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The controlling force
Page 76
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Remember the old British Gas adverts? "It's nice to be in control': Haldex has taken it to heart with its EB+ and Telematic Trailer Vanager, so you'll never be left wondering where your trailer is, or what your driver's been doing to it....
The problem with developing new technologies on HGVs is that it can all get very "bitty" as each new step is bolted on. More and more operators are looking for single fully-integrated control units, especially when it comes to controlling the latest EBS trailer brakes. It's a point not wasted on Gary Hewitt, sales and marketing manager of the Braking Controls Division at Haldex Commercial Vehicle Systems. With its EB+ brake control unit Haldex reckons it's got the problem knocked. "EB+ brings everything together," says Hewitt. "It's the brains of the trailer allowing you to control a number of auxiliary systems such as lift axles as well as the ABS/EBS on a trailer."
Increasingly, reports Hewitt, those 'auxiliaries' now include tyre pressure monitoring systems and, in particular, the latest generation of roll stability programs being offered by trailer makers.
Stability control
"EB+ already has integrated stability in it," says Hewitt, adding "If you specify stability control on your trailer with EB+ it'll come as an integrated part of that system."
Moreover, with EB+ the fleet engineer can also keep an eye on his vehicle even when he can't see it, as Hewitt explains "Because of the monitoring system within it you can now actually record where you've had a near-rollover incident and by interrogating the system a fleet operator can see how his drivers are performing and deal with poor skills through training."
Accessing that data within EB+ is a simple task, says Hewitt-The fleet engineer can download it onto his own laptop for interrogation — we'll show him how to do it. With some of our competitors you have to send the data to them for interrogation and they'll send it back. With EB+ you simply plug in and you're away."
EB+ works in conjunction with Haldex's Fleet+ and Diag+ monitoring tools."It's all very user-friendly." reports Hewitt. "Diag+ allows you to analyse and diagnose the information held on the trailer — such as the on-board odometer, the number of brake and potential ABS applications as well as trailer capacity and overload incidents."
As managers come under ever-increasing pressure to gain 'hourly' control of their fleets Haldex has now developed what it calls its Telematic Trailer Manager or TTM which, via a GSM or GPRS phone network,provides a realtime link to an EB+ equipped trailer.
According to Hewitt: "What we're finding is that the premium fleet operator has got a great deal of interest in TTM, particularly the real time diagnostics. TTM takes the information from EB+ and because it has its own power source it doesn't matter whether the trailer is connected to a tractor or not you can download all the diagnostics at any time."
More importantly, if there is a fault on the trailer, through being able to remotely diagnose the EB+ unit via ITM and Diag+,you can tell a breakdown fitter what's causing the trouble before he's even arrived at the scene.
One more attraction of TTM is that because all the data is displayed via an internet link, the operator doesn't need to buy special software programmes. "But it's not just a trailer telematics manager, it's a fleet management tool," insists Haldex CVS sales manager Bernard Clancy. "When we talk to operators they say the biggest problem is finding where a trailer is. They want to do regular maintenance on it but they can't find it!"
The result, says Clancy, is that many artic fleets have 7-10% more trailers than they actually need simply to ensure availability. "What TIM does is give you chapter and verse on fleet utilisation and availability. You can call the trailer up and ask Are you half loaded, quarterloaded or full?' You can use it to optimise your fleet size." Not a bad goal really. After all, it's nice to be in control isn't it?