Types of Electronic Braking Systems: What Type of Brakes Do You Need?

Motor brakes are a fascinating piece of technology that have played an important role in space exploration and other historic events.

Like a lot of technical fields, there’s a lot of complexity when it comes to differences between one type of brakes and another. It can be hard to know exactly which brake is the right choice for your needs.

Read on to learn the basics of motor brakes and what they can do for you!

The Most Common Type of Motor Brakes

There are two types of brakes that dominate most of the playing field. These are the spring set brake and the electrically set brake.

Permanent magnet brakes also exist, but they are not used nearly as often.

Spring Set Brakes

Spring set brakes derive their name from the fact that they base their stopping power on springs. As soon as the power to a motor is cut, the springs push themselves into place and bring the motor to a halt. Since braking happens automatically when power is cut, spring set brakes are a great choice as a fail-safe motor brake.

On the other hand, for precisely the same reason, these brakes don’t allow very much control. The result is that they are a good choice for rapid stopping.

Another kind of spring set brake is called the DC brake. DC brakes have a very simple design that leads to them requiring very little maintenance. If you like, you can also adjust the exact amount of torque brought to bear on your motor.

3-phase brakes are another category of spring set brakes. While the amount of torque they provide can also be adjusted, they do not have the same speedy response time as the DC brakes.

Electrically Set Brakes

Electrically set brakes are an entirely different category of brakes. In some sense, these electronic braking systems are the opposite of spring set brakes. Spring set brakes apply automatically when power is cut, while electrically set brakes are only able to apply braking force when there’s power present.

Electric motor brakes can be a better choice for motors with soft release or high cycling needs.

Permanent Magnet Brakes

Permanent magnet braking systems are a specialist tool, used for things like escalators. They are less efficient than other options.

As their name suggests, these brakes are based on the force of magnets, and magnets never turn off. In a sense, these brakes are always on, and the motor can only run when a sufficiently strong oppositional magnetic force cancels out the brake power.

Learn What Type of Brakes Are Best For You

We hope you were able to learn something helpful about the type of brakes you can get. Knowing your equipment is essential for knowing that you’re making the most out of your setup.