Development of Air Suspension Systems for Highway Tractors and Trailers 700893
Trailer air suspensions have been commonly applied to many segments of the highway transportation industry, since one or more of the unique characteristics of air suspensions solve particular operating problems. Recent developments in tractor drive axle air suspensions now permit application of the same basic characteristics to power equipment. In addition, with air suspensions available for both trailer and tractor, many new concepts in vehicle design and material handling become practical.
The purpose of this paper is to generally review the characteristics of air suspensions, review the development of a drive-axle air suspension, and finally show how they are applied to over-the-highway heavy duty vehicles.
