Innovative drive axle and stopping solutions from newly re-named Meritor are focused on fuel economy improvements and meeting upcoming, more stringent stopping distance FMVSS-121 requirements in four months.
“Changing the company’s name from ArvinMeritor to Meritor gives us the opportunity to leverage the brand’s strengths,” said Chip McClure, chairman and CEO of Meritor. The company became Meritor in 1997 after the spin-off from Rockwell International Corp. With a bull’s “brashness and agility” to meet customers’ desires to improve fuel economy and save weight, the company’s executives reviewed current technologies and announced several new ones.
First, a lightweight enhancement to its new 14X axle family – over 30,000 units ordered by North American motor carriers – is a 100-lb. lighter aluminum carrier option, available in 2012.
In terms of advanced axle technologies, Meritor detailed the benefits of an advanced rear axle concept “with the ability to achieve optimized weight reductions and corresponding payload increases of more than 1,000 lbs. and increase fuel efficiency by 10%,” said Joe Plomin, vice president, truck, Meritor. The concept’s technologies, with a 6×2 concept from the company’s European 17X rear axle, include:
• Meritor LogixDrive – the industry’s first intelligent axle system, which debuted in late 2010, controls the amount of lube in the axle based on operating conditions, thereby improving fuel economy.
• 2.47 ratio – the fastest ratio in the industry, according to Meritor.
• Carbon fiber bowl – extremely lightweight future technology weighing roughly 1/5th the weight of steel, resulting in savings of about 25 lbs.
• Meritor DualTrac – designed to optimize the use of wide base single tires or dual tires.
• Aluminum tag axle – another use of lightweight aluminum that saves weight, with optimized section modulus in critical areas.
• Titanium brackets – from their use in Meritor military vehicles, the company’s engineers anticipate potential opportunities in the use of high-strength titanium brackets, about 30 lbs. of less weight compared with traditional steel.
• Intelligent traction control – automatic differential lock and enhanced load transfer to the drive axle, engages and disengages below and above 25 MPH in instances of low traction providing a 6×2 with 6×4-like traction in most operating conditions.
• Q Plus cam brakes with advance friction material – currently in production, designed to meet the stringent stopping requirements. The company said its Q Plus cam brakes provide fleets with stopping distance performance similar to disc brakes at a much lower total cost of ownership.
• Meritor WABCO Air Disc Brakes – twin piston design for optimized load distribution, “providing the ultimate in stopping force and pad life,” according to the company.