The commercial vehicle industry is in the early stages of electrified & autonomous powertrain development.
The goal is to reduce the total life cost of truck and bus transmissions, and the use of automated shifting draws on many of DSD’s core skills.
We are accustomed to designing for the long service life that characterises this sector: typically 400,000 miles for medium-duty and over a million miles for a heavy-duty application.
DSD has a skilled control team with experience of AMTs and DCTs, from basic algorithm design, through plant modelling/simulation, diagnostics design to calibration and validation for production. We also have strong system integration skills, vital for customers new to automation and electronic control of transmissions.
DSD provides both complete design and bolt-on automated shifts suitable for the conversion of existing manual transmissions. AMTs demand specialised skills in shift system/actuator design and control system development. DSD’s particular expertise in the control of AMTs is directly applicable to this new generation of truck and bus transmissions.
DSD’s expertise extends from target setting (e.g. refinement, shift quality) through the definition of optimum specifications, concept design up to production engineering and design for manufacture. Our detail component expertise includes gear design for low noise with the highest efficiency, whether spur, helical, planetary or bevel gears. In addition, we have designed synchroniser components for many of the world’s premier manufacturers and used our skills to resolve often persistent problems in gearshift systems for significant truck OEM’s.
The test and development facilities at DSD are suited to commercial vehicle transmissions and drive axles.
Following recent investment and expansion, our comprehensive onsite facilities offer ten test cells, including 3E & 5E rigs, spin, tilt and efficiency test rigs. The DSD team also has extensive practical experience developing and solving problems in various transmissions and final drives.