Investigate Applicable Legislation

All machinery is required to be safe. For road vehicles the braking performance is clearly defined in national and international legislation. Unfortunately these requirements are occasionally mutually exclusive.
In the EU agricultural tractors also have defined braking legislation but all other machinery should achieve braking performance through a convoluted route within the machinery directive which will involve testing to one of many braking standards laid down by the ISO, SAE etc.
This braking performance requirement does not guarantee braking durability and numerous other test standards exist to ensure individual components perform correctly. Whilst not a legal requirement, components that do not comply with recognised standards would not be looked upon favourably should a serious failure occur.

A typical project may start by defining the relevant legislation then continue into an FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis) exercise to determine which systems or components require further investigation to ensure safety prior to product launch. This could be requesting or challenging suppliers test data, additional design analysis, specific testing to recognised standards, or just more careful monitoring during the normal test regime.
At the end of the project the system should be ready for engineering sign off.

(I have been a member of an ISO Committee responsible for earthmover braking)

home • system specification • market quality • braking projects • local projects • about us • contact us
braking overview • Peter's blog

© Engineering Inspiration