Dana Holding Corporation has published a new white paper for the commercial-trucking industry that presents optimized tire pressure as a solution to prevent blowouts and other tire events, improve fuel economy, and reduce operating costs.
Titled “Optimized Tire-Pressure Management,” the paper is free and may be downloaded at danacv.com/optimizedtirepressure.
Authored by Jason Sidders, engineering manager for advanced chassis control systems at Dana, it describes the benefits of an optimized tire-pressure management system that not only monitors pressure for all tires on a linehaul tractor, but has the capability to automatically adjust that pressure, inflating, or deflating as needed for optimal driving conditions.
The paper also describes the pros and cons of currently available tire-pressure monitoring systems. Recently proposed Phase 2 standards from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) support the need for more technological options to help manufacturers further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel efficiency, including systems such as Dana’s optimized tire-pressure technology. These agencies specifically identify the need for optimized tire pressure in order to maximize the efficiency of low-rolling-resistance tires and also recognize the benefits of automatic tire inflation versus monitor-only systems.
“We support these new standards proposed by the EPA and NHTSA, which introduce the concept of a 1% credit toward fuel-economy targets for linehaul truck owners that utilize automatic tire-inflation technology--a credit that does not apply to monitor-only systems in the proposal,” said Mark Wallace, executive vice-president of Dana and group president of Dana On-Highway Driveline Technologies. “In fact, we believe the incentive should differentiate between inflate-only systems and technology such as Dana’s, which features both inflate and deflate capabilities to boost efficiency even further.”
In addition to details on Dana’s technology, charts in the white paper help illustrate the data presented, including the impact of underinflated tires on fuel economy and a comparison of benefits between monitor-only systems and Dana’s optimized tire-pressure management technology.
Dana has been a longstanding leader in tire-pressure optimization, with decades of experience engineering tire-pressure management technology for the US military. Building on this expertise, Dana’s tire-pressure optimization system reportedly will overcome the significant challenges that other systems for linehaul trucks do not currently address.
Dana’s system will eliminate dependence on the malfunction indicator lamp to alert the driver to potential problems, freeing the driver from making judgment calls that could affect safety and efficiency. Additionally, drivers can spend more time on the road and less time stopping to check the pressure of each tire. The system will adjust tire pressure as needed and record each occurrence, alerting maintenance personnel to examine seemingly minor issues and address larger problems before a major failure occurs. Available in 2017, Dana’s system is being optimized for use with 6x4, 6x2, and 4x2 configurations.