SAE Online Poll: Lightweight materials to most benefit heavy vehicles for upcoming regs
Lightweight materials will make the greatest impact in helping medium- and heavy-duty trucks achieve upcoming greenhouse gas/fuel efficiency regulations, according to respondents to an online poll posted on SAE Off-Highway Engineering Online and Automotive Engineering International Online for two weeks in late November and early December. Lightweight materials were chosen by about 42% of the 64 respondents, hailing from 15 nations.
Automatic engine shutdown (idle reduction) came in second with nearly 22% of the vote, followed by design optimization (17%), aerodynamics (11%), and intelligent electronics (e.g., predictive cruise control) at almost 8%. Low rolling resistance tires did not receive a vote.
Half (32) of the respondents were from the U.S., who likewise selected lightweight materials as the most beneficial technology area at 37.5%. Design optimization and automatic engine shutdown swapped places compared to the overall vote, with 22% and 19%, respectively. Aerodynamics received nearly 16% of the U.S. vote, and intelligent electronics received just over 6%.
India had the second most respondents with 8, and Canada was third with 5. Countries posting a single vote included Pakistan (for design optimization), Singapore (lightweight materials), Malaysia (intelligent electronics), and Sri Lanka (automatic engine shutdown).
Check out our magazine websites often to respond to new poll questions posted by the editors, and feel free to suggest possible poll topics at sohe@sae.org or aei@sae.org.
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Voting results for the poll question: “Which technology area will make the greatest impact in achieving upcoming greenhouse gas/fuel efficiency regulations for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles?”
Dow expands composite processing capabilities
Dow Automotive Systems has expanded its capabilities in composite processing technology with two new development facilities—one in Freienbach, Switzerland, and the other in Midland, MI. The labs support global automotive and commercial transportation customers with an emphasis on carbon-fiber composites. The 200-m2 (2150-ft2) Composite Technology Center in Freienbach opened in April and is equipped with a large high-pressure resin transfer molding (RTM) machine for prototype production. It also offers development and testing facilities for resins and related adhesives, as well as an Adhesives Training Center. The Midland tech center, which opened in June, accommodates technologies associated with direct long-fiber processing, prepreg, preforming, compression molding, and laminating. This 465-m2 (5000-ft2) site is co-located with key corporate R&D capabilities including analytical sciences, the Materials Engineering Center, and polymer chemistry and processing related expertise. The two new composite technology facilities are part of Dow Automotive Systems’ strategy to support the industry’s push for more lightweight solutions.
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Dow Automotive Systems' new Composite Tech Center in Freienbach is equipped with a large high-pressure resin transfer molding (RTM) machine for prototype production.
ContiTech expands plastic tubes production in U.S.
ContiTech Fluid Technology is building a competence center for plastic lines in the U.S., its second plastics competence center worldwide after one in Waltershausen, Thuringia, Germany. The company is investing about $11 million in the existing ContiTech Thermopol hose factory in Somersworth, NH, to help meet demand in North America, with the first construction stage recently going into operation. ContiTech says that orders from Ford and Chrysler are already exhausting the capacities of the first plant, which has been in production since January. A second system has been ordered and is expected to be installed in October. The company expects the number of plastic tubes it produces to increase fourfold by the end of 2013 compared to 2012. The Somersworth plant was more than doubled in size two years ago for the extrusion of turbocharger hoses and the assembly of SCR (selective catalytic reduction) hose line systems for diesel engines. Volume assembly of SCR lines for Cummins started in June, and lines for Caterpillar will follow shortly, according to ContiTech. Previously, only silicone hoses were produced in Somersworth. The expansion of the plastics technology operations will see a third, 6700-m2 (72,120-ft2) production hall built on the grounds, and an expected increase in the number of employees from 220 presently to 335 by the end of 2013.
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The blow-molding line at ContiTech’s Somersworth plant in New Hampshire currently produces about 150,000 plastic tubes annually.
MacLean-Fogg forms Engineered Plastics Company
MacLean-Fogg Component Solutions has announced the formation of the new Engineered Plastics Company (EPC)—a merger of its Polymer Technologies business in Whitewater, WI, with EPC of Menomonee Falls, WI. EPC, which has been in operation since 1981, is a plastic injection molding supplier. The new Engineered Plastics Co. will be aligned under the Engineered Components Group of MacLean-Fogg Component Solutions. MacLean-Fogg supplies engineered components, fastener components, and linkage and suspension components to a range of industries including automotive, heavy truck, aerospace, appliance, wind, and mining. Engineered components include cold formed and machined components, horizontal hot-formed components, and engineered functional plastics. Fastener components include Securex and Decorex brand wheel fasteners, high-temperature Lockthread bolts, ESNA locknuts, and a variety of internally threaded fasteners such as Whiz-Lock, Clinch-Lok, and Step-Lok nuts. Linkage and suspension components include aluminum control arms, ball studs, housings, plastics, and PogoStik linkages.
SDCmaterials begins field trials for emission control catalysts
SDCmaterials, a Tempe, AZ-based developer of advanced high-performance catalyst materials, has commenced field trials for its Nano-Nano-Micron (NNm) emission control catalyst product. As part of this final phase of pre-production testing, the company’s NNm product will be deployed as the active catalyst ingredient within a critical exhaust system component used on municipal transit buses. This is a joint project between SDCmaterials Inc. and a major European exhaust gas aftertreatment and systems company. The exhaust system components targeted in these field trials rely on high-cost platinum group metals (PGM) to oxidize soot and convert CO and HC into CO2 and water. SDC’s catalysts are produced using a proprietary process that results in a unique nano-scale PGM structure. “The cost and performance benefits of our NNm emission control catalysts have been proven in synthetic gas and vehicle drive-cycle tests with multiple OEMs in various light-duty and heavy-duty emissions control applications,” said Maximilian Biberger, CEO of SDCmaterials Inc. The company has production facilities in Schwarzheide, Germany.
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SDCmaterials’ Nano-Nano-Micron catalyst material is said to “substantially reduce” the amount of platinum group metals required to meet stringent emissions control requirements.
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