Abstract
Understanding special market features is one of the most important activities when developing a product in the automotive industry. In the brake system field, brake durability programmes on public roads are one of the main requirements for development and final validation on almost all the OEM’s vehicles. The local driving pattern is one of the key points included in the analysis of brake durability tests, and can be highly beneficial when identifying a market. Hence, the comparison between different locations might also be essential for further exercises. The objective of this study is to characterize two of the main brake durability patterns in India and compare them with other main programmes worldwide. The paper is focused on the Indian region characterization, including a comparison with the other main worldwide locations and using the brake durability programme as the method for defining and comparing each site. With the aim of assessing these markets, two main routes were performed in India, covering both city traffic (Delhi) and country side (Pune, Maharastra) profiles. Regarding the rest of the worldwide programmes, Shanghai (China), Los Angeles (USA), Barcelona and Mojácar (Spain) were selected for their comparison, involving the Chinese, American and European markets for a complete loop. For each location, a standard route profile was defined (some of them already representing global standards of the brake industry) and local drivers were selected for the mileage accumulation (experienced in brake durability performance). In this way, the local driving pattern was fully characterized in each site and taken into account for the comparison. The main parameters used for this objective evaluation are as follows: number of brake applications, vehicle speed distribution, deceleration ranges and brake temperature. The criterion of route severity, coming from a combination of the braking energy and power outputs of the brake applications performed are also introduced. This exercise increases previous studies made in the brake durability field, as the Indian market was never considered before. Therefore, the increase of the number of locations, as well as the high variation of markets, helps to enrich the comparison of the results. All in all, the results of this project show a controlled and robust comparison in all the mentioned aspects of the brake durability programmes. The peculiarities of each pattern are clearly demonstrated, showing both divergences and similarities and helping to understand each market. The outputs finally reflect very surprising results coming from the global comparison, giving a total new approach of the studies presented till now in this field, as it puts the focus on a market (India) which is in constant growth and is expected to make great progress in this sector.