Titel-Trader 2.2009.indd - Agritechnica Trader

COMPANIES AND MARKETS
ADR
Greater payload for vehicle trailers
Higher forward speeds, rising demands made of the payload and increasing
installation of hydraulic suspensions – the trends in agricultural and construction
plant and machinery are challenging producers of vehicle axles too. With its BlackBull Series, the
Italian manufacturer ADR is presenting a new axle concept at this year’s Agritechnica. Prominent
features include the 50 percent weight reduction in the BlackBull axles and the larger cross section
of the axle body. Both elements involve distinct advantages for the payload on vehicle trailers.
“When we started to develop
BlackBull we were faced with a
blank sheet of paper”, remember
Flavio Radrizzani, President
of A.D.R. S.p.A, and Renzo
Negrisolo, General Manager
of the company. At that time
they and their team of developers
were focussing on just one
single question. Is it possible to
reduce the weight of a vehicle
axle distinctly without impairing
its stability and load-carrying capability?
For Radrizzani and Negrisolo
the answer has been found.
With its BlackBull axles, A.D.R.
is launching a new concept for
trailer axles at this year’s Agritechnica.
The new series is at
the same time the result of a
roughly two-year development
period. “The success was made
possible by far-reaching changes
42 TRADER | 2 | 2009
in the axle body”, reports Renzo
Negrisolo. “For the Black-
Bull series we completely re-designed
the entire structure of
our previous trailer axles”, adds
the General Manager.
Hollow section instead
of axle billet
In a fi rst step A.D.R. replaced
the previously customary axle
billet with a rectangular hollow
section designed in-house. “We
greatly enlarged the cross section
of this hollow section and
thus achieved the fi rst weight
savings”, describes Negrisolo.
“Despite this the stability of
the BlackBull axles is not restricted”,
he continues. This is
achieved thanks to a special steel
that A.D.R. developed in a research
project together with re-
puted European steel producers.
“This alloy is characterised by a
high yield strength”, explains
Negrisolo. The yield strength is
an important index for the form
stability of a material. The higher
this characteristic value is, the
less infl uence tensile forces exert
on the material.
A.D.R manufactures the newly
developed hollow sections in
a cold forming process on the
basis of stringent quality guidelines.
“We monitor very precisely
that the geometric properties
of the base sections are maintained”,
reports the General
Manager. “Particularly strict tolerance
limits apply for the cross
section of the hollow sections
and the wall thicknesses. This
care pays off especially for ADR
customers in vehicle building.
Thanks to the high quality re-
80 percent of the axles are
used by vehicle manufacturers
outside Italy – here on fi ve-axle
trailers behind fast-running
tractors.
Prominent features are the
halving of the total weight
and the larger cross section
of the axle body.
The special alloy hubs help
to reduce the weight of the
BlackBull axle.
quirements and the low variability
of sections and connection
devices, BlackBull axles are reliable
in further processing. “The
great structural precision allows
a high degree of assembly work
standardisation on the production
line and creates planning
certainty for component production”,
declares Renzo Negrisolo.
These are two important prerequisites
for generating rising
economies of scale.
New steering knuckles
in special steel for lower
axle weight
The steering knuckles also
forged from special steel are
characteristic for the BlackBull
Series. “This alloy allows us
to improve the strength of the
knuckles and at the same time