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Aug 9, 2015

TECHNO-TRUCKS * USA: * Plasma to save fuel - ** Truckers gain an automated assist

* Iowa - See that glowing truck? It’s using plasma to save fuel

-- A new generation of aerodynamic improvements for tractor-trailers to reduce fuel consumption is being tested and if you see one you can tell by how its glowing... New Scientist magazine reports Iowa-based Plasma Stream Technologies Inc. is fitting trucks with plasma actuators, devices that control aerodynamic flow, rather than fuel saving devices you see on tucks these days, such as side skirts and trailer tails...


... These are essentially two copper plates separated by a layer of Teflon, developed at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where researchers have been working on trying to reduce drag on airplanes. When a current is passed through the actuators, they produce charged plasma, which affects airflow. This delays flow separation, where the airflow detaches from the vehicle’s surface and becomes turbulent, producing drag. The actuators would turn on and off as needed, controlled by a speed sensor... Pranay Bajjuri, co-founder of Plasma Stream Technologies, told the magazine equipping a truck with such a system runs about US$2,500 but results in fuel savings of 15 percent. Trucks equipped with them usually exhibit a glow... 
(Images thanks to Plasma Stream Tech)  --  Bettendorf, IOA, USA - Today's Trucking (CAN) - Aug 7, 2015 


** New York - Computers relieve drivers of some big-rig duties; systems aim to cut accidents, save fuel

(Photos by JOHN LOCHER/AP - The Inspiration, an auto-piloted prototype from Daimler’s Freightliner division, continues to use a driver but lets that person turn over steering and other duties to a computer during a long trip)

--  Computers might eventually take over truck drivers’ jobs, but in the meantime they are making truckers’ work easier... Truck makers Daimler AG, Volvo AB, Navistar International Corp. and Paccar Inc. are rolling out new automated systems that ease some of the more tedious aspects of piloting big rigs while helping reduce accidents and save fuel. Vehicles increasingly can shift on their own, brake when approaching a slower-moving vehicle, sound an alert when drivers stray into another lane, and show video of blind spots... Manufacturers consider these systems a crucial primer for developing demand for automated vehicles that could relieve drivers of steering, accelerating and braking during long journeys. Eventually, they could lead to trucks that can drive themselves entirely, although that could take more than a decade given the testing needed to convince trucking executives and regulators that automated vehicles can operate reliably and safely, say market forecasters... Some of the features being added to trucks are similar to those in cars, but generally the move to autonomy in commercial and industrial vehicles is far ahead of the autonomous systems offered on most passenger vehicles...

(Photo: The dashboard of the Inspiration truck from Daimler’s Freightliner division. The prototype compensates for hills and windy conditions that can force constant steering adjustments) 

... Daimler’s Freightliner division in May unveiled an auto-piloted prototype based on its Cascadia heavy-duty truck that continues to use a driver, but lets that person turn over steering and other duties to the computer during a long trip. Daimler executives say the technology could reduce driver burnout that contributes to the trucking industry’s chronically high rates of turnover... By example the prototype’s system compensates for hills and windy conditions that can force constant steering adjustments....
NY, USA - The WSJ, by BOB TITA And MIKE RAMSEY - Aug. 7, 2015

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