Orjan Eriksson, Commercial Application Manager Monitoring & Solutions at EnerSys® EMEA commented that: “This enables drivers to optimise their battery’s utilisation and power management, while avoiding the risk of damage or productivity loss due to incorrect usage.”
The Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard enhances management of motive power battery fleets, as each truck driver can easily see and understand their battery’s condition and associated parameters from their seat, in real time. They can therefore react immediately to optimise performance and prevent damage, if required.
Battery data is measured by wireless sensors located on the truck battery, and collected by a compact, harness-mounted Wi-iQ3® battery monitoring device. The Wi-iQ® battery monitoring device relays this information to the Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard via Bluetooth BLE. This communication channel is established quickly and automatically on power-up, without need for driver intervention. This is especially important during battery changes, which can be performed without any additional setup overhead or delay. As the module starts up, the Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard automatically recognises the battery’s ID.
Information delivered to the Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard includes real time State of Charge (SoC), and alarms and alerts for the following battery parameters: temperature, electrolyte level, low SoC and cell unbalance.
The dashboard’s primary screen features a prominent graph showing SoC, remaining work time and battery temperature. Battery warnings relating to Go to Charge - accompanied by a buzzer – and high battery temperature, electrolyte level or unbalance are visible. Also displayed are the User ID, the worked time, and the number of Ah that have been re-injected into the battery by vehicle braking.
The driver can simply touch to unlock the display and access other, more detailed screens. One displays settings for communications and pairing, while another shows details for the battery, cycle status, truck data and warning history.
Battery information includes type and serial number, daily and total discharge in Ah and total discharge time, together with daily worked time and cycle number. Current cycle status covers battery voltage, current, remaining Ah, worked time and usage time, while truck data includes an hour meter and shock detection. The warning history shows the date and time of the last warning related to low electrolyte level, high battery temperature, cell unbalance, over-discharge or other factors.
“The Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard is different, because it presents truck and battery information in real time to the driver on the job, in an easily understood format. This helps to prevent truck misuse, while improving battery utilisation and service life. It also boosts efficiency and energy management. In summary, the Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard allows each vehicle driver to make his own contribution to the power efficiency and operational productivity improvements,” comments Orjan Eriksson.
The Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard is the latest addition to the EnerSys® power management system. The system uses wireless IoT technology to automatically collect battery data from every fleet vehicle for analysis, facilitating presentation of actionable insights within easily-readable reports. As a result, managers are able to achieve a far deeper understanding of their overall battery fleet performance, and can act pre-emptively on impending failure warnings. Longer-term strategies can also be identified, allowing for improvement of charging routines, streamlining of maintenance procedures, tracking of energy use, and correct deployment of batteries. Poor operator behaviour can also be identified and corrected.
Matteo Todesco, Senior Marketing Manager - Motive Power EMEA & Marketing Operations Manager – EMEA commented that “With the launch of the Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard, Enersys® finally closes the circle of forklift power management and now offers a complete remote monitoring solution. This extends from the latest Wi-iQ3® battery monitoring device with its report suite, the E connect mobile app for data sharing, and the XinxTM battery operations management system that allows remote control by cloud, to the Truck iQTM smart battery dashboard that displays all battery data directly to truck operators.”
Tadesco continued: “We at EnerSys® are applying our long experience as battery manufacturers into this complete toolset, which will ensure better asset management, controlled efficiency and more integrated power in the material handling world.”
