Ground_Support_August_2020 - 17

Photo courtesy of PCS

COVER STORY

"Long-term benefits will be directly
noticed on the financial reports of the
company," Gray says. "Accidents or incidents on the ramp are extremely costly to
an operator both in the short-term as well
as long-term."
In regard to transmissions, Boucher says
PCS focuses on three main areas to reduce
GSE abuse.
The first is the transmission itself,
which includes a patented valve body
design.
"What that does is it will only allow
the transmission to shift into forward or
reverse when it's safe to do so," Boucher
says. "So, you can't neutral drop it. If you're
moving forward, you can't shift into the
opposite direction.

"Without that, the operator would be
able to damage the transmission."
PCS also introduced a shifter to the
GSE market. When an abuse condition is
happening, this shift lever locks into the
position it is in, so the operator
cannot cause damage.
An electric parking
brake module also prevents abuse because
a control module has
been designed to prevent damage when engaging or releasing the brake. For
example, if an operator tries to drive the
equipment with the parking brake engaged,
it will release the park brake before any
damage occurs.
"They can be used independently,"
Boucher says of PCS' three-pronged
approach to abuse prevention. "If you do
use them together, you have this triangle of
safety where each module is working independently to ensure the safe operation of
the vehicle. It gives you a layer of redundancy because any one module can stop the
vehicle from operating in an unsafe condition. But they're also watching each other.
"So, you really get this layered approach
to prevent abuse, but also enhance the
safety of the vehicle."
In the short-term, vehicles remain
running and parts costs are reduced.

Long-term, Boucher says users can start
to implement strategies around safety incidents or develop a bigger picture of how a
vehicle needs to operate.
"You get another level of safety by having
these independent systems monitoring the
vehicle because you can add in sensors,"
he notes, adding the use of a transmission
control module allows for customization
to fit a specific operation.
Electronic sensors and telematics solutions are becoming increasing more prevalent in GSE.
"Telematics designed for the GSE environment can make a significant reduction
in equipment abuse and related costs," says
Patel of Access Control Group. "Safety
compliance coupled with safety training
can also make a huge difference in how
the GSE is operated."
"By means of sensors, it is possible to
establish impact of equipment with other
objects - who is or has been using the
equipment, whether it has been used in
accordance with applicable instructions,
how much fuel is consumed, if it is due for
maintenance, etc.," points out Undagrid's
Sanz.
"Required or scheduled maintenance is
further supported by the fact that a unit
can conveniently be found in the operational field when sensors include the possibility to establish location."

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AUGUST 2020

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Ground_Support_August_2020

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