Designing and fitting TractAir air-braking systems is highly technical. Space is always limited and it is obviously essential that the air-braking system works in unison with existing braking, electrical and hydraulic systems. The sheer complexity of build options of any one make of tractor means that any subsequent installation of equipment such as a front loader; additional hydraulic valves; rear PTO driven equipment; etc. requires exact specifications to be determined at design stage.

TractAir's design engineers work closely with tractor manufacturers' design and product engineers from the inception of a new vehicle to production and beyond, and are capable of undertaking full prototype and pre-production development of fully integrated systems on behalf of the manufacturer.

The company constantly invests in its design skills and facilities and can offer Prototype design; 3D modelling; CAD & E drawings; and virtual material stress analysis.  

Several systems are offered including single line (inverse) and two line (upright) variants, as well as 2/1 line and even the older UK 3 line system

All TractAir systems incorporate various failsafe features, which ensure that a backup system is always available  

Virtual stress analysis   
FEA
Our design engineers are well versed in the use of various CAD systems, including Finite Element Analysis (FEA) otherwise known as ‘virtual stress analysis’ and computational fluid dynamics

FEA is a computer simulation technique for analysing the stress and deformation of computer modelled parts. It goes hand in hand with other computer aided design functions to allow testing of complex assemblies faster and more accurately than in real life.

FEA breaks a component down into a mesh of small 'elements' and performs calculations to determine loading, stress and subsequent strain in each as a result of applied loads.  Put together they build up a picture of the overall stress distribution.

In an engineering setting, FEA allows optimisation of parts in order to streamline manufacturing and safely remove unnecessary mass.

CFD
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) looks at the flow of fluids (liquid and gas) through, across and over solid surfaces.  It considers fluid effects such as mixing of fluids, cooling of solids by moving fluids as well as looking at pressure and velocity.

CFD works on similar principles to FEA but considers the path and movement properties of individual particles within the fluid and puts these together to form an overall picture. 

The main applications for TractAir relate to the internal design of valves, fittings and tanks, and the cooling of compressors.