Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1004801
54 commercial carrier journal | july 2018 EQUIPMENT: TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING hose; flow-through sensors that allow air to be added manually without removing the sensor; or internal tire sensors that are placed inside the valve stem or banded to the wheel. ese sensors feed tire pressure information to the driver in the cab via a display, back to the fleet through telematics or both. Data sent to the back office allows the fleet to take action if required. Intagliata says further improvements in trailer telematics have benefited TPMS because they enable the fleet to see issues with trailer tire pressures even when the trailer is sitting unpowered remotely. "TPMS will continuously monitor the tires and send any alerts as they occur, allowing the fleet to proactively know if there is a tire problem before the driver arrives to pick up the trailer," he says. Driver involvement Trost says if discretion is le largely to the driver on whether to stop and re- inflate tires, "this is inefficient and can be ineffective for preserving tire life, tire casing and retreadability, maintain- ing fuel efficiency and preventing an on-road tire failure." TPMS can provide the driver with information about a low-pressure tire but cannot take active control to inflate the tires properly. On the other hand, ATIS directly measures tire pressure and takes proactive action to re-inflate tires while the vehicle is in operation, independent of the driver. ATIS uses air from the truck and trailer supply, but "air tank system reserve pressure will be retained for future braking events as a priority," Trost says. e benefit of ATIS is that its pri- mary objective is to keep an adequate level of air pressure in the tire. "In the same way a speedometer cannot guarantee a vehicle will not travel above the posted speed limit, TPMS cannot guarantee tires will not fall below their target pressure," says Judith Monte, vice president of marketing and customer experience for Aperia Technologies. "For that reason, any fleet wishing to reduce tire-related downtime would benefit from ATIS." Monte says ATIS is capable of over- coming 97 percent of tire leaks. e side effect is that this process can hide potential issues. "While TPMS lacks the ability to add air, ATIS continuously adds air when the tire has a leak," Intagliata says. "If the leak is too large, the driver may never know the ATIS cannot keep up, ultimately resulting in a catastrophic failure — exactly the situation you are trying to avoid by using these technolo- gies." Intagliata says that in Bendix's expe- rience, some fleets seeking to move to TPMS from ATIS have mentioned that ATIS inadvertently will mask a leak, re- sulting in tire damage or failure. "Cas- ings can be damaged due to long-term operation with objects embedded in the tire, causing rust or other damage and resulting in a casing that cannot be retreaded," he says. To flag persistent pressure loss, ATIS in most cases provides a warning light that PeopleNet has integrated Continental's ContiPressureCheck TPMS with its fleet mobility platform, allowing both drivers and back-office personnel to continu- ously monitor real-time tire pressures and temperatures. The Doran 360 TPMS is designed for fleets of all sizes and equipment configurations, including drop-and-hook operations. The system uses high-impact nylon valve-stem mounted sensors with potting material inside. "We view ATIS and TPMS as two different products that are complementary in nature, not competitive." – Jim Sharkey, vice president of global sales and marketing, Pressure Systems International