Michelin Unveils Energy Guard Tractor-Trailer Aerodynamic Solution
Michelin’s new Energy Guard tractor trailer aerodynamic system features a new, wake reducer tab that works like a spoiler and reduces the air recirculation zone behind a trailer at highway speeds. Photo: Michelin
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New Michelin Energy Guard aerodynamic system includes a patent-pending rear-facing Wake Reducer tab.
Michelin is one of the oldest legacy companies serving the global trucking industry today. But according to Adam Murphy, Vice President of business to business marketing for Michelin, the company doesn’t so much view itself as a “tire” manufacturer today, as it does a supplier of integrated transportation system.
Taken in that light, the launch today of Michelin’s new Energy Guard aerodynamic system for tractor-trailers doesn’t seem like quite the departure it would’ve just a few years ago. According to Murphy, Michelin’s approach to tractor-trailer aerodynamics is a solution that increases fuel economy, decreases maintenance costs and requires no driver interaction to achieve those gains.
Energy Guard consists of a trailer skirt, trailer-end fairings, aerodynamic mud flaps and a patent-pending wake reducer, which Michelin says eliminates the need for “boat tail” fairings or combining aerodynamic products from different suppliers.
Murphy said Energy One features several innovations in its patent-pending design, including a trailer skirt that fully integrates with other aerodynamic components. The skirts are made from resilient, modern composites that bend out of the way when striking a objects. The wake reducer is much smaller in size than “boat tail” fairings in use today, Murphy said, but still minimizes the effect of the air recirculation zone that creates drag behind a trailer. Even better, he said, both are systems automatically functioning once installed and always activated without any driver actions.
According to testing carried out by Michelin, Murphy said the new Energy Guard aerodynamic system can deliver 7.4% fuel savings at 65 mph compared to tractor-trailer with no aerodynamic …Read the rest of this story
