ArvinMeritor ramps up heavy-duty exhaust ‘R&I’

COLUMBUS, Ind. (Aug. 6, 2001) — ArvinMeritor Exhaust Systems is poised to become a major player in both the North American and European truck worlds. The company is the world’s largest automotive exhaust supplier — active in 17 countries on five continents — though entirely on the strength of its light-vehicle products. So far.

A year after the merger of Arvin Industries and Meritor Automotive, the Michigan-based company’s exhaust business unit secured its first truck contract — to develop and supply as many as 35,000 full exhaust systems to a major European manufacturer for an unnamed new truck set to debut next year.

Through its joint venture with German OEM exhaust specialist Zeuna Starker (Arvin purchased 49% of the company in 1998) and its own domestic heavy-duty connections through the “heritage” Meritor side of the company, the company is well situated to be a strong player. Zeuna Starker has supplied diesel particulate filters to German truck-maker M.A.N. for the last 10 years, and with European diesel emissions standards set to get tougher in 2005, and then again in 2008 (when they’ll match U.S. EPA 2007 standards approximately), the business opportunity — and technological challenge — is as big there as it on this side of the Atlantic.

The company recently formed a new Research and Innovation (R & I) group to identify new product opportunities inside and outside transportation-related markets. It will develop technically advanced products for commercial vehicle/diesel emissions control as well as others such as 42-volt electronics. New opportunities currently under review include vehicle weight-reduction products, hybrid and fuel-cell motive power, and electronic mufflers.

Among the more interesting of these is the latter, which involves a partnership with NASA (the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to develop high-temperature electronic noise-cancellation technology. Until now, loudspeaker technology to address the demanding environment of a vehicle exhaust system has been hindered by operating temperatures, durability and excessive electrical power requirements.

“Although electronic mufflers are not widely used in automotive applications today, this technology breakthrough increases our opportunities to provide this system on cars and trucks in the future,” says Stinson.

In an electronic muffler system, sensors in the exhaust system sense the pattern of exhaust sound waves. Information is then sent to an on-board computer that controls loudspeakers in the muffler. The computer operates the loudspeakers to generate sound waves that oppose (anti-noise) and cancel the original exhaust sound waves produced by the engine. The improved-durability speaker technology was originally developed for advanced aerospace vehicle concepts by NASA researchers.

“The partnership between NASA and ArvinMeritor promises to revolutionize electronic noise-cancellation technology. Our goal is to transfer this technology from aerospace to use in widespread automotive applications,” says Samuel Morello, director of technology commercialization at NASA.

ArvinMeritor Exhaust Systems has two-advanced engineering and technology centers, in Columbus, Ind., and Warton, England. Its light-duty OE customers include Alfa Romeo, BMW, Bentley, Daimler-Chrysler, Ferrari, Fiat, General Motors, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lancia, Maserati, Mercedes Benz, Rolls Royce, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo, among others. It’s also a major player in aftermarket exhaust systems.