Testing….Testing and more Testing….
The heart and soul of the KB CVS team is in our truck testing capability and activities regularly in motion at the Wodonga TAFE DECA Shepparton Facility. Knorr-Bremse have a permanent site based at DECA and range of equipment including two rollover capable heavy trailers and a load rack which we utilise for safety systems testing.
Our Electronic Stability Program (ESP) for truck and Roll Stabilty Program (RSP) for trailers are our flagship products which we have capabilty to test and validate for the Australian Marketplace. Our load rack complete with safety arms is used on the heavy vehicle rated skidpan to determine the rollover point of a heavy vehicle as just one part of our testing regime. This allows us to fine tune our system to improve vehicle stability, reducing the instance of rollovers when our systems are fitted.
The Knorr-Bremse product portfolio is extensive for both Truck & Trailer.
For Truck, Knorr-Bremse Australia tests and validates a number of Driver Assistance Systems including sophisticated ESP Electronic Stability Programs, ACB (Active Cruise with Braking) LDW (Lane Departure Warning) and Fusion ® ( ACB, LDW and Collision Mitigation). For Trailer there is TEBS (Trailer EBS) and the associated auxiliary systems. All these products are developed for a number of large Truck and Trailer OEM ‘s across Australia. We do this at the DECA facility in Shepparton Victoria.
A Diverse Test Team
Gender or cultural background are not limiting factors for the KB Aus truck test team which has seen a variety of people within KB become HR/MC qualified and complete some of our most critical tasks in testing and validating our electronic safety systems. All photos shown on our website are of real KBA team members performing in their real areas of expertise.
In 2018, the first female only truck test in Australia was completed at DECA Shepparton by MC licenced Rachel Michaud and HR licenced Anita Robbins, two of the key test engineers at the time. ‘So glad to be able to represent females in the transport industry’ said Rachel at the time. As well as Rachel and Anita, we have a growing team of people who are capable in performing rollover testing, with many staying on at KB after a few years stint in the test team and going into the commercial side or other areas of the business and bringing their technical acumen with them as Rach and Anita have now done in technical sales, training and production areas of the business.
Truck Testing is a special element of our local business in Australia and we have increased our capability year on year with new equipment, testing to ADR 35 and 97 and local testing for the European braking platform for KB used on imported vehicles.
What a Show! The Brisbane Truck Show 2023 as it happened
On the 18th May, Australia’s biggest truck show kicked off in sunny Brisbane QLD at the Brisbane Convention Centre and on Southbank. Knorr-Bremse Australia were part of the action, located at Stand 76 in the Great Hall. Our stand featured brand new displays which were created to replicate the Knorr-Bremse Germany stand from the IAA show in Hanover. With warm pretzels, coffee and other refreshments available, we were able to engage industry with six touch screen displays demonstrating the complete Knorr-Bremse and Bendix range of current and future products for truck and trailer. Our newest products were physically on display including:
Our sales and technical team all represented included our General Manager Michael Roche and our Managing Director Michael McLellan. Visiting from Knorr-Bremse Germany we hosted Mr. Stefan Pahl. Director of Application of Engineering and Technical Sales for the Knorr-Bremse Global Trailer Group. We were honored to have some of our most senior personnel on the stand and be able to share their incredible knowledge and insight directly with the Australian Transport Industry.
Another highlight was an informal meet and great on the stand with the Hon Scott Buchholz MP at our stand along with Sal Petroccitto GAICD (NHVR), Laszlo (Les) Bruzsa (NHVR), Gavin Hill (TCA) and Greg Cain (VTA) just to name a few of the many wonderful industry leaders us and our wider team were able to engage with.
We also enjoyed seeing Adam Ritzinger, Peter Austin and the NHVR team and having some meaningful legislative and technical discussions around future technology and how to incorporate new themes such as cybersecurity and driven trailer axles into our hv legislation. Amazing connections were made with old and new friends being able to catch up both on the stand and in industry meetings and other industry events held throughout the show.
“It’s a wrap”
After two years of planning, countless meetings, a trip to Germany and even shipping displays all the way from Munich, for Knorr-Bremse Australia, the 2023 Brisbane Truck Show comes to an end.
Without doubt, Knorr-Bremse achieved everything it set out to do at the Brisbane Truck Show.
“We really wanted to showcase pioneering road safety solutions and provide a view into future technologies for the commercial vehicle industry” said Michael Roche the General Manager for Knorr-Bremse Australia
We were fortunate to have Hon Scott Buchholz (Federal Member for Wright) at our stand.Mr Buchholz acknowledged the important role that the revolutionary technologies displayed by Knorr-Bremse, are at the forefront of safety and sustainable solutions for the ever-increasing freight task
Mr Sal Petroccitto CEO NHVR and Gavin Hill GM Strategy and Delivery andChair International Weigh In Motion, could also be found at the Knorr stand discussing the various product innovations.
Award Winning OBM (On Board Mass) System iMass® - An Australian Innovation
The drive to design and develop the iMass® system locally in Australia was due to the implementation by many state jurisdictions to introduce On Board Mass (OBM) Monitoring for certain Performance Based Standards (PBS) vehicles. Currently this includes combinations exceed 26m in length and/or having a Gross Combination Mass (GCM) of more than 68.5tonnes. The iMass® System is TCA (Transport Certification Australia) Category B Smart OBM approved which makes it the ideal system to fit to meet the new OBM requirements.
Recipient of both the Australian based AFIAA Application of Technology Award and HVIA Product Innovation Award; the iMass® system is a game changer for OBM technology and the first offering to certify the integrated mass feature within the TEBS G2.2 electronic braking module. Mass data is gathered from both vehicle and trailer control units (vehicle ECU and trailer TEBS G2.2 module). Airbag pressure inputs from the vehicle’s suspension as well as level sensor information are utilized by the control units to calculate and display a mass readout on the DIU.
The Knorr-Bremse iMass® system provides the combination mass data in real time via a Driver Interface Unit (DIU) located within the vehicle. The DIU is also capable of communicating mass data to an In Vehicle ‘telematics’ Unit (IVU). The iMass system is designed to allow for seamless connection between truck and trailer by leveraging off the existing TEBS truck/trailer network, managed through simply connecting the EBS socket between truck and trailer and automatically detecting the trailer VIN and mass data through this connection. The iMass system is highly accurate utilizing Knorr-Bremse leveling valves and custom algorithms; easily achieving the 98% mass accuracy requirement for Smart OBM.
