Tyre inflation system warns of wheel-end heat

AN ALERT THAT WARNS OF heat buildup in railer wheel ends is now standard in the PSI automatic tyre inflation system. PSI’s patented ThermALERT system helps avoid costly damage to the axle, suspension and trailer – potentially even the loss of a trailer to fire – by alerting a driver to any abnormally high wheel-end temperatures.

The PSI tyre inflation system is the only one that has the bearing temperature warning system as part of its standard package, says Aaron Burson, sales engineer at TATES, the New Zealand distributor for PSI.

The system works like a fire sprinkler system head – with the core of a thermal screw in a frost plug in the wheel end designed to melt at 160 degrees.

When that happens, pressurised air in the axle escapes out through a hub cap vent system, triggering a warning light on the truck’s dash…

And emitting a sound at the vent that PSI says is “kind of like a banshee scream.”

The driver can thus find a safe place to pull over, check the axle and call for repairs before any serious damage occurs as a result of the abnormal wheel-end operating temperatures.