Process Care bets big on LCD speedometers

Process Care System (India) is in talks with a couple of two-wheeler manufacturers for supply of a liquid crystal display (LCD) speedometer/odometer combo. Likewise, discussions are underway with Simpsons, part of the Amalgamations Group in Chennai. These involve some varieties of LCD control-like gauges for temperature, fuel level and oil pressure.

This is not all. Process Care is also working on a project to develop public address systems for metro rail coaches, said KV Nagesh, joint managing director. The Bangalore-based embedded control systems manufacturer has already developed LCD speedometers for special and off-the-road vehicles. These offer longer life and accuracy in measurement.

The usual problem in the conventional speedometer is that it gets the drive from the wheel through the steel cable connected to the yoke. These are badly hit during rains and dusty conditions. Warranty is also a major issue in conventional speedometers. Electronic LCD meters get signals through a magnetic pickup sensor and this is passed through an electrical wire.

The unit is capable of sharing inputs with other microcontrollers and cost can, therefore, be optimised if developed with other microcontroller manufacturers. Process Care has also been meeting the needs of BEML. Recently it developed a multifunctional vehicle data recorder which is an LCD-based data acquisition system for real-time scanning of critical vehicle parameters. This helps in data logging, audio visual warning and vehicle maintenance scheduling.

The system accepts on/off and analog signals from electromechanical switches and sensors fitted on the equipment sub-systems. It logs on real-time data to provide enhanced diagnostic message. The logged on data can be retrieved later to study equipment history for failure analysis. The LCD screen in the front panel displays the warning symbols. The company has so far supplied about 100 units to BEML. It is now working on integrating this unit with GPRS (general packet radio system) and GPS (global positioning system).