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Air brakes, otherwise known as pneumatic brakes, use compressed air to trigger mechanical braking action.
The air is put under pressure by a compressor operating from the tractor’s engine. Compressed air is stored on the tractor and on the trailer, and replenished as required.
While the system needs to be fitted to both tractor and trailer in order to mesh with the tractor’s electronic and hydraulic systems, the air braking action is only used to stop the trailer. The tractor’s own hydraulic brake system is sufficient to stop the tractor.
There are various failsafe mechanisms with air brakes that ensure that the brakes are applied if the power supply to the compressor is broken – such as if the engine is switched off or the trailer becomes detached.
Air brakes are more powerful, more sensitive and more easily controlled than simple hydraulic brakes. They are also clean and cheap to operate.
Air brakes are always used on commercial trailers. However, agricultural trailers have tended to rely on simple hydraulic brakes until quite recently. Due to increasing loads carried and greater tractor speeds, legislation increasingly requires agricultural trailers to be fitted with air brakes. Similarly, any tractors used to pull these trailers will need to be fitted with an air brake system to operate the trailer’s air brakes. Tractors are constantly getting bigger and faster, and the size of the trailers and their loads have grown proportionately. It is one thing to pull a heavily loaded trailer, but it is quite another to stop both tractor and trailer quickly and safely. The hydraulic foundation brakes fitted to the tractor at the factory are not sufficient to stop a heavily laden trailer on the highway. For this reason, there is a growing demand (and legislation) for air brake systems to be installed to any tractor pulling large loads on the roads. Air brakes apply the brakes on the trailer quicker, with greater control. Air brake systems reduce jackknife situations, as the trailer starts to brake a fraction before the tractor. They also reduce the very expensive wear on the tractor’s foundation brakes and engine. TractAir air brake systems can be fitted on the original production line or retrofitted to most models of tractor by a competent agricultural engineer. TractAir designs and manufactures air brake systems for agricultural trailer, tankers and towed implements. These are simpler than the tractor systems, with fewer variables. The trailer air brake system includes all necessary components and pipework. Air brake systems are also supplied with clear fitting instructions. The options include different kinds of load sensing valves, test equipment, tyre inflation kits, ABS, line filters, and mounting brackets. The most popular systems are those that incorporate combined air & hydraulic brake chambers, allowing the trailer to be safely pulled by a mixed fleet of tractors with and without air brake capabilities. Individual components can also be purchased separately. |
