FPInnovations has concluded research that examined the effect of TPCS in off-road applications.
This FPInnovations Advantage Report (Vol. 12, no. 10) was authored by M. Surcel, and titled “Impact of tire pressure control systems on fuel consumption”. The objective was to evaluate the influence of TPCS on logging truck fuel consumption.
The results showed that in wet conditions with rain and melting snow, there was no difference in fuel consumption of logging trucks on highways. However, there was a 6% improvement with empty logging trucks on gravel roads, and a 14% improvement with empty logging trucks on muddy roads. This figure increased drastically, to 30 to 40% for loaded logging trucks on muddy roads. Hard-packed snow-covered roads did not have any influence on the loaded vehicles. The tests showed that decreasing the tyre pressure resulted in increased fuel consumption when the road surface was stiff and no traction loss was occurring.
To summarise, if operating logging trucks on gravel and especially muddy roads, TPCS are invaluable for improved fuel consumption. Source: www.feric.ca