Future Development of Central Tire Inflation Systems and Integration with Vehicles

With the increasing interest in applying Central Tire Inflation Systems (CTIS) to commercial heavy duty truck applications, a variety of vehicle integration issues must be addressed. Most system installations to date have been handled on a retrofit basis, but CTIS equipped vehicles will soon become available through OEM's. This raises the need for the establishment of recommended practices in the design and application of systems. Issues addressed include air system requirements, wheel integration, and potential safety issues such as brake priority and over-speed detection and correction. Use of electronic data interchange can result in diagnostic standardization, and enhanced capabilities such as integrated load sensing. This paper discusses integration issues, as well as potential future developments in tire pressure control systems.