Temperature monitoring: Air conditioning maintenance

Every summer, thousands of New York City students, including those with special needs, are transported by school bus to attend summer classes. Consequently, proactive air conditioning maintenance is essential to ensure a consistently comfortable temperature inside these buses throughout the season. Faced with this challenge, NYCSBUS, a non-profit organization dedicated to school transportation, entrusted GEOTAB, DIDCOM, and ELA Innovation with monitoring the temperature inside their fleet of 10 school buses. The aim is to analyze how ambient temperatures fluctuate under different operational conditions, and to provide optimal comfort levels for passengers. To achieve this, NYCSBUS integrated a pilot temperature monitoring solution into 10 buses, a deployment that included 15 Blue PUCK T EN12830 and Blue PUCK RHT Bluetooth temperature sensors. Thanks to this connected temperature monitoring solution, NYCSBUS has succeeded in improving the passenger experience by ensuring efficient air-conditioning performance.

It was a real pleasure to work with the team! NYCSBUS implemented Didcom's BLEG Gateway and Bluetooth temperature sensors. Deployment was really easy and it was great to see everything working on the bus.

Varun Adibhatla

Head of Data Science & Analysis

Varun Adibhatla

Head of Data Science & Analysis

The project's participants

The client's needs
Technical Operation
Results

The client's needs

✓ Monitor temperature in real time throughout the journey
✓ Detect HVAC system failure
✓ Ensure passenger comfort and avoid service complaints

Technical Operation

From a technical point of view, the temperature monitoring solution is based on Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Each bus is equipped with 1-2 Blue PUCK T EN12830 or/and Blue PUCK RHT Bluetooth temperature sensors, installed at the front and rear of the vehicle to monitor temperature variations in different areas of the bus. Temperature records are acquired by Didcom BLEG and transmitted in real time by the Geotab G09 device, which then transmits all data to the MyGeotab platform for comprehensive monitoring and analysis. All the data collected is used by NYCSBUS to create preventive maintenance strategies, ensuring optimum performance of the air conditioning system across their entire fleet.

Results

✓ Enhanced fleet visibility
✓ Optimal passenger experience
✓ Real-time control of air conditioning performance
✓ Reduced maintenance and repair times