SmartTruck, a manufacturer of aftermarket aerodynamic trailer devices for the heavy duty trucking industry, sought to provide insight as to how it calculates the fuel efficiency and performance of its equipment.
Fleet Maintenance was among a select group of media to receive a tour of the SmartTruck world headquarters, located in Greenville, S.C. These facilities included the company's main offices, storage warehouse and fabrication shop.
The company also provided a tour of the Michelin Proving Grounds tire testing facility in Laurens County, S.C., where SmartTruck utilizes testing tracks to evaluate the performance of its products.
At the 3,300-acre site, SmartTruck utilizes Track 9 (of the 12 tracks available) for its coast-down testing procedures.
"Skepticism of fuel efficiency isn't in question anymore," said Mitch Greenberg, chief commercial officer for SmartTruck. "It's now what product is best for my operations.”
SmartTruck strives to be the leader in the industry when it comes to testing components outfitted to aid in fuel efficiency for fleets, he noted. For this reason, the company shared the range of scientific testing SmartTruck performs in order to evaluate the performance of its products.
Testing methods
Mike Henderson, chief scientist and founder of SmartTruck, presented the different types of testing the company performs to evaluate its product. Prior to founding SmartTruck, Henderson previously worked for more than 34 years in the research and development division of Boeing.
SmartTruck uses four different types of testing:
-CFD testing
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) uses cluster computer testing to provide highly accurate results, according to Henderson. The CFD method has largely replaced the wind tunnel testing within the commercial aviation industry.
A test setup includes a baseline, or control, vehicle, and a vehicle equipped with the SmartTruck devices. Data retrieved by this method is then calculated using high-end computers. SmartTruck utilizes the NICS (National Institute for Computational Sciences) Kraken super computer at the Oakridge National Laboratory to generate these results.
With evaluations on the SmartTruck aerodynamic devices using this testing method, a third party company (CD-adapco) evaluated the testing data and determined a mpg fuel efficiency increase of 6.3 percent.
-Coast-down testing
"Coast-down testing has been the gold standard for drag testing automobiles," said Henderson. He became familiar with this form of ground vehicle testing through his son, who had an interest in motorsports. SmartTruck utilizes a similar method in order to evaluate the performance of its products.
For auto racing teams, a normal coast-down test involves reaching a speed of 205 mph, and coasting down to 150 mph repeatedly.
"This issue with commercial trucking is the weight of the vehicle creates a much longer stopping distance," said Henderson. Because of this, SmartTruck initially set up testing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; the same location where the space shuttle has landed.
Henderson and his team have adapted a method approved by the EPA to utilize the Michelin Proving Grounds facility in order to test on a shorter track. They've done this by breaking the testing into two separate segments: the high-speed testing (from 65 to 55 mph) to test aerodynamic drag, and the low-speed testing (from 25 to 0 mph) to test rolling resistance.
Coast-down testing works by accelerating the truck to a certain speed (65 mph) for a set period of time, then allowing the truck to "coast-down" to a lower speed (55 mph) for a set period of time. This cycle is repeated a number of times in a given test run to create repeatable results.
The test truck and trailer is outfitted with a number of different probes to track air speed, wind resistance, rolling speed, road speed, etc., on rigs with and without the SmartTruck undercarriage/aerodynamic devices.
The results of this testing for SmartTruck have yielded a gain in 6.5 to 6.7 percent fuel efficiency for its UT-6 System.
-J1321 testing
J1321 fuel mileage testing has been the industry standard for evaluating the fuel efficiency of aerodynamic devices to date. This method of testing, observed and qualified via an independent third-party and approved by the U.S. EPA, involves having near-perfect conditions in order to determine the fuel efficiency devices being tested, according to Henderson.
SmartTruck has conducted testing at the Continental Proving Grounds in Uvalde, Texas, for certification. All SmartTruck components have been tested via this method.
SmartTruck’s Aerodynamic Rain Guard (ARG), forward UnderTray and rear diffuser (UT-6 System) have qualified as CARB-compliant, indicating a 6.7 percent increase in fuel efficiency when this device is equipped. SmartTruck’s ARG and forward UnderTray (UT-1 System) have qualified as CARB- compliant, indicating a 5.5 percent increase in fuel efficiency when the trailer is equipped with this device.
-Real-world testing
SmartTruck works with a number of fleets to evaluate the real-world performance of its products on the road as well. This testing is completed only after the components have been tested via CFD, coast-down and J1321 methods.
Because there are fewer variables with small- to medium-sized fleets, evaluations have proven to yield a higher gain in fuel efficiency -- of about 6 percent, according to Henderson -- because these fleets utilize dedicated lanes with dedicated drivers and trailers.
One fleet representative on-hand indicated that 85 to 90 percent of the snow no longer stuck to the back doors of the fleet's trailers after implementing the SmartTruck UnderTray devices. The fleet had previously removed LED taillights because the lights wouldn't melt snow build-up on the back of the trailer. Now, the fleet is able to equip LEDs once again because of the lack of snow build-up.
Norm Thiessen, president of Paraclete Transport in Manitoba, Canada, indicated that his fleet saw a 6 to 9 percent increase in mileage after implementing the SmartTruck full UT-6+ unit which includes the Aerodynamic Rain Guard, UnderTray, Rear Diffuser and Side Fairings.
"We have had no maintenance on the UnderTray system, and have been very happy with the fact that we are using proven and tested technology that speaks for itself," he said. "The diverse climatic conditions (including water, salt, snow, etc.) we operate in can cause a great amount of deterioration of parts, and we have not seen any product degradation over the time we have been using it (the SmartTruck system)."
The SmartTruck product portfolio
SmartTruck offers a component-based system, allowing fleets to customize the type of aerodynamic devices they outfit on trailers.
UT-1 System: The Aerodynamic Rain Guard (ARG) and forward UnderTray. This system is CARB-compliant.
UT-1+ System: The ARG and forward UnderTray, along with the AeroEdge side fairings at the back of the truck. This system is CARB-compliant.
UT-6 System: The ARG and forward UnderTray, plus the Rear Diffuser at the back of the truck. This system is CARB-compliant.
UT-6+ System: The ARG and forward UnderTray, Rear Diffuser and AeroEdge side fairings. The UT-6+ includes all components offered by SmartTruck as one package, and is CARB-compliant.
For more information on the SmartTruck Aerodynamic UnderTray System, visit www.smarttrucksystems.com.
