APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY
The new Nord-Lock wheel nut helps save lives
Conventional wheel nuts used on heavy vehicles loosen. This unfortunate and long-standing truth has resulted in wheels dislodging and causing traffic accidents involving property damage, personal injuries and, in the worst case, fatalities. Furthermore, productivity, delivery efficiency and operating costs are negatively affected. The new Nord-Lock wheel nut effectively eliminates unintentional loosening of wheel nuts, the main cause of this problem.
Wheel detachment: a widespread and dangerous problem I
n the United Kingdom alone there are up to 400 wheel detachments from heavy trucks every year. Of these, on average, there are 134 accidents involving vehicle/ property damage, 27 injuries and up to seven fatalities
(according to a 2006 report commissioned by the United Kingdom Department of Transport). In the United States of America, the National Transportation Safety Board reports that wheel detachments occur at an estimated rate of 1,000 per year - almost three a day - resulting in about 20 accidents per week. In other countries, wheel loss occurs at comparable rates.
Even when the wheel does not become dislodged, loose
wheel nuts can: • Jeopardise delivery efficiency and vehicle productivity. • Increase fuel consumption and tyre wear due to the effects of unbalanced wheels.
• Increase spare parts costs due to increased wear of the wheel assembly.
• Increase operational costs from damage, repair and possible fines or insurance claims.
• Damage the image and safety record of the vehicle owner.
The simple and cost effective way to make wheels safe The Nord-Lock wheel nut safely secures wheels by maintaining a high clamp force
even under severe operating conditions. Each nut incorporates a pair of washers that have cam faces on one side, with a cam angle ‘α‘ greater than the thread pitch ‘β’. On the opposite side there are radial teeth. When the wheel nut is tightened, the teeth of the Nord-Lock washers grip and lock the mating surfaces, allowing movement only across the cam faces. Any rotation of the wheel nut is blocked by the wedge effect of the cams. Once tightened, the Nord-Lock wheel nut cannot loosen by itself.
Proven in tests The product has been thoroughly tested in laboratories as well as
under extreme and normal operating conditions. In all tests, the Nord-Lock wheel nut safely secured all wheel joints with no signs of rotation or loosening. Independent comparative testing was performed during 2009 in the laboratories of IMA, a leading material testing and research institute in Germany. In their series of tests, it achieved outstanding performance compared with conventional wheel nuts. Go to the Safe-Wheels website to see the real effects of wheel
loosening and the test results for Nord-Lock wheel nut.
www.safe-wheels.com
128 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 75 May 2012
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