Background
Lubrizol Inc is an American company that was established in 1929. The company is headquartered in Ohio and has pioneered the development and manufacture of high-performance oils, lubricants and other chemical products used by the
global transportation, industrial and consumer markets.
Lubrizol is now an international producer of speciality chemical products. It employs more than 7000 people and has laboratories and manufacturing facilities in over 27 countries worldwide.
Lubrizol is renowned for its ability to quickly resolve highly complex, performance-related issues and develop solutions that optimise performance in order that it's diverse customer base become market leaders in their different fields.
The Problem
Lubrizol operates on an international scale and its products are deployed by transportation companies located in widely dispersed and diverse geographical locations. Extreme physical environments such as intense heat or cold, uneven terrains and high altitudes can have a significant effect on overall vehicle performance and driver behaviour.
Having a deeper understanding of these factors would enable Lubrizol to develop products that are aligned to different physical environments and match driver profile types accordingly, which in turn would help ensure the company maintained its position as a market leader.
Test simulation data provided by the company's existing software analysis suite was not considered to be accurate enough for performance analysis purposes because it was based on sample data which had to be adjusted accordingly.
The Opportunity
In order to remain a leading supplier and maintain a competitive edge, Lubrizol needed to develop a single, cost-effective solution that would automate its entire data acquisition process.
The company also wanted to streamline and consolidate existing processes by deploying a solution that was capable of interconnecting with a number of existing dispersed systems via different communications protocols.
IRIS Technology was selected because of their expertise in developing bespoke data acquisition solutions for niche applications in the fleet management and automotive industries. They were selected also because of their proven experience in the oil, gas and offshore industries, where reliability, performance and safety is crucial.
The Challenges
The provision of adequate storage facilities for data binning purposes
The ability to transmit data when GSM coverage is poor
The consolidation of data collected from different hardware devices and/or system types
The ability to capture large amounts of data in real-time from different vehicle types situated in diverse
physical environments
The need to develop a cost effective device without compromising on functionality or performance
The Solution
IRIS Technology has developed a bespoke, automated data acquisition system that met Lubrizol's strict technical requirements. The system, known as the Iris 1002, is compact, robust and connects easily to the CANBus of different vehicle types including: off-road, industrial, consumer and commercial vehicles.
The IRIS 1002 comprises GSM signalling functionality, real-time clock facilities for data time stamping, onboard data compression capabilities for data binning purposes and sufficient analogue and digital inputs for collecting vehicle performance data including, but not limited to: vehicle speed, engine torque, fuel flow, vehicle odometer, coolant temperature and engine oil.
The data, which is collected in real-time, is automatically compressed, encrypted and transmitted via GPRS to dedicated servers situated in single or multiple locations around the world, enabling large volumes of data to be viewed and analysed using Lubrizol's existing software analysis suite.
The system integrates seamlessly with existing software applications and other dispersed data acquisition solutions deployed by Lubrizol, making the company's overall testing and performance processes extremely efficient.
The IRIS 1002 system has enabled Lubrizol to adopt a more streamlined approach to data acquisition and to develop and market different products that are aligned to different operating and driving conditions.
The solution is currently used to collect vehicle performance and driver behaviour information from on - and off- road vehicles located in Europe, UK, India and China.
The Results
Greater market share - the solution has enabled Lubrizol to develop and market different products which are in line with different operating and driving conditions - the solution has enabled Lubrizol to develop and market different products which are in line with different operating and driving conditions
Improved efficiencies - automated data acquisition has streamlined operational processes
Improved productivity - data captured from different locations can be viewed and analysed remotely on a
centralised server, providing the ability to match driver profiles to different operating conditions
Ease of expansion - the system allows for the easy addition of new geographical areas and the inclusion of different hardware acquisition devices
The Future
IRIS is working with Lubrizol and HBM nCode to further enhance and standardise S3T outputs, as well as rolling out the solution globally across commercial, passenger and electric vehicles.
