A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. A large proportion of its weight is supported either by a road tractor or by a detachable front axle assembly known as a dolly or by the tail of another trailer. A semi-trailer is normally equipped with legs which can be lowered to support it when it is uncoupled.
A road tractor coupled to a semi-trailer is often called a semi-trailer truck or semi. Though most road trailers meet this definition, the term is most often applied to heavy trailers appropriate for use in such a rig.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
In road haulage semi-trailers predominate over full trailers because of their flexibility in use.
- The trailers can be coupled and uncoupled quickly allowing them to be shunted for loading and to be trunked between depots.
- In the event of a breakdown, a tractor unit can be exchanged quickly and the load delivered to its destination without undue delay and without having to trans-ship.
- It is also possible to use a dolly to tow a semi-trailer behind a rigid truck, or behind another semi-trailer.
- Special tractors (known as tugs, yard dogs or yard trucks) are often used for internal transport, for example, manoeuvring semi-trailers at a depot or loading and unloading ferries. These tractors may lift the coupling so that the trailer legs clear the ground.
- Compared with a full scale trailer, a semi-trailer attached to a tractor unit is easier to reverse, since it has only one turning point (the coupling), whereas a full trailer has two turning points (the coupling and the drawbar attachment).
- Compared with a rigid vehicle, a semi-trailer truck has a turning circle smaller than its overall length making it more maneuverable.
Disadvantages
- Since a semi-trailer rests on top of a tractor it has a high centre of gravity which makes it less stable than a rigid vehicle.
- Articulated vehicles are difficult to drive in snow and ice since they lose traction more easily than a straight truck.
- They are also subject to jackknifing.
Couplings
There are two types of couplings: fifth wheel and automatic. In some applications, no separable coupling is fitted and the trailer is bolted to the tractor unit using a bearing and rocker feet as are used under a fifth wheel skid plate.
Fifth wheel coupling
The towing vehicle has a wide coupling plate known as a fifth wheel coupling bolted onto its chassis on which the semi-trailer rests and pivots. As the tractor reverses under the trailer, a king-pin under the front of the trailer slides into a slot in the skidplate and the jaws of the fifth wheel close on to it. The driver has to raise the trailer legs manually and couple the airbrake lines and electrical cable.
Automatic couplings
Many years ago automatic couplings predominated but are now quite rare. Automatic couplings were generally used for payloads of 12 tons or less, e.g. on the Scammell Mechanical Horse.
There is no coupling plate on the tractor. There is a turntable permanently fixed to the underside of the trailer. This locks on to the chassis of the tractor. When the tractor reverses under the trailer its legs rise and the brake and electrical connections are made automatically. Almost the entire coupling and uncoupling procedure is operated by the driver from inside the cab, except that he or she has to descend to release (or apply) the trailer parking brake.
Battery semi-trailer
A battery propulsion semi-trailer is a semi-trailer that contains the batteries that are used to power an electric truck or bus.
Types
Different types of semi-trailers are designed to haul different cargoes.
- Box
- The most common type of trailer can haul almost anything that can fit inside. Also called a van trailer.
- Curtain sider
- A curtain sider is similar to a box trailer except that the sides are movable curtains made of renforced fabric coated in with a waterproof coating. The purpose of a curtain sider is to allow the security and weather resistance of a box trailer with the ease of loading of a flatbed.
- Reefer - see Refrigerator truck
- Box trailer with a heating/cooling unit (reefer) attached. Used for hauling produce, ice cream, etc.
- Tanker - see Tank truck
- Used for hauling liquids like gasoline, milk, etc.
- Dry Bulk
- Resembles a big tanker, but is used for sugar, flour and other dry powder materials.
- Flatbed
- Consists of just a load floor and removable side rails, and a bulkhead in front to protect the tractor in the event of a load shift. Can haul almost anything that can be stacked on and strapped down.
- Lowboy
- Type of flatbed in which the load floor is as close to the ground as possible. Most commonly used to haul heavy equipment, cranes, bulldozers, etc.
- Car carrying trailer
- Carries multiple cars; usually new cars from the manufacturer.
- Step trailer
- A step trailer is a trailer on which the floor steps down a level once clear of the tractor unit, the most common types of step trailer are flatbeds and curtain siders.
- Double Decker
- Double deckers or deckers are trailers with either a fixed, hinged or moveable second floor to enable them to carry more palletised goods, in general a double decker can carry 40 pallets as opposed to 26 for a standard trailer. Double deck trailers are generaly a stepped box or curtain siders, with box trailers having either a fixed or movable (floating ) deck and curtain sides having either a fixed or hinged second deck, this hinged seconed deck generally swings into a position down the length of the trailer and can be divided into 2 or 3 sections to allow greater load flexibility.
- Sidelifter / Sideloader
- Semi-trailer with hydraulic cranes mounted on tracks at both ends of the trailer allowing for the loading and unloading of different sized shipping containers without the need of a forklift or other container handling equipment.
(from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - subject to the GNU Free Documentation License)