Predictive Maintenance for Tractor Health Monitoring
Agriculture
Asset
Engines and transmissions
Goal
Develop a data-driven solution to monitor and predict the health of key tractor components
Impact
Predicted component degradation and prevented engine and transmission failure in agricultural tractor fleets, improving maintenance practices, increasing uptime, and potentially saving $60-213 or more an hour per vehicle in fuel, repair, and general costs
Overview
A global agricultural machine manufacturer was looking to monitor and predict the health of key tractor components for their customers. They wanted an adaptive solution for diverse operating conditions able to handle a large number of variables, as well as different types of data.
Solution
The tractor manufacturer provided Predictronics with both discrete and analog data for analysis, including CAN bus data. The CAN bus standard allows microcontrollers and devices within the vehicle to communicate with one another. This subsystem also helps manage and gather sensor feedback from electronic control units for various subsystems, such as engine control, transmission, airbags, electric power steering, and more. The data from on-vehicle sensors provided Predictronics with the information needed to create a baseline multivariate health index model with which to compare current vehicle health.
Value
Predictronics was able to deliver an accurate and impactful predictive solution that gives early warnings of impending transmission and engine related issues in agricultural tractor fleets, improving maintenance practices and increasing uptime. By predicting engine and transmission failures, Predictronics helped this agricultural machine manufacturer potentially save their customers $60-213 or more an hour per vehicle in fuel, repair, and general costs. These cost savings continue to rise due to global supply chain issues that have placed a strain on companies obtaining replacement parts, as well as global increases in fuel costs. This predictive solution is not only relevant to agricultural machinery, but also many heavy industrial and fleet-based vehicles.