In response to customer demand, and as part of its ongoing commitment to increasing sustainability practices, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC has engineered the Bendix GC Spin-On Air Dryer Cartridge, the North American heavy-duty industry’s first spin-on style air dryer cartridge using recycled desiccant for the aftermarket. Being the only air dryer remanufacturer in the industry, according to the company, that reprocesses its own desiccant means that, with the GC, Bendix can provide original equipment manufacturer performance with a replacement cartridge priced for aftermarket customers. Designed and built by Bendix, the GC – the letters stand for “Green Cartridge” – will be available on August 20, 2017, through standard authorized Bendix aftermarket distribution channel partners.
“Bendix understands the value of listening to customers to provide the best solutions. It’s been a part of how we do business for more than 85 years,” said Richard Nagel, Bendix director of marketing and customer solutions, Air Charging. “We’ve heard from many fleets and owner-operators who work hard to maintain their trucks for long-term life cycles, as well as customers who are second and third owners of used trucks – and one of the things they’ve told us is that they really want an aftermarket spin-on cartridge that delivers genuine Bendix reliability.”
The Bendix GC can be used on any North American air dryer that calls for a standard 39mm, right-hand thread spin-on dryer cartridge, although Nagel noted it is not suitable for applications requiring an oil-coalescing filter.
Desiccant Details
Desiccant – the material inside an air dryer cartridge that attracts moisture during a charging cycle and releases that moisture during the purge cycle – needs to be tough for trucking applications. Through thousands of cycles a year, it’s subjected to pressure cycling, high temperatures, and road vibrations, and exposed to air saturated with moisture and oil aerosols passed by a truck’s compressor. Over its decades as a pioneer in developing and manufacturing commercial vehicle air system technologies, Bendix has continually sought to deliver high-performance desiccant that provides the best protection in the most demanding conditions.
As a result, Bendix is the only manufacturer of remanufactured dryer cartridges that is able to reprocess its own high-quality desiccant. When this reconditioned material is combined with new Bendix desiccant, the proprietary mix delivers like-new performance, and stable air drying efficiency performance over the life of the cartridge.
“We’ve been remanufacturing our desiccant for over 20 years and continue to improve and invest in the process,” Nagel said. “The Bendix GC reflects this, with a performance range that’s near the air drying efficiency of our brand-new, OEM-grade cartridges. In fact, our proprietary remanufactured desiccant mix is often better in the long run than the new desiccant found in most comparable aftermarket cartridges.”
It’s a common misconception, Nagel explained, that new desiccant is inherently superior to remanufactured. For example, Bendix testing has shown that while low-cost aftermarket spin-on cartridges may perform satisfactorily out of the box, their desiccant often begins to degrade – impacting system efficiency and air quality – within just a few weeks of normal operation.
Seeing Green
Bendix estimates that in a typical year, more than 500,000 commercial vehicle air dryer spin-on cartridges – containing about a million total pounds of desiccant – are thrown out across North America. The Bendix GC can help reduce the amount of material sent to landfills, and cut down on the environmental impact of manufacturing new desiccant and dryer cartridges. Additionally, the GC is sold as service-new with no core charge, in line with Bendix’s long-term goal of diverting their spin-on cartridges from landfill disposal.
“There’s a reason the GC was designed with a bright green shell that stands out from the widely recognized Bendix blue,” Nagel said. “Sustainability and environmental responsibility are among our core company values, and we’re always aiming for positive change both inside and outside our facilities.”
Bendix’s sustainability efforts also include a program that diverts used brake linings from landfill disposal and increased recycling opportunities at all its facilities that resulted in a 96.4 percent waste diversion rate in 2016.
As the North American leader in the development and manufacture of active safety and braking solutions for commercial vehicles, Bendix delivers on safety, vehicle performance, and efficiency through its ever-growing portfolio of technology developments, while providing unparalleled post-sales support.
Online, Bendix’s Knowledge Dock (knowledge-dock.com) helps trucking professionals stay connected through updates on the latest information in truck operation, maintenance, and safety. It includes an archive of the Bendix Tech Tips series, as well as videos, blog posts, podcasts, and white papers.By focusing on areas critical to fleets’ success and aiming to lower the total cost of vehicle ownership, Bendix helps strengthen return on investment in equipment and technology that enhance highway safety across North America.For more information about Bendix air management systems and technologies, call 1-800-AIR-BRAKE (1-800-247-2725) or visit www.bendix.com or safertrucks.com/solutions.
