Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium

		Latest News Steering Committee Sees Actively-Steered B-Train Cambridge, 3 September, 2008: The Consortium's new actively-steered B-train was unveiled at the CVDC Steering Committee meeting today. The new actively-steered B-trailer has recently been delivered and is currently being commissioned by the researchers. It was designed by university staff in collaboration with several of the consortium members. For today's demonstration, the B-trailer was coupled with the Consortium's actively-steered semi-trailer to make a fully steered B-train. The new trailer will be used to research the benefits of active steering for long combination vehicles. Although the B-train is much longer than a non-steered tractor semi-trailer, it is much more manoeuvrable and will offer benefits including reduced swept path, dramatically reduced tyre wear, as well as improved high speed stability. Important benefits of long combination vehicles include lower energy consumption for a given freight task, less traffic congestion, reduced road damage, and lower transport costs. Attendance at HVTT 10: Award Winning Paper Three members from the Cambridge team Attended the 10th Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology in Paris May 19 - 22. Papers were presented on active braking and active trailer steering. The CVDC paper "Design Concept for an Alternative Heavy Vehicle Slip Control Brake Actuator" won the Best Paper Award.

		The 'Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium' is a group of manufacturers from the heavy truck industry which has joined forces with engineers from Cambridge University to develop safer and more 'road-friendly' heavy vehicles. The Consortium includes companies from various sectors of the industry concerned with vehicle dynamics and suspension design. The current members are: ArvinMeritor - Trailer axles and steering Camcon - Pneumatic and hydraulic valves Denby Transport - Goods haulage Firestone - Air bags Fluid Power Design - Hydraulic systems FM Engineering - Trailer repair and modification Fruehauf - Trailer units Haldex - Braking systems Mektronika Systems - Electronics MIRA - Automotive research and development QinetiQ - Off-road vehicles Shell UK - Road transport Tinsley Bridge - Steel suspension components Volvo Trucks - Tractor units We are also extremely grateful for the support of a number of other companies and individuals. The membership is continuing to expand, and companies are being sought from other sectors of the heavy vehicle industry. By having just one member company from each sector, the companies can meet and work together in a non-competing, co-operative environment. The main focus of the Consortium's research is to develop improved suspensions which maximise truck safety, minimise road damage and improve driver ride comfort and vehicle body vibration. The research is concentrating on optimising existing suspension components and is investigating advanced concept suspensions with computer-controlled 'active' and 'semi-active' elements. The work involves computer modelling, laboratory testing of prototype hardware and field trials of instrumented vehicles. Members of the Consortium pay an annual membership fee and provide contributions 'in kind' to assist the research. The Steering Committee consists of representatives of each sponsor and University researchers. It meets twice yearly, proposes research projects and monitors performance. See our invitation to industry document for further information on the consortium. Any other questions can be answered by contacting Dr David Cebon, at dc@eng.cam.ac.uk


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