Big fuel savings from US deflectors
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IMPROVEMENTS of as much as 15.7 per cent in fuel consumption on a two-axle rigid truck and between 10 per cent and 12.7 per cent on articulated van outfits are being claimed for airflow deflectors which are being sold to operators in America.
As illustrated here, the device is like an enlarged version of the "bug" deflectors which had such a vogue in Britain some years ago. The deflector is fitted to the cab roof of the truck or tractive unit, so deflecting the airstream over the van body and reducing the drag. The figures quoted in the first paragraph are claimed by the manufacturers of one of these devices, the AIR FLO.
An American correspondent reports that major trucking lines in the USA are now fitting deflectors and one of them, Pacific Intermountain Express, which has several thousand vehicles, has now fitted 90 per cent of its fleet. The average fuel saving over the fleet is estimated at 5 per cent.
The devices are particularly effective, it is said, on the long truck hauls permitted by the Interstate highway network.
An added advantage is that the deflectors prevent insects from clogging the intakes of refrigeration units on the front of fridge trailers.