Dana, Eaton to Mix Legacy Product Lines With Advanced Components, Systems
This story appears in the March 6 print edition of Transport Topics.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two of trucking’s most venerable Tier 1 suppliers are augmenting their legacy products to fleets with some very different products and services.
On Feb. 26 at American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council annual meeting here, executives from Eaton Corp. said they’re still making transmissions and clutches, just as Dana Inc. is manufacturing brakes and drivelines, but there has to be more.
Truck making is facing “a tectonic shift” from “mechanical devices to integrated mechatronics,” or mechanical systems augmented with electronics, said Mark Wallace, a Dana executive vice president.
Beyond its truck work, Eaton has a major involvement in electrical systems and wants to bring some of that expertise to trucks.
Cleveland-based Eaton said it is focused on a future of intelligent power management for commercial vehicles built around 48-volt electricity that would lead to greater fuel efficiency.
The architecture change from 12-volt systems and “the power electronics to do it is not rocket science, either. I think we are on that cusp,” said Larry Bennett, Eaton director of vehicle technology and innovation.
Truck makers are ready to change, he said.
“What appeals to them is the fuel-economy play,” by removing accessories driven by belts from the engine. If they are spun when they are not needed, that creates parasitic drag and reduces engine efficiency.
As an example, the starter and generator would be moved to the transmission from the engine to allow for the generation of electrical power through wheels rolling on the highway rather than via belt drive, he said.
“Certainly, when you look at what the SuperTruck guys are wanting to do and [truck manufacturers], I think they are leaning heavily on 48-volts at this point,” he said.
In August, the Department of Energy announced its SuperTruck II initiative to more than double the freight efficiency of Class 8 trucks and go beyond provisions in the new federal Phase 2 greenhouse-gas emissions rule.
What has kept a 48-volt system in the shadows is justifying the added cost, but Bennett said such a system could power in-cab hotel load features with batteries and eliminate the need for expensive auxiliary power units.
Engine-off coasting is a big topic right now, he said.
“But [coasting trucks] still need to have electrical power. … If you are shutting down the engines, you don’t have it.”
But if the wheels drive the alternator in a downhill stretch, then electric steering, air conditioning and pneumatics for brakes all are still available, Bennett said.
At the same time, Eaton envisions its power distribution system as allowing truck makers to use plug-and-play capability for whatever voltage they need. Eaton also wants to increase the life of the battery and minimize its size, which also will minimize its cost.
“It’s going to be a total intelligent power management system,” he said.
While Dana rolled out innovations to its mainstay lineup of axles and drive shafts, it also unveiled Rhombus Tire Analytics, a cloud-based system for managing tire maintenance.
“We’re axles and drivelines, not a tire business, but the data was there,” Wallace said in explaining the new product in a different field. Dana is based in Maumee, Ohio, and has been manufacturing since 1904.
The company brought in a customer, Trent Siemens, maintenance director of Paul’s Hauling Ltd. in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company has about 250 power units and 600 trailers.
Siemens said technicians enter data with iPads that send information directly to the Rhombus system, which uses tread-depth measurements and pictures of tread-wear patterns.
“Cost-per-mile, that’s my life as a maintenance director,” Siemens said, adding that his company has been using the system for three months.
Wallace said Rhombus is designed to create better data analysis than spreadsheets often in use now.
Dana has updated its SPL 350 drive shaft with a lighter-weight model called SPL 350 Lite. Steve Slesinski, Dana director of global product planning, said the new model is 35 pounds lighter than its predecessor and is useful for powertrain downspeeding.
Slesinski said the number of parts in the Lite shaft was reduced by 11. The materials used are the same, he said, but the design was improved and some separate components were integrated.
Dana also added a new ratio for its AdvanTek 40 tandem drive axle, 2.47-to-1. The new ratio complements other AdvanTek 40 models with a range from 2.26 to 2.93-to-1.
Axle ratios are the number of turns it takes a drive axle to produce one revolution by a wheel. The lower the ratio number, the faster the axle.
Slesinski said the 2.47 ratio is “ideal” for use with a Cummins X15 engine and an Eaton automated manual transmission.
