Brakes are a crucial part of any of the vehicle. Without a break, there would be absolutely no way of stopping or hindering the run of a vehicle or machine. To overcome this problem, the machine was fitted with a certain mechanism which can stop the machine according to your needs. The idea was to use a pedal of sorts, which amplifies the power applied on it and sends the power applied as an opposing force to the working of the machine, thus making the machine stop. One such advancement in the field of brake development is a vacuum booster.
What is A Vacuum Booster?
These are nothing but a system developed to reduce the effort needed to be applied on a break for it to work and stop the machine. The system works on the principle of using a vacuum to suck out air in the chamber when force is applied. Apart from the cars, you can also find such systems in major machines and you can use the same to operate the machines smoothly.
What Are the Features of A Vacuum Booster?
Essentially the vacuum booster is nothing but a fluidless pump. There are multiple pumps available that use fluid to lubricate and amplify force. These boosters use the vacuum to do the same, in a more efficient way.
Since it uses the vacuum, there is very little friction which leads to low power consumption, when it comes to working at high speeds and greater volumes. The normal speeds of these boosters under high pressure can go up to 25-30 times faster than a vane pump or a ring pump.
In the range of 0.001 torrs, these boosters can be used to generate huge vacuum and volumetric speeds of a high level in low pressure. Fluid based pumps like water ring pumps will not be able to maintain high pumping speeds when they try to approach the ultimate levels.
The Mean Time between Failures, also known as, M.T.B.F in these boosters is long and these have a service life of an additional 7 to 10 years. No regular maintenance is needed unlike the ones need in other valves, which consists of different parts like valves, stuffing boxes, rings, etc. these parts often get damaged due to constant wear and tear.
One can use electronic control devices to modify the vacuum booster and alter its characteristics according to their needs. An example of such an electronic controlling device is a VFD or a Variable Frequency Device. These devices can be easily integrated into boosters.
These boosters can prove to be very power efficient. When these are combined with a prime pump, the pumping would require lesser power per unit of pumping speed. Therefore, this enables them to provide high pumping speeds at less pressure. You can also save your power and fluid consumption by using the vacuum booster.
The vapor compression done by the booster causes a constant high pressure at the discharge end of the booster or the inlet of the pump. If the booster is being used with a pump, a condenser might be needed to trap any vapors that escape during the process. This makes sure that the prime pump is free of any vapors and thus making sure the life of the pump and booster is extended and well kept. This also maximizes the efficiency and minimizes the frequent change of oil.
The features of boosters have been listed in the points above. Keeping these points in mind, one will know whether they need a vacuum booster to be a part of their project or not.
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