brake
arrangement shown in Fig. 2 which is the same as that in Fig. 1(c), but without the applied
force F. Let the brake lever be brought very close to the drum and made to touch. There will

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 Investigation of the phenomenon of self-locking of brakes 237

Fig. 2. Phenomenon of self-locking in brakes.

be some pressure between the shoe and the drum. However small it may be, it will immedi-
ately give rise to a normal reaction N and the friction force µN which may also be small in
magnitude. The moment due to the normal reaction, Na, tries to lift the lever away from the
drum. The moment due to the friction force, µNc, tries to press the lever against the drum. If
a < µc, the moment due to the friction force is more than the moment due to the normal
reaction, which results in pressing the brake show against the drum and thereby increasing
the normal reaction N. The new increased normal reaction produces a similar effect and
further increases the value of the normal reaction. Thus the normal reaction N and hence the
friction force µN will start building up their values unboundedly. Consequently, the braking
torque µNR also builds up unboundedly resulting in a complete stop of the brake drum. The
phenomenon of self-locking in brakes was well known [2]. However, very few studies
regarding the analysis of self-locking has been noticed in the literature. This paper presents a
mathematical analysis followed by an experimental investigation regarding the phenomenon
of self-locking brakes.

4. MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

It is felt intuitively that the normal reaction N and hence the braking torque TB, grow rapidly
with time. An attempt is first made to analyse this rapid growth, mathematically.
Consider the brake arrangement shown in Fig. 2, satisfying the self-lock condition

a < µc (8)

At an instant of time, the unbalanced moment which tries to press the show against the
drum is N(t) (µc – a). The unbalanced moment results in an increase in the value of the
normal reaction by an amount δN. At this stage, it is assumed that the increment δN is
proportional to the unbalanced moment and also the time interval δt. Therefore,

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238 R. Venkatachalam and M. Sydulu

δN = KN ( µc − a)δt (9)

or
δN N = K ( µc − a)δt (10)

where K is a constant of proportionality. Integrating equation (1) an expression for N may be

written as

N = N 0 exp[ K ( µc − a)t ] (11)

where N0 is the normal reaction at the beginning, i.e. at t = 0, when the shoe is brought near
the drum and made to touch. It is to be observed that the normal reaction and hence the
braking torque grow exponentially and the rate of growth depends upon the coefficient of
friction µ, and the lever lengths a and c.

5. EXPERIMENTATION

An attempt is next made to examine experimentally the growth of the breaking torque. First
a simple brake shoe arrangement is fabricated. But in view of a number of practical difficul-
ties encountered, a differential rope brake arrangement is tried. Fig. 3 shows the schematic
arrangement of the differential rope brake arrangement. The static equilibrium of the lever
may be described as
Fc + T1a – T2b = 0 (12)

where T1 and T2 are the tensions in the rope and may be related as
T1 T2 = exp( µθ ) (13)
where θ is the angle of wrap and µ is the coefficient of friction between the rope and the
drum.

Fig. 3. Differential rope brake arrangement.

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 Investigation of the phenomenon of self-locking of brakes 239

From equations (12) and (13), the applied force F may be expressed as
F = (T2 c)[b − a exp( µθ )] (14)
It is to be noted from equation (14) that there is a scope for F to become negative. Hence,
this can be self-energizing. If

b < a exp( µθ ) (15)

then the applied force really becomes negative and the brake becomes a self-locking brake.
In the experimental set-up, a V-groove pulley is used to serve as a brake drum. Because
of the V-groove, the rope will not slip from the brake drum. The drum is rotated by an
electrical motor. The lever arrangement is designed such that the condition given by equation
(15) is fulfilled. The rope is slowly brought near the pulley. The self-locking phenomenon
commences and the brake torque starts building up rapidly. A stage comes when the drum is
brought to a total stop. During this period, the motor in its attempt to rotate the drum, draws
more and more current as a function of time. The rate of drawing of current is assumed to be
proportional to the rate of growth of the braking torque.
Fig. 4 shows the photograph of the experimental set-up. Fig. 5 shows the experimental
set-up along with necessary electrical instrumentation and a storage oscilloscope. A brief
description of the electrical circuit is given in Fig. 6. A current transducer is used to convert
input current to the motor into DC voltage (0–5v range) in real time. The brake drum driving
motor is a fractional H.P. AC/DC motor (230v, 0.750 amp., 1/15 HP, 4500 rpm). In the
experiment, the motor is made to rotate at its rated speed and voltage, and a steady state
condition is achieved. The brake is then initiated by providing an infinitesimally small force.
Due to the self-locking conditions existing, the brake torque starts building up. During this

Fig. 4. Experimental set-up.

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240 R. Venkatachalam and M. Sydulu

period, the current drawn by the motor increases and hence the output voltage of the current
transducer is given as input to the storage oscilloscope in the real-time. The dynamic behav-
iour of the braking system is then analysed from the observations recorded in the storage
oscilloscope.

Fig. 5. Experimental set-up with necessary instrumentation.

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The voltage-current drawn by the motor is plotted on the storage oscilloscope screen. Fig. 7
shows the photograph of a typical record of the motor current obtained in the experiment.
The current is constant during no load conditions (steady state operation) and then starts
increasing as the brake is in action. The current drawn increases steeply and then comes to a
constant value, which may be identified as the rotor being locked completely. Table 1 gives
the numerical values of the voltage recorded as a function of time. Fig. 8(a) shows the plot of
voltage v with time t for the values given in Table 1. As a first attempt ln (V) is plotted
against time to as shown in Fig. 8(b). If the voltage is really an exponential function of time,
this plot would have been a straight line. However, the plot in Fig. 8(b) resulted in a curve
instead of a straight line variation. This has given a hint that the growth may not be an
exponential function of time but it may be exponential of time power. As a next attempt
ln (ln V) is plotted against ln (t) as shown in Fig. 8(c). The variation is almost a straight line.
This clearly indicates that the voltage V is not exponential function of time but it is exponen-
tial function of t n. From the values plotted in Fig. 8(c), the power n is calculated as n = 3.29.
It is therefore observed that

V = exp(t 3.29) (16)

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 Investigation of the phenomenon of self-locking of brakes 241

Fig. 6. Electrical circuit diagram.

It may now be stated that the braking torque may also be increasing as an exponential of
a time power, as indicated in equation (16).

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242 R. Venkatachalam and M. Sydulu

Fig. 7. A typical record observed on storage oscilloscope screen.

Table 1. Experimental observations and calculations

Time t (s) Voltage V (v) ln (V) ln (ln V) ln (T)

0.300 1.000 0 — –1.204

0.375 1.045 0.0440 –3.123 –0.981
0.450 1.110 0.1044 –2.260 –0.798
0.525 1.190 0.1740 –1.749 –0.644
0.600 1.300 0.2624 –1.338 –0.511
0.675 1.500 0.4055 –0.903 –0.393

7. CONCLUDING REMARKS

The following are the significant concluding remarks drawn on the basis of the present work.

(i) An attempt is made to explain the phenomenon of self-locking, mathematically.

(ii) An experimental set-up is fabricated and an attempt is made to verify the analytical
development.
(iii) The mathematical analysis showed that the braking torque is an exponentially grow-
ing function of time. However, the experimental result proved that the braking torque
is an exponentially growing function of a power of time.
(iv) The experimental set-up developed enables one to understand the phenomenon of
self-locking.

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Investigation of the phenomenon of self-locking of brakes 243

Fig. 8. Determination of the growth of the braking torque.

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244 R. Venkatachalam and M. Sydulu

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors wish to thank their student Mr B. Venkata Subbaiah who has shown keen
interest in carrying out the work. The authorities of the Regional Engineering College,
Warangal, are also acknowledged for providing various facilities.

REFERENCES
[1] Openshaw Taylor, E., Utilization of Electric Energy, Orient Longman, Bombay, 1971, pp. 40.
[2] Shigley, J. E., Mechanical Engineering Design, McGraw Hill Kogakusha Ltd., London, 1977, pp.
526.

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