MUCH MORE ON BRAKES

July 22, 2011 Vol. 7, No. 15

Please, bear with me at the start of things here. I'm going to clear up a matter of language and meaning before I write anything else. Won't take long.

Engines. Motors. Are they one and the same?

I ask because every once in a while I get a snippy e-mail from folks telling me to quit using the words interchangeably. Nope, I won't.

An engine is a motor and a motor is an engine, period.

The usual complaint I receive claims that a motor can only be electrical, like the thing that drives your workbench grinder or hundreds of other such things in your life and mine. True, in common usage we never refer to those smoothly spinning marvels as 'electric engines' but we could. That's what they are. We could also call them 'electric machines' but we never do.

I went to Merriam-Webster online -- my 2-volume Oxford is on the top shelf and  I'd have to get up -- just to clarify things. Here's how it defines 'motor'... a. a small compact engine; b. internal combustion engine; c. a rotating machine that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy.

Synonyms for 'motor'? Engine and machine.

So there.

Now on to serious stuff, including a return visit to CFMVSS 121.

BETTER STOPPING, THE BENDIX VIEW. Last time out I reported on a webinar conducted by the big guys of Meritor's brake operation, Chad Mitts and Joe Kay, about the new CFMVSS 121 stopping-distance requirements. They focused on the differences between air disc brakes and good old S-cams and how they can both meet the new standard.

I figured the competition's approach would be well worth investigating too, in fairness, so I arranged a phone chat with Gary Ganaway, director and marketing chief at Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake. We talked for quite a while.

Phase 1 of the rule, to remind you, demands that a 3-axle tractor grossing under 59,600 lb be able to stop in 250 ft from 60 mph instead of the present 335. It applies to trucks built on or after August 1 in just over a week from now. Phase 2 kicks in on August 1, 2013 when all other configurations and weights are targeted. The 250-ft standard applies to most others, but bigger trucks -- 3-axles above 70,000 lb and 4-axles above 85,000 lb -- will have a 310-ft stopping-distance max.

The folks at Bendix are ready for all this, of course, with both drum and disc products. Earlier this year they introduced a new version of their Extended Service drum brake specifically to meet the new NHTSA standard. The improved single-anchor-pin ES brakes achieve higher performance levels through mechanical enhancements like more durable bronze bushings (instead of plastic) and precision cams, both of which contribute to better dimensional control and durability. But, as with Meritor, the biggest gain is through new "state of the art" lining materials.

Today's S-cam brake is very, very different from the ones we've had in the past, a remarkably superior stopper, says Ganaway.

"This new friction is just outstanding," he told me. "In some configurations we're seeing over a million miles on drum-brake linings. In highway use lining life has been simply incredible."

Bendix data suggests that a million miles is actually the mean, he adds, given this new friction on the current high-performance brake with its improved mechanical bits.

Ganaway notes that the big 16.5 brake may in some cases demand a bigger auto slack adjuster and a chamber-size increase from 20 to 24 sq in. The torque gain in going from an old-style 15 x 4 ES brake to the newest 16.5-in. type is substantial -- from about 6500 lb ft to 9000, he says.
 

Of course, Bendix is also a major supplier of air discs, and Ganaway is pretty high on their capabilities while acknowledging that they're not required in Phase 1 of the NHTSA stopping-distance regime. He says they're really catching on, though, not least because of Peterbilt's decision to make his air discs standard on all its class-8 models. You can still get S-cams, naturally, but you'll first have to opt out of discs.

In fact Bendix has opened a new production line at its Bowling Green, Ky. plant to meet increased demand for the ADB22X air-disc brake (pictured here), and Ganaway says the build rate has doubled in each of the last two years. Fleets, he says, are realizing the return on investment isn't to be measured only in terms of service gains but in driver appreciation.

"Not only are they finding the cost of ownership to be very attractive, but their drivers also like the feel of air discs and the added stopping power they get."

He goes on to talk about the NHTSA test regime that specifies a speed of 60 mph and a "very low" brake temperature of 200 F (392 C). In those conditions, a new drum brake can get relatively close to an air disc in terms of stopping distance. "But at the bottom of a grade on the West Virginia Turnpike," a truck's brakes will be an awful lot hotter than that, which is where the disc shines.

"At that point the two are worlds apart," he says, the disc outperforming the drum by far. "It's a dramatic difference."

Add speed to the equation, like 65 mph instead of 60, and the same holds true. That small 5 mph difference represents nearly a 20% bigger demand on a truck's braking system. That's why, says Ganaway, his company's product development efforts assume 65 mph, which he figures is closer to reality than 60.

The 60-mph test speed only makes sense from a regulatory standpoint anyway, as a means to establish standards, and there are experts who suggest it would probably make more sense these days to test as high as 75 mph.

The disc advantage is even more apparent up there, and dramatically so. A few years back, using a rig with a GVW of 56,500 lb, Meritor did some tests showing that a tractor with 15-x-4 drum brakes could stop in 267 ft from 60 mph. And from 75 mph? Those extra 15 mph meant the stopping distance more than doubled to a whopping 541 ft, and there were some tests that noted a figure of 618 ft.

Put air discs all around the tractor and the 60-mph stop was accomplished in 204 ft, or 324 from 75.

Note that bigger "high performance" drum brakes also recorded decent numbers, achieving 223 ft from 60 mph and 387 ft from 75. .
 
CLAUDE ROBERT CHIPPED IN HERE TOO by way of an interesting e-mail exchange following my last newsletter.

Robert, pictured below, is president and even occasional driver at Quebec's Transport Groupe Robert, and he specs nothing but air discs already. He loves them, especially in hilly terrain where they really do show their mettle.

"More important," he says, "the maintenance of disc versus drums... no comparison. If you do proper preventive maintenance, a brake job for an air disc  is less then 15 minutes; on drums it's a minimum of two hours. Our company has been buying only discs for over three years and the results are fantastic."

Robert, who heads Canada's 7th largest fleet and was formerly chairman of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, is an influencer, technologically adventuresome, so it's always useful to know what he's thinking and doing. And he raises a very interesting point about the power of air discs and the new stopping distances. Bet you hadn't thought of this one.

He's concerned about the strength of the front wall on van trailers in the face of more powerful stoppers and shorter distances. In fact, he says he's done some testing -- a common activity for Robert -- that shows very high G-forces on that front wall when braking an all-disc-equipped LCV (long combination vehicle, in this case twin 53-footers). We're talking a gross weight of 130,000 lb here coming down hard but from only 90 km/h, or 55 mph, the max allowed for such rigs.

"The front wall of a normal trailer will not hold the load," Robert says. "And on a flatbed, I do not want to try it personally on any type of load with the existing tie-down requirements unless there is protection behind the cab to protect my life or my driver's. Nobody has yet been looking at the construction of the front end of the trailers; all they look for is the empty weight of the trailer to compensate for heavier tractors."

I'm going to pursue this one. Yeah, I know, just add it to a very long list.

Robert makes another pretty good point in favor of air discs.

"Regarding operating costs, it's worthwhile to invest in discs right at the beginning," he says. "We are buying equipment for 8 to 10 years, so unless you buy the newest specifications, where will you be in 10 years from now? How much catch-up will you have to do when we see the progress that took place over the last 5 years, last 10 years?"

I think I'll be coming back to this subject.

KUDOS TO J.B. HUNTfor launching a new web site, www.WhatisCSA.com. It may also be a little self-serving, but the company says it was created as a public service to help improve highway safety. The site promotes the sharing of information about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) safety initiative called CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability).

Formerly called Comprehensive Safety Analysis, or CSA 2010, its accountability measures affect nearly every interstate driver, carrier, and shipper with more stringent requirements for compliance, heightened accountability, and a potential for greater liability. WhatisCSA.com’s purpose is to offer a means for the transportation industry and the public to better understand and address CSA’s requirements.

“We want WhatisCSA.com to be a valuable information tool for the industry that helps make our highways safer for everyone,” says Greer Woodruff, senior vice president of corporate safety at J.B. Hunt.

Visitors to the site will find common-sense overviews of the CSA regime and its model for measurement, evaluation and intervention. Information is geared toward the specific concerns of drivers, carriers, private fleets and shippers and is tailored to each of them individually.

Among the site’s most popular features, apparently, is the 'Scores' page, which allows users to search CSA scores for any carrier by multiple criteria. The 'Resources' page provides multiple links to outside content, as well as a CSA-related news feed, a glossary of CSA terms, links to social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and interactive features like CSA-related quizzes.

TRUCK-LITE HAS DONE SOMETHING SIMILAR, though restricted to its own particular sphere.

Two of the most common roadside-inspection failures involve lighting & conspicuity, the company says. So the company added a section to its web site dedicated solely to CSA issues. It's pretty user-friendly, providing answers to frequently asked CSA lighting questions and on-site training materials.

FINALLY, THE CONFERENCE REMINDERS. The TMC fall meeting and TMCSuperTech2011 National Technician Skills Competition are set for Sept. 19-22 at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, N.C. And the Hybrid Truck Users Forum will hit Baltimore on October 10 through 13.

THIS NEWSLETTER IS PUBLISHED every two weeks. It's a heads-up notice about what's going on with trucking technology. I also write here about interesting products that may not have had the 'air play' they deserved within the last few months.

I should remind you that I don’t endorse any of the products I write about in this e-newsletter, nor do I have the resources to test them. What you’re getting is reasonably well educated opinion based on more than three decades in trucking. And in the case of the individual product items, I’m just presenting simple news from the manufacturer or service provider, with the hyperbole mostly removed and clarification applied.

If you have comments of whatever sort about Product Watch, or maybe you've tried a gizmo I should know about, please contact me at rolf@newcom.ca.





 

NATURAL GAS VOLVO

(July 20, 2011) -- Volvo Trucks adds factory-installed natural-gas option for VNM daycab

TWO WIDE SINGLES

(July 20, 2011) -- Show and Facebook feedback leads to two new tires from Continental

POCKET DIAGNOSTICS

(July 20, 2011) -- Snap-on's new Blue-Point Pocket iQ handheld diagnostic tool

EATON REMAN LINE

(July 20, 2011) -- Eaton enhances access to reman transmissions with new FLEX line

SHUT-OFF GLADHANDS

(July 20, 2011) -- Phillips introduces shut-off gladhands