SOME NOVEL PRODUCTS
Here are two lesser-known technologies that could have worthwhile application in your fleet.
JIM WINSOR
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
The purpose of this column every month is to inform, educate and sometimes motivate. I try to stay away from product plugs lest I be accused of having an interest in any of the companies. With that said, and your understanding, I want to briefly touch on what I feel are two interesting and worthwhile products in technology areas for the most part little-known in the trucking industry. Each has a potential safety payback and the second has a large potential economic payback. These are:
• Road-surface-sensing thermometers.
• Inside-the-brake-drum fans that blow dirt and moisture out.
I first became aware of infrared, road-temperature-sensing thermometers from Herman Miller, fleet equipment manager for Shopko Stores, headquartered in DePere, Wis. He’s been using them on his Boise, Idaho-based tractors, which serve Shopko stores in the Northwest. There’s a genuine fear of “black ice” in the mountains and valleys with repeated freezing and thawing. It’s next to impossible, especially at night, to tell if a road surface is wet or a thin coat of ice (hence the name “black ice”).
Shopko rigs out of Boise are all doubles, triples and Rocky Mountain doubles — long equipment with converter dollies. Herman does everything he can to give his drivers the safest “heads up” products he can.
He started with air-temperature-sensing thermometers in the late ’80s and went to a combination air-sensing and road-sensing infrared thermometer in 1996. The product was developed and marketed by Sprague Products under the “RoadWatch” name, and is now part of Canton, N.C.-based Trim Systems, a former division of Dana Corp.
Miller mounts the thermometers on their own bracket near the mirror (“I don’t hang it off the mirror arm, because the wire flexes every time the door is opened, which shortens life”). Both temperatures show on a 2-inch gauge mounted in the dash. They’re instant-reading, Miller says, and even show road-temperature change going over a 10-foot bridge. If road temperature drops to 35°, a red diode lights and there’s an audible “beep” to alert the driver he’s near the freezing point.
No, a thermometer can’t “see” ice, but Shopko drivers know when the road is wet and when ambient temperatures are near freezing, and they start to worry. “The units not only give our drivers a ‘heads up’ automatically but they don’t have to interpret numbers. There’s a big day/night temperature swing out here. Our drivers swear by them,” says Miller. Oh yes, the cost? About $600 each.
The second product, “brake turbines,” are also known by their inventor’s name, Lynn Denton, as “Lynnfins.” These have intrigued me for over 10 years now because they’re so simple. The concept is to blow air through the space between the brake drum and brake lining to dissipate brake heat, while at the same time expelling brake dust and foreign matter that gets in. The small turbine blades fit over the drum/wheel studs before the brake drum is slipped on. The faster the wheels rotate, the more air passes through the drum. They’re thin, made of stainless steel and fit 16-1/2-inch drums.
Significantly longer lining and drum life are the main claim for the product, along with less brake fade under severe braking. Since water and moisture are blown out as wheels rotate, there’s almost no chance of frozen brakes when parking trailers while brakes are hot. Miller has been testing several sets with the expectation of adding an additional year between brake relines on trailers, he says.
“Brake turbines” are made and sold by Lynnfin Truck Technologies Inc. and, under a recent agreement, are also handled nationally by Stemco and its distributors. They cost about $100 per axle (two wheel-ends).
I’d be interested to hear any feedback if you have tried either of these items. Write to Jim Winsor, P.O. Box W, Newport Beach, CA 92658; or e-mail jwinsor@truckinginfo.com.
