Your Power Take-Off Device Just Got Smarter

What is PTO?

A power take-off (PTO) device is a special auxiliary equipment that transfers mechanical power from a power source. Power sources in fleets typically include running engines that are connected or attached to vehicle equipment. It allows the vehicle’s hosting energy source to transfer power to equipment that does not have its own engine or power source. PTOs often appear in the form of a mechanical gearbox seated on the flywheel housing and connect directly to a secondary shaft that drives the hydraulic pump, generator or air compressor. This mechanism allows attached equipment to function without the need to install a secondary engine or power source. 

Applications Of Power Take-Off (PTO) Devices

PTO is commonly used on a range of specialized vehicles and in various settings. For example, when operating the compactor on a garbage truck, the power is generated from the vehicle’s engine and transferred to the equipment through PTO. Here are some other examples of applications of PTO in the real world: 

• Raising a dump truck bed
• Powering a blower system used to move dry materials such as cement
• Running a water pump on a fire engine or water truck
• Operating the mechanical arm on a bucket truck used by electrical maintenance personnel or cable TV maintenance crews

One popular use of the PTO is in the forestry industry, where demanding tasks require machines to work longer and more efficiently. Woodchippers and horizontal grinders are two heavy-duty applications that can both be driven by PTO. Both machines consume a huge amount of power to function, and PTO is the most effective tool in transferring power from the engine to the machineries. 

Another great use of the PTO is in oil and gas exploration activities. PTO can be used to connect a power source to power the pumping units for oil production. Its reliability has been valued and appreciated by many energy sector workers, as it helps to reduce operational downtime and increase overall productivity.

Smarter PTO: Games Just Leveled Up

PTO is a handy tool that can handle some of the most demanding tasks, but we want to elevate your game to the next level. We want you to be able to use it in real-world scenarios and also extract crucial information from the PTO and view them in one integrated telematics platform. An IOX-AUX Harness is the answer to connecting advanced fleet tracking systems to auxiliary sensors in the vehicle. It’s crucial for fleet managers and asset operators to monitor the vehicle’s external components and ensure they function correctly during operations. An IOX-AUX Harness typically uses ON/OFF built-in logic to track sensor activities and transmit sensor data to the integrated telematics platform, where operators and fleet managers can view readings and generate reports in the system. 

Custom alerts are another unique feature available to fleet managers and operators once they connect the PTO sensors to the telematics platform through the IOX-AUX Harness. Fleet managers can set up alerts and create rules to monitor or restrict operators’ behaviours. When operators violate a given rule, the system will notify the fleet manager about the violation, where fleet managers can quickly respond or investigate what happened. 

The reports produced by the telematics system at the end of the operation are highly valuable and informative for fleet managers. It depicts every detail of the PTO status and operator’s violations during the trip, which offers fleet managers a full view of the operations and allows them to monitor vehicle inputs on the map. Through analyzing these reports, fleet managers can identify operators’ unsafe habits, PTO or equipment malfunctions or any hidden safety risks of the operation and address them promptly. 

We also asked ourselves how we can improve the fleet internal reporting procedures at your business. For example, winter operations fleet managers reached out to us and asked if they can track how long and at what exact time the plow on the vehicle engaged in the operation; thus, they can know which road segment has been cleared and when is the last time the roads have been plowed. Our unique solution comprising the PTO sensors and telematics tracking device can help fleet managers accomplish exactly what they are hoping for. The PTO sensors can monitor the movement, such as the plow’s up or down activities, and transmit these data to the telematics platform wirelessly. The telematics platform can record these movements and convert all these data into operational reports detailing when, how long and at what exact location the equipment was in use. This information can help fleet managers gain a deeper insight into the equipment usage and status and also understand how operations were implemented or executed. These reports can also serve as important pieces of evidence, which assist fleet managers in reporting and summarizing the operations to the corporation’s executive team. 

However, great hardware cannot operate as a standalone. The product ecosystem won’t be completed without useful and supportive software. Alongside the hardware product, we curated well-optimized software platforms to further leverage the PTO experience to a new height. Our industry-leading digitalized maintenance management platform is a powerful, web-based maintenance management system that focuses on providing all-around support to let you run your fleet maintenance operation more effectively and efficiently. By saying “all-around support”, we don’t take these words lightly – we seriously mean it by offering maintenance care and protection to the vehicle by helping you identify faults and issues and track odometer readings of the PTO. Any attachment, equipment, accessory, or add-on you attached to the vehicle can be tracked, monitored and fully protected in our maintenance management system. To achieve this, we fully utilize the advanced sensing technology, allowing the system to automatically wirelessly capture data from the vehicle. The artificial intelligence-powered maintenance platform can also perform proactive scanning to identify any fault or equipment malfunction. When an irregularity has been detected, it will automatically alert fleet managers, generate a work order and assign it to the responsible maintenance technician. This streamlined maintenance workflow is essential in powering the fleet operations, and fleet managers and operators won’t find this level of simplicity and ease anywhere else other than with telematics platforms.

Differences You Can See

By introducing an IOX-AUX harness to the PTO field, businesses and fleet managers can observe visible improvements to their fleet. One of the important benefits of connecting PTO to the integrated telematics platform is helping fleet managers bring down the vehicle idling time across the fleet. Vehicle idling is not only costly to businesses but also poses damages to the vehicle’s engine health and our environment. Our solution provides fleet managers opportunities to set up specific rules to restrict and monitor the vehicle idling time. Whenever a rule has been broken, an exception will be generated, and a non-compliant record will be shown in the operational report. Fleet managers can also dive into details and see whether PTO use contributes to excessive vehicle idling. 

When linking the PTO with the vehicle’s GPS tracking device, fleet managers and operators gain a vital tool in helping them safeguard vehicle operations and avoid expensive mistakes. For example, when an operator tries to move the vehicle while the PTO is still in operation, it could cause severe stress and overload the motor and engine, leading to expensive repairs and maintenance. However, those mistakes can be easily prevented if the vehicle is equipped with an advanced telematics device and a connected PTO system. The operators can directly observe an abnormal reading sending out from the motor or engine and immediately intervene to prevent further damages. 

When combining the power of PTO with the telematics system, businesses can achieve higher efficiency and activate the full potential of the system to maximize the machinery’s productivity. Our solution focuses on proactively monitoring, tracking, analyzing and protecting your important assets and providing all-around support to help you conquer all the challenges. Speak with one of our industry-specific specialists and see how we can elevate your PTO system to the next level.