International Truck & Engine Corporation, Chatham, ON, Canada – Failure of the front engine PTO on a Transit Mixer leads to vehicle ‘downtime’, which results in loss of revenue. The hydrostatic drive system in this application could be enhanced by new design alternatives that offer potential cost, weight, and maintenance savings. To determine the reliability of new designs, the duty cycle of the hydrostatic pump has to be determined.
How does one quickly and inexpensively collect torsional data from a rotating shaft without extensive installation modifications?
Binsfeld TorqueTrak telemetry and Vishay strain gages were sighted as the answers and installed by International’s Chatham Engineering group. Torque measurements made during a three-day field trial indicated the presence of torque reversals, illustrated the relationship between concrete slump rating and drum torque requirements, and identified the peak torque loads. The data collected provided sufficient detail for a duty cycle to be defined which would be utilized for new system design validation testing.