Sep 28 2009
Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: CVGI) announced today that it has launched its patent-pending ComforTEK™ high performance flooring system to the North American aftermarket.
ComforTEK™ flooring system uses an innovative layer of bonded, flexible polyurethane foam substructure that maximizes thermal properties for driver comfort and increased operating economy.
Don Fishel, Sr. Director of Global Marketing for CVG, stated, "Today's truck engines run hotter to meet emissions requirements, which means more heat can be transmitted into the cab through the floor, especially along exhaust routing. As a result, drivers run and adjust their Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) more often to maintain a comfortable cab environment. The need to reduce heat levels can increase HVAC run times which can also lead to faster component wear and lower fuel economy."
"ComforTEK™ is designed to allow the HVAC to perform more efficiently throughout a vehicle's life, which reduces operating costs as the HVAC runs less and helps reduce fuel consumption and maintenance. Additionally, ComforTEK™ helps improve the time interval necessary to reach desired cab temperatures and maintain cab temperature stability leading to reduced idle times. We are pleased to present this product initially to the Class 8 vehicle aftermarket. We also feel it has excellent potential as a beneficial product for fleets and Original Equipment Manufacturers," Fishel said.
Logan Mullinix, Vice President of CVG Research and Development added, "To address this issue, CVG's Research and Development team measured heat flow paths in the cab and identified significant hot spots in the floor. We then modeled and evaluated the thermal and acoustical properties of over 56 different flooring material combinations utilizing test equipment that included CVG's Bruel & Kjaer Spherical Beamformer, Impedance Tube, FLIR Infrared Camera and Netzsch Heat Flow Meter to establish the best thermal and acoustical performing material combinations. Those combinations were proto-typed and validated using whole-truck chamber tests and full field evaluations. We measured cabin floor temperature improvements up to 18°F by using ComforTEK™ flooring system vs. standard production flooring. In addition to the thermal benefits, the sound transmission loss performance was equal to or greater than the standard production flooring," Mullinix said.
"Finally, because of its high recycled material content and ability to be easily and economically recycled, we believe our new ComforTEK™ product also contributes to environmental sustainability," Mullinix added.
Source: http://www.cvgrp.com/