Donaldson Company, a manufacturer of filtration products and solutions, announced the results of its fuel economy analysis of engine air filters at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show. In a side-by-side performance study, genuine PowerCore air filters deliver more fuel-efficient performance than market newcomers claiming to be similar, said Al Hovda, general manager of Donaldson Air Products .
“Fleet owners are modifying their trucks’ aerodynamics to optimize fuel economy,” Hovda said. “There are significant savings available in simply staying with PowerCore filters, the same technology that comes off the assembly line as the first-fit filter for leading commercial truck manufacturers.”
He also noted PowerCore filters deliver optimized airflow which generates 27 percent lower restriction than competitors, and they also have 26 percent more contaminant holding capacity.
“While truck engineers have long known the benefits of PowerCore filters, this new data quantifies the value to fleet operators - and provides a good reason to question substitutes,” Hovda said. “Anyone choosing replacement filters needs to carefully consider total ROI, especially fuel and filter replacement costs.”
Geotab air filter monitoring integration
Donaldson also announced today that its wireless Filter Minder monitoring system for truck air filters will be integrated into Geotab’s fleet management platform. Filter Minder technology monitors the condition of truck engine air filters, and integrating this technology into the MyGeotab platform gives fleet managers visibility into the status of their engine air filtration system.
Filter Minder is a wireless remote filter monitoring system for trucks and heavy-duty equipment. Donaldson is field testing the solution today, and the integration with Geotab supports a commercial launch of the Filter Minder solution in 2020. Geotab is a provider of IoT and connected transportation.
“We set out to offer a really simple solution for fleet managers,” said Nate Zambon, director of the Filter Minder division of Donaldson. “By integrating our Filter Minder solution into the Geotab platform, fleets that use MyGeotab can receive Donaldson’s comprehensive filter analytics along with all other fleet data on their laptop or mobile device. It will be easy to monitor air filters on individual trucks or fleet-wide, and service them at the optimal time.”
“Geotab is proud to have the capability to integrate our open platform technology with incredibly dynamic partners, such as Donaldson,” said Scott Sutarik, vice president of Commercial Vehicle Solutions at Geotab. “We strongly believe that the future of maintenance revolves around connected solutions, such as Filter Minder, which provide value to our customers through improved fuel efficiency, decreased filter costs and increased overall truck uptime.”
The Filter Minder connected solution is an option that can be retrofitted onto existing filtration systems. The wireless sensor transmits filtration performance information to a receiver that is directly connected to Geotab’s GO device. The scalable technology will expand in the future to monitor the condition of additional filters and fluids on trucks, including fuel, lube and hydraulic applications.
Fleets interested in participating in field testing can get more information by contacting the Filter Minder sales team at [email protected].