FlowBelow Adds New Products, Cooperates With Aperia
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — FlowBelow Aero rolled out new products for tractors and trailers and announced cooperation with Aperia Technologies for mix-and-match hardware.
The collaborative effort with Aperia, makers of Halo tire inflation, enables customers to combine Halo systems more easily with FlowBelow’s wheel covers.
Presidents of the two firms said at Feb. 26 press conferences here that combining the systems improves fuel economy by 3% to 4%.
Aperia’s Halo monitors tire pressure and uses power from the wheel and axle revolutions to inflate a tire lacking in pressure.
The FlowBelow covers flatten out the wheel’s interface with the air, thereby reducing aerodynamic drag.
When used jointly, the Halo system is sandwiched snugly between the wheel and the FlowBelow cover. The companies adapted their hardware to make the systems work together smoothly.
Aperia’s Josh Carter said the harmonization of the installation hardware reduced the weight by a small amount compared with the previous technique for installing the two systems.
FlowBelow’s Josh Butler said later the same day that his company is launching two new systems that will be available later this year: an AeroFender for tractors and an AeroKit System for trailers.
The trailer kit comes in three pieces for each side of the trailer, before and after the tandem wheels and a third piece that attaches in between.
Although the middle piece is the smallest, Butler said it might be the most worthwhile as there is a larger amount of air turbulence erupting between the two trailer wheels.
Each tractor fender weighs less than 10 pounds, Carter said.
Since the start of last year, FlowBelow has reached agreements with Daimler Trucks North America, Kenworth Truck Co. and Swift Transportation Co. concerning the use of its products.
