හදිස්සි අවස්ථාවන් වලදී මග පෙන්වන ABS එක ගැන දන්නවද?

“Speed is never the cause for trouble, it's the sudden stops that get to you… ”A common man since their inception strives to get themselves a nice set of wheels to get around town. Some look for the comfortable ride while others look for practicality and the the exterior look for the car but everyone who has gotten their hands dirty with a faint bit of engine oil knows that speed is the name of the game, nothing short of a family wagon is underlooked when it comes to the speed category although the legality of Sri Lankan speeding laws have no practicality with what a buyer is looking for. For each of those thrill seekers and town commuters alike ABS is a revolutionary safety feature that could be the difference between safety and danger.

What is the mechanical wizardry behind ABS

Anti Locking Braking system or ABS for short could be a tiny indicator on your dashboard that you never thought to look at twice or it may be the tagline of a new and upcoming bike featuring ABS in an expensive trim. So how does this work exactly?. When you put the pedal to the metal on the brakes in certain conditions your brakes applied in continuous motion could cause the wheels to lock up sending the vehicle into almost horizontal freefall where the driver is out driven by the free will of the vehicle taking things to hazardous turns.

To prevent this, computer sensors work in sync with solenoid valves to determine wheel speed and road conditions to provide almost an on and off gesture with the brakes making sure the wheels don't lock up and maintain traction with the road. The computing unit does its wizardry by analyzing multiple conditions to execute the best outcome in a braking scenario.Especially in specific road conditions like gravel, your car might have an itinerary on its own when the brakes are applied causing the vehicles to flip in the worst case scenario. ABS allows you to maintain a certain amount of control within a relatively short braking distance

How does ABS go hand in hand with safety of passengers

An AB-system consists of wheel speed sensors,solenoid valves,pumps and the ECU, the brain of any vehicle.

This system constantly monitors the wheel speed of the said vehicle and sends the relevant data for the ECU to process.

The ABS controller is an always on system waiting for a direct command which meets the relevant conditions to break upon a given time expecting no surprises and always assuming for the worst

The controller relieves some of the pressure from the adjacent brake valves depressurizing and repressurising constantly to create a vacuum which is almost a constant binary motion.

It's correlated with wheel speed, as the wheels slows down the pressure is relieved while when it increases the pressure is increased to create room for maximum braking potential

Are there different types of ABS?

We can generally categorize ABS into three different variants,

The first variant being a four channel individual sensor system where each of the four wheels of the vehicle has individual sensors and pumps to create a specific and appropriate response for each set of tires creating maximum control at any given situation.

The second variant is most commonly found in your average pickup truck where the front axle has individual sensors while the rear axle has a common sensor which is possibly unreasonable considering pick up trucks carry their load on the rear tires which need more attention and a thought for the design engineers.

The third, a single channel which does the job but you're not going to find as good of a job as, a single input sensor works with ECU to give feed for all four wheels of the vehicle.

Maybe you haven't seen or heard about ABS other than from the ever so forgettable light from the dashboard or the spec sheet of your newly bought vehicle. Now that you have some knowledge on how it works you'll be thanking that every single day from a town commuter to a thrillseeker keeping your wheels on the streets and not in the air. Certainly stays true to the fact that speed in fact does not damage but it's the sudden stops that get you , so keep your brakes in check with ABS in a closer place to your foot.