Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/816045
T he recently concluded ConExpo show in Las Vegas didn't bring us any radically new ideas in construction machinery – save for Case's Minotaur, a hybrid compact track loader/ dozer and JCB's Teleskid. The OEMs offered up mostly improvements, enhancements and series extensions. All good stuff, but nothing on par with Caterpillar's D7E diesel electric dozer or Deere's high speed dozer from years past. Where the revolution seemed to occur was in the South Hall. There I learned about three tiny, sensor-based innovations that appear to indicate where the industry is going. None of these devices is on the market yet, but they are coming this year. They include: Perkins is working on an oil filler cap that will tell you when it's time to change your oil. A sensor inside the cap wakes up when the engine starts to vibrate at its regular operating rpms. When that happens, it wirelessly tells the operator's smart phone, "I'm running," and the phone relays the message to a data storage address in the cloud unique to that machine. When the data site sees that the machine has accumulated 500 hours, it tells the operator or the service manager or whomever you des- ignate that it's time to change the oil. All this happens out of sight and out of mind in an otherwise ordinary looking oil filler cap. Shell Lubricants is beta testing a sensor that could be imbedded inside your lube oil plumbing and alert you to oil contamination problems such as coolant leaks. A small leak is generally not a problem for the lube oil. But if you don't detect the leak early, it can become a bigger leak and possibly harm your engine. The sensor immediately tells you when some- thing is wrong, enabling you to change the oil before it becomes too contaminated and fix a small mechanical problem before it gets too big. In addition to detecting contaminants, the sensor also detects changes in oil chemistry, such as what occurs with oxidation or when the wrong fluid is used to top-off a reservoir. And Teletrac-Navman said they would have a sensor out this fall that can accurately record fuel burn. The device will be put, of all places, in the exhaust stream of the engine. Calculat- ing fuel burn in the past required the fleet maintenance guys to closely track fuel refill amounts and the hours of operation between refills. It's not hard math, but it doesn't work unless communication between the refuelers and the operators and the maintenance team is perfect. For that reason, hardly anybody does it. Having this sensor communicate exact fuel burn amounts wirelessly to the shop, with no human intervention, will bring huge benefits in terms of fleet analysis, preventive and predic- tive maintenance. We're probably not going to put a photograph of a sensor on the cover of Equipment World. But my biggest take-away from ConExpo is that we're on the cusp of a new era of innova- tion with sensors, wireless communications and CAN-BUS connections bringing you valuable in- formation you used to struggle to get and doing so intelligently, intuitively and transparently. That's the story this time, and perhaps for years to come. April 2017 | EquipmentWorld.com 82 final word | by Tom Jackson Intelligently, intuitively and transparently TJackson@randallreilly.com