Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/526371
62 commercial carrier journal | june 2015 EquipmEnt: INTEGRATED DRIVETRAINS "Today, we've actually got a few drivers who only drive AMTs, so it's made it much easier for us to find drivers," Tomlinson says. "But even the old guys who didn't want an AMT really like and enjoy driving with them now. And, of course, there's a significant safety enhance- ment involved with AMTs as well." While Tomlinson doesn't yet have solid break-in numbers on his initial AMT units, he posted fuel economy improvements compelling enough for South Shore to commit to Volvo's integrated drivetrains for its latest tractor purchase. "Our thought was that we were dealing with two products designed and built together, therefore they would 'talk' well together," he says. "We're also going to try some Daimler drive- trains, and it's the same deal." He believes Detroit's DT12 AMT was designed specifically to complement the current Detroit diesel engine series. Fleet demand is one reason that Ryan Trzybinski, product strategy manager for Eaton, sees a bright future for integrated powertrains. He says his company has been integrating its line of automated products with every major engine supplier in North America for more than a decade. "During that time, market acceptance has grown every year, so we have a very good feeling about where the technology is going," Trzybinski says. "When you take into account the fact that we are already deeply integrated with multiple engine makers, including those made by Cummins, Navistar and Pac- car, the future looks very bright for integration. Soon, vehicle telematics systems are going to help make that acceptance even more obvious to our customers." Under the same roof Moore says integrated drivetrains help maximize the AMT's inherent advantages by using proprietary data com- munication protocols between the engine and the transmission to enhance a tractor-trailer's driv- ability and fuel economy. This is the core of the vertically integrated approach espoused by both Daimler and Volvo. "The Volvo engine and Volvo I-Shift automated manual transmission are designed to speak the same language to achieve com- mon project goals set by Volvo engineers," Moore says. The transmission "knows" the efficiency map for each engine rating, and by con- tinuously monitoring vehicle speed, acceleration, torque demand, weight, grade and both rolling and air resistance, the transmission predicts and selects the engine's most efficient utilization, shifting gears to match conditions to the engine's efficiency map. "This level of teamwork between components is a big ad- vantage of the integrated driveline," Moore says. The I-Shift's sensor pinpoints the grade and helps determine which gear to select first, where to put the shift points and if it can skip-shift. "When one company can design, build and support an entire powertrain, there are really no barriers to what can be done," says Tim Norton, product manager of powertrain marketing for Daimler Trucks North America. The Detroit DT12 transmission's shift points are matched to fuel maps in the Detroit engines to ensure the engine always is operating as efficiently as possible and that the transmission never hesitates to find a gear. The engine and transmission also communicate on a dedicated proprietary network that can share more informa- tion faster than a standard J1939 connection. This allows the engine to use DT12 sensor data for Active Driveline Protec- tion and also allows the engine brakes and transmission downshifts to work in conjunc- tion to slow the truck safely on downgrades. "These are just a few examples of what we can achieve by integrating com- ponents," Norton says. Many partners Not surprisingly, Eaton has a dif- ferent opinion on the importance of vertical integration for these advanced drivelines. Cummins and Eaton are initiating more profound levels of integration for their joint SmartAdvantage powertrain partnership. Volvo's XE integrated powertrain packages for its D11, D13 and D16 engines can down- speed cruising rpm for added fuel savings.