System for trailer tire safety wins R&D 100 Award for Southwest Research Institute®, Pressure Systems International

For immediate release

San Antonio, Texas -- August 11, 2000 -- An R&D 100 Award, honoring the top technical achievements introduced into the marketplace in 1999, recognizes a system which automatically inflates, monitors, and equalizes tire air pressures on long-haul trailer rigs.

The R&D 100 awards, sponsored by R&D Magazine, are presented annually in recognition of the 100 most significant technical accomplishments of the past year.

Co-recipients for the Meritor Tire Inflation System by PSI are Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI^®) and San Antonio-based Pressure Systems International, Inc. (PSI), which developed, manufactures, and distributes the Automatic Tire Inflation System (ATIS™).

The Meritor system uses protected compressed air from the air-brake reservoir in the trailer of a long-haul truck to inflate any trailer tire that falls below the system's pre-set proper, cold-temperature air pressure setting. The tire inflation system delivers air to a leaking tire even as the truck is pulling a trailer down the highway, helping to eliminate blowouts due to low tire pressures during operation.

An indicator light, visible in the rear-view mirror, alerts the driver to an excessive air pressure loss, providing advance warning of maintenance or service requirements. A one-way check valve prevents a puncture in one tire from causing air pressure losses in other tires.

"Tires are the No. 2 cost to the trucking industry and the No. 1 maintenance expense," said Tim Musgrave, president of Pressure Systems International. "The PSI Automatic Tire Inflation System constantly inflates trailer tires to the proper cold temperature pressure automatically as the vehicle rolls down the road. Thus, the major problem for tires is solved, even if they are punctured by a foreign object while in service."

John Bradley, principal engineer in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Division at SwRI, said similar systems are being tested and developed for truck/tractor steering and drive axles. "Once the heavy-duty trucking industry is covered, then light trucks and passenger cars would be the next potential market worldwide," he said.

SwRI won a second R&D 100 award for the DARWIN™ software code, developed for the Federal Aviation Administration to help turbine engine manufacturers improve the safety of jet engines used in commercial airliners.

In all, SwRI has won 23 R&D 100 awards since 1971. The awards are to be presented in Chicago on September 27, 2000.

For more information about the Meritor Automatic Tire Inflation System, contact Deb Deffenbaugh, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas, 78228-0510, Phone (210) 522-2046, Fax (210) 522-3547.

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