Using a patented refrigerant charge sensor, a high-side pressure transducer and a compact electronic control unit (ECU) that mounts in the engine compartment, ProTecht from Red Dot Corp. offers both active protection against truck A/C component failures and advanced diagnostics in real-time.
Introduced at the annual meeting of the Technology and Maintenance Council, ProTecht features a thermistor-based sensor that actually samples the refrigerant flow, taking action to protect the system if it senses excessive refrigerant loss.
The ECU provides diagnostic blink codes for technicians or can be hooked up to a PC via a standard J1708 databus connection. New “A/C Technician” software from Red Dot will monitor and display A/C system operation in real-time on any Windows-based PC or PDA.
ProTecht can be retrofit to existing truck A/C systems and should be available as an OEM option on new trucks in the near future, according to Red Dot.
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