What device manages the operations of the compressor in an air brake system?
- The governor ✓
- The air dryer
- The pressure relief valve
- The brake pedal
Answer: A. The governor
The governor manages the compressor in an air brake system.
Why this is the answer
The handbook describes the governor as the part that decides when the compressor should stop building pressure and when it should start again. It explains that the compressor can make far more pressure than the system needs, and that once enough pressure is built up the governor causes the compressor to go into an unloading stage. When tank pressure drops after repeated brake use, the governor is what starts compression again. That matches the bank answer.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. The air dryer — The air dryer is not identified in the passages as the device that starts or stops the compressor; the governor is given that job.
- C. The pressure relief valve — The pressure relief valve is not named in the passages as the device that controls the compressor; the governor is described as doing that.
- D. The brake pedal — The brake pedal, or foot valve, is described as applying the brakes by directing compressed air to them, not as managing the compressor.
Remember it
Picture the governor as the switch that unloads the compressor once the tanks have enough air.
Official handbook: ICBC Driving Commercial Vehicles, 8 Air brakes – Governor, p. 152