Carrier Transicold recently rolled out fresh capabilities for its rebranded digital platform, which the company says now delivers more comprehensive monitoring for North American refrigerated trucking operations.
The new Lynx Fleet offering enhances the prior web-based application with an at-a-glance view of refrigerated truck and trailer performance parameters. These visual indicators help fleet managers easily monitor transport refrigeration equipment utilization, improve operational efficiencies, and maximize uptime by spotting and averting potential equipment issues.
See also: Running a successful refrigerated fleet
Formerly called eSolutions, Lynx Fleet for North America’s refrigerated trucks and trailers is part of Carrier’s Lynx global ecosystem, which applies advanced internet of things (IoT) analytics, machine learning, and various big data technologies to connect the cold chain in the cloud, automate key processes, and deliver real-time visibility and insights throughout the cargo’s journey.
“Lynx Fleet continues to open up broad possibilities for value-added capabilities,” said David Brondum, director of telematics for truck trailer Americas at Carrier Transicold. “Our exclusive dashboard is a terrific example. From temperatures maintained in cargo areas to refrigeration equipment performance, Lynx Fleet monitors and collects scores of inputs from every asset—thousands of data-points fleetwide. It then distills, analyzes, and consolidates much of this mission-critical data into different insights so fleet managers can quickly spot assets that may require special attention.”
Prioritized based on customer input, the initial rollout provides these key insights:
- Low fuel level: Provides visibility to refrigeration units that require fuel, helping to avoid emergency callouts for refueling and engine priming.
- Low battery voltage: Identifies the number of units in service that may have battery issues, which could result in an emergency callout if not addressed soon.
- Active shutdown alarm: Alerts to critical alarm conditions that will cause a refrigeration unit to shut down, helping fleets prevent load loss.
- Door metrics: Assists fleets in understanding the number of times cargo doors are opened over a period of time to help manage fuel costs and temperature-control issues.
- Asset run hours: Helps fleets balance asset usage and manage maintenance based on engine run hours and other factors.
“Each insight displays summary information for the entire customer fleet that can be drilled down to isolate and display details about specific units, as needed,” Brondum explained. “Over time, fleets will be able to customize their dashboards to display whichever pieces of information are most essential to their operations.”
Hardware used with the Lynx Fleet platform is factory installed on Carrier Transicold X4 series and Vector 8000 series trailer and rail refrigeration units, Carrier Transicold said. Dealer commissioning and data plan are required. The Lynx Fleet “monitor and enhanced control” data plan includes the diagnostic dashboard and insights, along with premium capabilities for data downloads, remote software updates, and more.
Lynx Fleet data can be shared with most major transportation management systems. For fleets with custom data platforms, Carrier Transicold offers growing API (application programming interface) capabilities that facilitate the integration and display of data collected by Lynx Fleet.
