Innovations abound at the TankCon show
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The Government's "green shoots of recovery" have taken root in the tanker market, judging by the optimistic feel of the RHA's TankCon show. CM was on hand to check out exhibits including the biggest tank in Europe and a low-line contender called Thomas...
• Following two years of stagnation in the tanker market, an air of optimism prevailed at the RHA's TankCon show. A number of new products made their show debuts at Blackpool, along with developments of some older ideas.
Tankers can be in service for more than 20 years. They don't wear out, but changes in legislation tend to make them obsolete. For example, any tanker sold today will probably be on the road when the 44-tonne limit finally arrives. With this in mind Clayton Commercials has built a 30,000-litre tanker trailer for TIP Tanker Rental which is designed to be enlarged to 36,000 litres as and when the law permits.
Its stepped barrel design minimises the height over the kingpin to maintain a low centre of gravity Construction is of 316 stainless steel, fully insulated and with ADR certification.
Thanks to the tank's large diameter increasing the capacity only entails fitting a single extra section. No mods are needed to the barrel supports or landing legs but the upper fifth wheel plate needs a slight adjustment. It has a nominal weight of 6.9 tonnes; for 44-tonne operation the tare is increased to 7.57 tonnes,
Probably the biggest tank in Europe was shown by Feldbinder. The aluminium selfsupporting high-pressure bulk tipping tank has a capacity of 82e It's part of an order for 20 from German operator Dietsch, which will use it to carry saw
dust. The 14.04m long singlecompartment tank is equipped with rear-end, flange-mounted discharge and offers an unladen weight of 8.9 tonnes on tri-axle air suspension.
A tanker dubbed Thomas (Tanker Having Optimum Mass And Stability) from Hockney of Australia claims to give a lower C of G than any other stable design for any given capacity Priced at around £125,000 it is set to rival the German Topas design. Helped by BPW air-bag suspension, roll stability is said to be up to 45% better than conventional tankers.
The design incorporates a number of safety features including front and rear crush protection with full-length hollow longitudinal side rails. The 12.1m/38,000-litre tank's low overall height of 2.8m minimises aerodynamic drag and it weighs just 5.5 tonnes.
M&G is now independent, having been saved by a four-man consortium including managing director Brian Field. The company will continue an 18-month-old agreement to import tank barrels from the Italian specialist road tanker manufacture Omep. At M&G's Stourbridge plant, ROR or BPW running gear is fitted as standard but other equipment can be specified for a range of stainless-steel and aluminium semi-trailer tankers for general purpose, powders and oil products.
The powder tank on display exhibited a high quality of double-seam robotic welding. All Omep tanks, ranging up to 48,000 litres, are Cad/Cam designed and stress analysed.
Dairy Products Transport, part of Dairy Crest, provides a full engineering service from building new vessels to refurbishment. The MMB-spec insulated stainless-steel tank at Blackpool is pressure and vacuum tested with ignition-linked shot bolt security for the fullwidth aluminium compartment housing the discharge equipment.
Drum's 0900 blower has been enveloped in an acoustic shroud which reduces noise to 82dB(A) at 1.0m while operating at up to 2bar for a maximum flow rate of 920m3/hr. It's suitable for most dry-bulk discharge applications. The acoustic enclosure adds 166kg to the base machine weight of 179kg for tractor or trailer mounting.
Access into difficult delivery points is made easier with Hosta's hydraulically operated steering axles, imported from Holland by IMS. Hydraulic rams activated by the fifth wheel turntable can be duplicated on one, two or three trailer axles to give precise steering control and wheel alignment. Trailer cut-in is reduced to the point where the trailer wheels follow the tracks of the tractive unit and, in the event of a hydraulic leak, the duplicate pressurised system allows the vehicle to return to base. Weight penalty is about 550kg per axle.
Air suspension
Hendrickson Europe claims to sell about 60,000 axle sets a year worldwide, all on air. The warranty on the lightweight HT230 air suspension it introduced two years ago has been increased to five years or 560,000km.
Six weeks ago, Metalair's parent company Powell Duffryn acquired powder tank and swap body specialist ETS Filliat and Metalair has extended its UK range to include the new products. The 58m' aluminium tipping tanker on its stand, running on BPVV 1.4m beam centres, is part of an order for the Nexus group. It tares out at 6.38 tonnes. A second exhibit incorporated the first Gardner Denver screw
compressor power pack in the UK. They have been available in the US for over 20 years and are particularly suited to light granular products. Noise output is said to be less than 85dI3(A).
Indox built its electrically heated single-compartment tank container specially for Hickson to transport chemical paste at 80100°C. The heating system is protected by visual/audible and data log warning devices.
The tank is mounted on a tipping skeletal trailer to assist discharge. When separated from its tractor, a clip-on generator maintains the set temperature.
The Wilson Double-Deck trailer, first seen at TankCon two years ago, allows operators to carry different types of load on a single rig. Payload potential has been increased by up to two tonnes thanks to increased use of aluminium, reducing the unladen weight to around 8.5 tonnes.
Foden treated visitors to the first public showing of its 8.3-litre Cummins powered 6x4 chassis at 26 tonnes with a 7.5-tonne front axle and body/payload allowance of 19.6 tonnes.
ERF's EC range of 4x2 tractive units also make their debuts at TankCon.
by Bill Brock