Page 48 - RB-60-12-1

NEWS EXTRA
Vipal Brings Journalists and Retreaders Together
Pirelli Announces Cyber Fleet
Borrachas Vipal, one of the most important manufacturers of products for the recycling and the repair of tyres and inner tubes in the world, brought together more than 60 people at a road test held in Portugal. Taking part in this initiative were members of the Asociación Nacional de Profesionales de los Pneumáticos (Anirp) [National Association of Tyre Professionals] as well as Portuguese journalists. The aim of the event was to bring together media professionals to test cars and
lorries that use recycled tyres. The event was also attended by Portuguese rally driver Elisabete Jacinto who carried out brake tests on the wet track. The road test took place using recycled tyres on 4x4 vehicles, cars and lorries. According to Vipal’s European manager, Alessandro Bottesini Campos, the outcome was very positive as it clearly demonstrated the efficiency of recycled tyres. The event took place at the end of January at the Guihabreu Track in Vila do Conde.
Radio Frequency Identification has been around since the second world war when it was used to differentiate between friendly and enemy aircraft. Today it is everywhere,
but tomorrow it will be in truck tyres too.
Pirelli has developed an
RFID based
tyre pressure
monitoring
system, in
conjunction with
Schraeder and Tesco, that
gives the drivers of trucks an instant notification of any pressure drop or underinflation of his vehicle’s tyres. The Tyre Mounted Sensor (TMS)
can be applied with a special glue,
and is
designed to
flex with the
tyre.
The basic
system will simply
monitor tyre
pressure, but could be enhanced at a later date to give further data about the tyre, distance travelled and speed, and in a read-write form, could even contain the tyre service record.
Of course the data can also be managed centrally by the fleet manager, so there is no longer an excuse for poor tyre
management.
Pirelli claims that this will enhance the life of the new tyre and improve the quality of tyre casings for retreading, thus
extending their life and improving the cpk.
Pirelli research suggests that as many as 70 per
cent of trucks on Europe’s roads run with underinflated tyres. Underinflation of
just 5 per cent, estimates Pirelli, could cost each fleet 300 Euros per
truck per annum.
Underinflation also increases the temperature at which the tyre runs, increasing the likelihood of delamination, which results in delays and downtime. For the
retreader those tyres that have been run at lower
pressures are more likely to show faults in
shearography and inflation tests, so are more likely to be rejected.
The sensors can be removed for retreading
and then reapplied to the retreaded tyres.
The commercial launch of the CyberFleet system will come in September 2012 and will begin in Europe, to be followed up with releases in South America and other markets.
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Top Tyres Setting-up Retreading Plant in Egypt
Saudi Arabia based retreading companies are expanding their operations and entering the new markets. Top Tyres is venturing into another high potential market in Egypt. The company is planning to set up a plant in the port city of Alexandria in co-operation with a local partner. The company name has been registered by Top Tyres in Egypt and production should begin in the first quarter of 2012. “The land has already been acquired and construction is under way and should be completed in early 2012. Top Tyres has presence in number of Middle Eastern countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia
and Qatar.
Top Tyres has already ordered the plant and sourced most of the machinery from China. Plant and machinery should arrive by the end of February. “We have ordered a 12 tyre chamber with a complete monorail system,” said Abdul Shukoor. When asked about reasons of entering the Egyptian market, Shukoor stated, “We are anticipating good demand for retreading truck tyres, besides there is only one player retreading OTR tyres in Egypt.” Initially, Top Tyres will start operations with truck tyres and expand to cover OTR at some later stage.