Walkerton, Ind.-based Polygon Company introduces a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite air tank designed for the over-the-road Class 8 truck and trailer industry, as well as the service vehicle market. The composite air tank is designed to meet the rugged environments encountered by truck fleets, while at the same time offering new composite technology. It will provide unique marketing opportunities for OEM truck and trailer manufacturers looking to enhance vehicle performance.
Polygon's new composite air tank incorporates designs that are fundamental to composite laminate theory, as well as newly advanced composite raw material inputs. The new tank approach uses thermoplastic resin matrices forming a pressure vessel that can be hammered without stress crack propagation.
Polygon's air tanks provide an impact-resistant tank that is 20 to 30 percent lighter than any metallic tank on the market, while at the same time being price competitive with traditional metallic tanks.
The transportation and trucking industry demands new technology that contributes to the working horsepower of the unit, minimizing nonproductive weight. Every pound saved can be used in a more productive manner, especially as new emission standards requirements approach in 2010. Skyrocketing fuel prices are making composites more and more the material of choice by maximizing strength-to-weight ratios.
New advances in composite structural shapes and designs are taking over traditional metallic markets. The key in this evolving technology is to design from the foundation with composites in mind, rather than replacing existing metallic parts in geometry, size or form.
Polygon is working on setting up an automated line in a new Indiana facility for the manufacturing of these air tanks. Proprietary technology has been developed to make the tank in a unique processing methodology different than the manufacturing queue used for making traditional thermoset pressure vessels.
For more information visit www.polygoncompany.com.
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