TPT May 2015

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Global Marketplace
May 2015 69
Contact MTD for more information:
Call 260-982-8524 or email at
Manchester Tool and Die
M71 Servo
Flag Stop
Our servo positioning
flag stop system
helps to quickly adjust
tube out through the
machine’s H.M.I.
(human machine
interface). It provides
consistent adjustments
for quicker setup
up times.
• 12.5 times faster than standard trunnion flag system when
making tube out of jaw adjustments
• On average, it takes two minutes to make a 1.5” adjustment
on a manual trunnion flag, the Servo Flag takes only 7 seconds
• Average time savings is 12.5 minutes per shift
• Pays itself back in less than three months at one shift/day*
• Payback is less than one month running three shifts/day*
• Retro fits of older machines are also available —
contact MTD for more information
* Values based on five setups per shift
* Values are estimates, actual payback may vary
efficiency by means of computer-managed sprays of atomised
fuel. (“Carmakers Find That Turbos Are a Powerful Path to
Fuel Efficiency,” 26 February)
While this information is useful, a premise advanced by Mr
Ulrich is more interesting. He suggests that the turbocharger
– with its advantages of bountiful power and savings at the
pump – may be the reason why electric vehicles are so slow
to find favour with consumers.
Statistics supplied by the Times support Mr Ulrich’s assertion
that “by any industry standard the pace of the turbocharger
revolution has been breathtaking.” In 2011, less than 7
per cent of new cars and trucks in the US were sold with
turbochargers. In just four years that percentage tripled to 21
per cent.
The consumer auto website Edmunds.com says that 49.7 per
cent of the 350 car and truck models sold in the US offer a
turbocharged engine, up from 30 per cent in 2010. Honeywell
(Morristown, New Jersey) forecasts that nearly four in ten
new cars and trucks sold in the US will be turbo-powered by
2019. Turbocharged engines are expected to be found in a
staggering 80 per cent of new cars by 2025.
euroPe the leader in turBos
The proliferation of turbochargers is by no means an
American phenomenon. Japanese automakers have been
somewhat slow to adopt them, focusing more on hybrid
technology. But in Europe, which took to small engines early
and earnestly, 67 per cent of showroom cars are turbos,
including virtually every diesel.
Germany’s Audi, which helped pioneer turbos in the US
decades ago, offers them up and down its lineup. Other
carmakers eager for luxury buyers – Mercedes Benz, BMW,
Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin and, in the US, Cadillac – are
revamping their lineups with turbos of 400, 500, even 600
horsepower.
Mr Ulrich also noted that Aston Martin – famed for its “silken
yet gas-guzzling” V12 engines – recently sold Mercedes
a 5 per cent company stake in exchange for components
including Benz’s downsized bi-turbo V8 engines.
Mr Stoller, of Honeywell, told the Times that the full-spectrum
appeal of turbocharging was being driven by its ability to
complement other fuel-saving technologies; and, in the US,
by regulatory pressures. As automakers strive to lift their
average fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025
– the target set by the Environmental Protection Agency –
turbochargers provide a key to higher mileage at no sacrifice
of the performance demanded by consumers.
In the process, Mr Ulrich wrote, “Analysts say the efficiency [of
turbochargers] has had the unintended effect of helping slow
the broader adoption of alternative-fuel vehicles.”
Dorothy Fabian, Features Editor (USA)