When the next generation of medium tactical vehicles for the U.S. Army goes into production this year, the trucks will include a modification to the Dana Spicer Central Tire Inflation Systems
that have been spec’d into the 2.5- and 5-ton trucks.
The modification -- the addition of a new automated "kneeling feature" -- will ease the Army's ability to load and transport the trucks for duty in Iraq and other sites abroad.
Dana Spicer Central Tire Inflation Systems (CTIS) are manufactured by the Commercial Vehicles Systems Division (CVSD) of Dana Corp.
According to Jim Beverly, chief engineer for the Advanced Chassis Control Systems Group at CVSD, the kneeling feature is used to depressurize the tires to a point (about 10 to 12 psi) below even emergency operating pressure settings. The resulting reduced vehicle height simplifies and speeds up the loading of the trucks into C-130 transport planes. When offloaded, the tires are then automatically pressurized to whatever levels the local terrain calls for as selected via the CTIS control panel in the cab.
"Prior to our adding the kneeling feature, a valve on the tires was manually actuated with a screw-driver to achieve these low pressures. Once the vehicles were unloaded, it was then required to manually close the valves before the vehicles where put back into operation. Now, with the addition of this new technology, the army's logistics have been greatly improved."
us The system can be configured to control independent channels (steer, drive and trailer). Additional features include integrated diagnostics via the on-board data bus, a CAN data bus for control, and configuration "downloading" capability.
For more information on Dana Spicer Central Tire Inflation Systems and other Roadranger products and services, visit the Internet at www.roadranger.com, or write to Roadranger Marketing, P.O. Box 4013, Kalamazoo, Mich. 49003.
Or call (800) 826-HELP (4357) in the U.S. and Canada. In Mexico, dial 001-800-826-4357.