april2023 - 20

Cover Story
" Our intention is to get our fleet fully digitized. We're at
about 80-85 percent of the way there. Our intent by the middle
of the year is to get to 90 percent tagged ULDs, " Marino notes.
" Our ULDs have got tags in them. And those tags enable us
to track the movement of a ULD, " he adds. " We are also able to
get sensory data such as temperature, shock, light and humidity.
We're able to record these sensory measures. So, if you are
shipping perishable goods that require refrigeration, or if you
are requiring shock-sensitive machine parts, or whatever it
might be, what we've created with our service offering is the
ability to monitor and ensure the cargo is transferred in the
right manner and conditions. "
Envirotainer offers an internet of things (IoT) component
to its ULD fleet as well. Its live monitoring solution uses a
module that fits into the container, which can send data
through either a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
" This enables us to locate the container anywhere, and also
to get the temperature data - basically, all of the data from
the container any time that it's not in the air, " Linnér says.
" This is very valuable to our customers and the services we
can build around this data. "
Linnér points out the key challenge with live monitoring is
ensuring the transmission of data is turned off while the container
is in flight to avoid interfering with aircraft systems.
" The industry has been, due to safety reasons, very cautious
about what type of technologies to allow, " he says.
The battery systems used to power advanced containers is
a key consideration as well.
" When it comes to our containers and how they maintain
temperature control, we have worked a lot in order to make
them more efficient. That means we run the temperature
control system more efficiently and reduce the consumption
of energy, " Linnér says. " We have also worked a lot on making
the design more efficient to put in more batteries without
increasing the total weight of the solution. "
Minimizing the weight of the battery and therefore the
total weight of the container helps airlines reduce aircraft fuel
consumption. Battery charging conveniences are also being
engineered into ULDs.
" To bridge very long, unforeseen downtimes, it only takes a
simple socket to charge the Opticooler, " Seitz points out.
ULD Maintenance
" Unfortunately, because of the harsh conditions in which ULDs
operate, containers and pallets do get damaged fairly regularly, "
Marino says.
Because a ULD is regarded as an aircraft part, any repair
work that is done to a ULD fits under the Part 145 certification
process.
" All repairs need to be carried out to a certain standard and
certified. As an example, if a ULD requires a new part, these
parts have part numbers, and we need to keep a record of
which part numbers come off and which part number goes
on, " he says.
" Doing work on ULDs is a very skilled, and detailed
piece of work. "
Unilode operates 48 MRO facilities across the globe. Marino
notes the staff that Unilode recruits are trained, certified and
a valuable asset to the business.
" From a technology perspective, most of our readers and
tags are installed by our MRO operators. So the technology and
the deployment of that technology is done by our MRO team.
They will install the tags into our assets. They will also install
readers into various cargo warehouses that are on-airport as
well as off-airport locations.
According to Seitz, DoKaSch's Opticooler requires specific
maintenance.
" In addition to closely timed maintenance rotations, every
Opticooler is checked very thoroughly after every use without
exception to ensure an extremely high level of safety for all
transports, as the Opticooler most often transports lifesaving,
temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals or high valuable
goods, " he says.
As with all ULDs, Linnér points out ensuring a unit's airworthiness
is a must.
" We have very strict processes and protocols to ensure that.
We inspect all of our containers after and before every trip and
officially release them as airworthy before the trip, " he says.
" As compared to a standard ULD, since our ULDs are specifThe
demand for specialized equipment for
temperature-sensitive freight and high risk/high value
goods increased during the pandemic.
20 || Ground Support Worldwide || April 2023
ically for the pharma industry, they're a bit more specialized.
We have electronic components, we have data measuring, etc.
One positive aspect of this is we gather a lot of data, " he continues.
" When it comes to maintenance, we have started working
with predictive analytics. We collect, all the time, all the
data from all of our containers. Based on that massive pile of
data, we can identify individual containers that start behaving
a little bit different compared to what we define the parameters
of normal behavior. "
DOKASCH TEMPERATURE SOLUTIONS
april2023

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