Big Data Analysis for Low Oil Pressure Engine Protection

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Author. Vicente E. García – Ing. Electrónica / Director of Innovation Management

Did you know that the average cost for a Low Oil Pressure Damage Engine Repair ascend to $10,000 USD?

The Engine is the vehicle’s most expensive component, so it is key to monitor its operation to act in a timely manner and safeguard its integrity, to meet this objective our client has implemented our Engine Analysis and Protection solution in its fleet.

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The solution provides Engine Protection automatically under certain circumstances:

• High Motor Temperatures
• Low Engine Oil Pressure
• Low Refrigerant Level
• Excessive Idle Time

The Engine Protection is executed in the vehicle when Risk Conditions for the Engine occur, that is, when the maximum and minimum predetermined values are reached or exceeded, in order not to compromise its operation and avoid excessive wear, mechanical failures and high costs for parts and repairs.

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How was the problem detected?

Constant “Low Engine Oil Pressure” Alerts and Notifications began to be received in several fleet’s vehicles, which caused the units to execute their Engine Protection process, which involves stopping and shutting down the vehicle safely to prevent damage.

Although Protecting the Engine was achieved, the final customer’s Passenger Transport service was being affected in terms of quality and reputation by these interruptions, so it was a priority to identify the causes that generated the problem.

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How were the causes identified?

Through a Detailed Analysis of the parameters recorded throughout the operation’s historical behavior, it was possible to identify a pattern in the operation of some units of the fleet at the time of generating the “Low Engine Oil Pressure” alert.

What parameters were analyzed?

• Oil pressure
• Revolutions per minute- RPM
• Kilometers per hour – Km/h
• Torque percentage in retarder
• Scroll percentage
• Clutch switch
• Brake switch

In the cases reviewed, it was found that when the vehicle suddenly slows down (km/h) the alert generates, when the necessary conditions are present to activate the alert.

The alert was found to be generated when the monitored vehicle suddenly slowed down.

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What was happening in the vehicle?

The “Low Engine Oil Pressure” alert was configured to run when a value equal to or less than 1 bar was presented. When taking a unit as reference, the following behavior was identified:

• The engine decreases its speed from 1252 RPM to 524 RPM
• The engine oil pressure drops from 3 bar to 0.8 bar
• When stabilizing at 0.96 for 20 sec, the protection alert is activated
• An actuation of 93% of the retarde torque is executed

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Big Data Analysis

The Big Data deep analysis of the collected Telemetry Data allowed us to identify the units that presented events and also the managements to which they belonged, with the aim of executing an action plan according to the severity level.

The analysis time period was 2 months, sufficient for the problem identification and for the solution implementation.

The first that had to be analyzed was the existence of a behavior pattern in the units that presented the alert, for which the groups of units were divided to determine if there was a group or unit in the particular that had a higher alerts rate.

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Analysis Initial Overview

In the 1st month of analysis, 13 units were identified that registered 373 Motor Protection events due to Low Engine Oil Level, with the Central Region accounting for 80% of the cases.

With this information, it was possible to review with the maintenance management of the Central Region and inform them about the causes of why there were failures in the operation.

The first thing was to suggest an oil levels review and implement corrective actions in the identified units, the same was suggested for the East Region, while the 3 missing regions did not present any related event.

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Corrective Actions with Analysis information

Once the corrective actions were carried out in the Central Region, which consisted of oil refills, a significant improvement was identified in the 2nd month.

This corrective action generated a positive impact, reducing the number of events by 78.5%, and the number of units by 53%.

Taking these couple of months into consideration, the 1st month concentrated 83.9% of the total alert events, while the 2nd month represented only 16.1%.

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Analysis Conclusions

Based on this analysis and customer feedback, the following conclusions could be obtained:

• The main cause was a low oil level, below the suggested by the manufacturer.
• In some serviced units the oil level was in range at the limit or higher than recommended by the manufacturer, which is why the customer did not consider this was the cause of failures.
• In relation to the previous point and with the analysis to identify the causes of the different parameters reviewed, it was possible to identify the main point that was affecting the units

When a vehicle has a Low Engine Oil Level, and sudden braking happens, it causes a surge in the tank, which together with air presence in the Engine Oil System, causes an Oil Low Pressure.

Through these results, the Oil Levelswere loaded to the optimum operating range, in the same way a Maintenance Campaignwas created to check oil levels and detect tank leaks for the rest of the fleet.

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Didcom® Benefits in your Fleet

The analysis was considered as an opportunity to prevent future alerts and above all, failures in the engines of your vehicles, as well as high costs for repairs, in this way Didcom® Telemetry Solutions help to avoid risk situations before they even present.

Vehicles can be sent to Preventive Maintenance before a failure occurs, avoiding its impact on the operation and ensuring the business profitability.

Engine Protection helps to minimize downtime, providing a better quality service, ensuring end-customer satisfaction and strengthening your reputation in the market.

• Extends engine life
• Detect problems early
• Avoid overspending for repairs
• Avoid costly service interruptions
• Improve proactive maintenance management

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Didcom® Telematics Solutions are a smart investment that gives a competitive advantage to your Autotransport Company, facilitating the registration and analysis of valuable information about your Fleet to avoid unnecessary expenses for engine repairs or replacements.

Are you interested in protecting your engines in real time?
We help you integrate our solution into your fleet!

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About the author