Company Profile
Background
- 1991 - Company established to exploit SAW technology in the automotive market
- Develops new generation of wireless, batteryless sensors
- SAW technology and applications protected by a broad range of patents
- Traded on OFEX 1995-1999 and admitted to London Stock Exchange's, AIM, in December 1999
The Business
- Technology transfer, by licencing key component suppliers and applications
- Focus on automotive market, over 63 million vehicles per annum
- Use of automotive sensors growing rapidly - in 2005, the automotive pressure sensor market is forecast to reach $1.345 billion (200 million units) ref. Sensor Business Digest August 2002
- Many potential applications - possibility of 25 or more SAW sensors per vehicle
Why SAW Technology Is Important
Safety - Helping to prevent road traffic accidents.
More than 20% of all truck breakdowns are due to tyre failure! Transense tyre pressure monitoring technology (TPMS) continually measures both tyre pressure and temperature alerting the driver when the air pressure of one or more of the tyres has fallen below the manufacturer's recommended level. The system interrogates each tyre many times a second, recognising small changes in the pressure and temperature, providing the driver with continually updated information. Most other direct tyre monitoring systems only inform the driver when there is a predefined change in pressure, usually between 10% and 25% deflation. In addition, many direct systems are unable to provide temperature information. Indirect TPMS systems can take up to 20 minutes for system calibration and 20 minutes to inform the driver of a tyre deflation greater than 25%. Indirect systems rely on information from the vehicle ABS sensors and are therefore unable to provide absolute values of tyre pressure or temperature and operate poorly under road conditions where wheel slip occurs.
Environment - Reducing toxic emissions and waste.
Incorrect tyre pressure has a huge impact on running cost and the environment. A tyre that is 20% (typically 7psi) under-inflated has an increased rolling resistance of 12% (1) reducing tyre life by 50% and increasing fuel consumption by ~6% (2). If all vehicles in the EU ran at the correct tyre pressures, there would be a fuel saving of 700 million litres of fuel per annum (3). Maintaining correct tyre pressures will therefore increase tyre life, reduce pollution caused by the manufacture process and reduce vehicle emissions. Transense's technology does not depend on a battery-powered transmitting device in each wheel so the associated problem of disposing of potentially hundreds of millions of batteries every year will be eradicated.
Torque - Economy and efficiency, power only when required
Conventional hydraulic power assisted steering (PAS) systems are working all the time the vehicle's engine is running. In comparison, an electrical power assisted steering (EPAS) vehicle only draws power from the battery when manoeuvring at low speed, improving fuel consumption by 2 to 5%. Transense's torque sensors for EPAS provide improved driver steering feel, a more robust design and lower manufacturing cost.
Current vehicle engines are managed by a control unit (ecu) which cannot adjust for manufacturing tolerances or in-service wear. By directly sensing torque in the driveline, it is possible to optimally control the engine and automatic transmission generating significant fuel savings and improvements in vehicle drive smoothness.
One of the worlds most demanding challenges
An estimated 63 million cars and light trucks were manufactured in 2005. Assuming five wheels per vehicle, (trucks range from 6 to 42) that equates to at least 300 million new wheels and tyres per year. The world current production of tyres is 1.2 billion with the difference due to replacement tyres. One of the fastest growing markets in the next 15 years will be China. Today it has approximately 2 million cars on the road and by 2020 this is expected to grow to 70 million.
The world is consuming oil, for all purposes, at the rate of 77 million barrels a day. This figure is anticipated to rise to 121 million barrels a day by 2025(4). The emissions of carbon dioxide are expected to rise from 24 billion tons to 37 billion tons over the same period of which approximately 10% can be attributed to cars and light trucks. In addition, there are emissions of soot and oxides of nitrogen from diesel driven vehicles. In 2004, in the US, cars and light trucks emitted as carbon dioxide, 314 million metric tonnes of carbon - equivalent to a coal train 50,000 miles long (5).
Conclusion - The contribution of SAW technology
To put Transense technologies contribution into context: tyre pressure maintenance, EPAS and driveline efficiency gains could provide cumulative fuel consumption benefits up to 10%.
The cost of fuel affects all aspects of our everyday lives. Most goods are transported by road and 50% of trucks have tyres that are under-inflated by at least 10%. This equates to an approximate increase in running cost of €1,300 per annum(6) - an additional cost passed directly on to the consumer........... think about it!
(1) Rolling Resistance and Fuel Consumption - Michelin, Jarome Barrand & Richard Ahsbahs - 2nd Annual Congress of Intelligent Tire Technology, 2006
(2) Direct TPMS - New Frontier - Schrader Electronics, Kevin Stock (Quattroroute Aug 2006) - 2nd Annual Congress of Intelligent Tire Technology, 2006
(3) Direct TPMS - New Frontier - Schrader Electronics, Kevin Stock (Continental) - 2nd Annual Congress of Intelligent Tire Technology, 2006
(4) We're running out of time to replace oil, Dave Guilford, Automotive News, Jul 2004
(5) Global Warming on the Road, Environmental Defense, 2006
(6) TPMS for Trucks - Beru AG, Nicola Fischer - 2nd Annual Congress of Intelligent Tire Technology, 2006