Height-Control Valve
a week’s worth of time per year
Hadley has introduced its new and patented SmartValve height-control system, claimed to help fight high driver turnover and high fuel costs at the same time. It saves drivers time and effort, says Hadley, and helps reduce injuries. The company claims it can pay for itself in six months or less.
It combines three devices into one — the valve manifold itself, an external sensor, and the associated electronics — fitting within the same envelope as a mechanical height-control valve.
Installed on the drive-axle suspension, the SmartValve is said to save time in a variety of common drop-and-hook situations. By conveniently raising the tractor frame over ride height, drivers will find it easier to deal with coupling trailers found at many different ride heights. There’s no need to crank the landing gear as often or as far, and fewer trips out of the cab are required for adjustment.
Hadley says that extensive testing at the Bosch Automotive Proving Grounds validated the claimed time savings of the SmartValve as compared with mechanical height-control valves. In high-frequency drop-and-hook, the company says, a driver can save a week’s worth of time every year.
SmartValve is also said to reduce the driver effort required in drop-and-hook. With a mechanical valve, if the trailer is too high when coupling, drivers are forced to adjust the landing gear with the weight of the trailer fully resting on the landing gear and suspension. The result is more strenuous cranking and back strain, more time needed to adjust, and multiple trips out of the cab.
In the same situation, but with a SmartValve, the driver can couple the tractor and trailer by simply raising the tractor frame over ride height, thus lifting the trailer and load. This allows for easy final adjustment of the landing gear.
The SmartValve system is available as a retrofit kit for specific applications, with additional coverage expanding in the months ahead. It will be available later this year for OE installation.
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