Chips for Scania
Page 19
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A COMPUTER-AIDED gear-shifting system will be exhibited on the Scania stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week.
For use in both trucks and coaches, the system, which uses a micro-processor to advise the driver which gear is required and then selects it for him, has undergone extensive field trials.
Scania claims that the success of these trials has led to the decision to put the system into initial limited production.
The microprocessor is fitted in the cab and is programmed with all the parameters appropriate to the vehicle to which it is fitted.
It receives information from various monitoring units on speed, throttle position and gear selected.
It then works out which gear should be used and a light on the panel is illuminated to depict the gears available. In most circumstances when the driver sees another gear is needed, he would press the clutch pedal in the normal way and air-operated servos mounted on a virtually standard Scania 10-speed splitter gearbox would then select the correct ratio. Because the computer cannot see what is ahead, the system allows the driver to override it.
Safeguards include a protection device to prevent the engine from over-revving if the wrong gear is engaged and a "standby stick" for gear changing if the automatic equipment fails.
The system was described in detail in CM, January 29.