If you own, manage or maintain a fleet of vehicles and equipment, then you already know how important it is to perform routine maintenance to maximize uptime. But even if you do routine maintenance, you cannot completely avoid unplanned downtime at the work site. The site conditions are harsh and the machinery is fickle, and there is often only limited information about the true conditions of the engine or other systems.
But what if these systems can talk to you in real time?
Modern technology has improved the convenience in our daily lives. No matter where you are in the world, you can know the security situation at home, the temperature in the living room, and even what your pet is doing through your mobile phone. We are connected to everything in our personal lives through the cloud, so we should be able to use this technology to make our work and life more efficient.
Continuously connect to improve efficiency
Engine filtration has never been more important. Modern construction equipment, especially engines and hydraulic systems, may have very strict tolerances. Even a small amount of debris passing through air, hydraulic or fuel filters may cause unexpected shutdowns in the best case, or in the worst case. Circumstances lead to catastrophic failure. Changing filters or oil at preset intervals may not be enough, especially when working conditions vary from job to job.
For example, for engine oil, the best time to change the oil filter is to change the engine oil within the standard time interval. But for hydraulic filters and fluids, this is not always the case. The hydraulic oil may need to be replaced, but the filter may still have a long life. Or, the filter may be doing its job and catching a lot of contamination, thus keeping the oil in its original condition, but may need to be replaced before the scheduled maintenance interval.
Generally speaking, it is the "traditional" approach to replace the filter at a predetermined time or at regular intervals of the year. However, if there is enough life to reach the next interval, you have the potential to maximize filter consumption and get more productivity from your fleet.
Utilizing advanced telematics technology and sensors integrated into the liquid and filtration system, we are now able to generate real-time data to create a more effective service plan, including the optimal filter replacement time. This wireless sensor function sends filter and fluid performance data to the cloud, while predictive analysis helps users make more effective filter maintenance decisions.
These advancements are for every team manager to benefit, because they eliminate a lot of guesswork about filtration and fluid performance. By continuously monitoring the oil and filter, you can know many problems and improve the efficiency of the equipment. Should the oil be replaced? Does the condition of the oil indicate a bigger problem inside the engine? Using existing fleet monitoring software, these sensors can send information in real time, preventing small problems from turning into major repairs.
The fluid state and filtration monitoring in construction equipment is similar to a human blood test. Taking a blood test can let you know how your body works, and if something is wrong, it can raise red flags. Simultaneously monitor all the conditions from the liquid quality to the intake air volume of each device in your fleet, allowing you to see the "health" of the entire operation at a glance. By optimizing filtration maintenance and fluid regulation, fleet managers can save maintenance downtime and costs.
It's all about uptime
The longer your fleet is down, the greater your loss in actual and time costs. Whether it's a truck, crane or skid steer loader, uptime is critical, because your time is money. If you knew that by actively "listening" to the sound of a device, you could provide a greater uptime for the device, would you do that? You can avoid many accidents and let the work stop abruptly.
Now you can "monitor" your entire fleet at the same time. Telematics technology has made great progress, and we can connect multiple monitoring solutions to one intuitive system. This is the next stage of wireless filtration and liquid monitoring technology.
For example, Donaldson's technology can integrate the comprehensive data of all on-board systems (air, fuel, oil, and hydraulic) into the GeoTab fleet management platform, regardless of the fleet or engine. This means that it is now easy to put a potentially overwhelming amount of information into action. This also means more informed maintenance decisions, which means more uptime and higher productivity, and higher productivity is the ultimate goal.
