From the field. Cooler leakage with Pierre-Emmanuel Rigot at X-RIS
September 10, 2026
This is not primarily a story about a cooler leak - it is a story about what happens when insight arrives too late. About the cost of operating without remote access. About the difference between reacting to failures and preventing them. And about how weak signals only become meaningful over time when data is allowed to flow. At its core, this case shows why BLOX alone is not enough.
The real value emerges when BLOX is combined with timely access to system data. As Pierre-Emmanuel Rigot, After Sales Manager and Technical Field Engineer at X-RIS, explains, “BLOX already does an excellent job.” The problem in this case was not detection. “The limitation wasn’t BLOX, the limitation was access.” The core of the story is uncomfortable and straightforward - by the time the phone rang, it was already too late.
When information arrives by phone, not by data
The system was installed at a remote military site in rural France. Due to security constraints, no remote access to system data was permitted. For several years, the X-ray system operated reliably without incident. When the first shutdowns occurred, no data was available for remote review. “There was no remote access; we only knew something was wrong once they contacted us.” Instead of trends, alerts, or dashboards, the first signal came from a field call. “At that point, the system had already shut down.”
When reaction replaces insight
The end-customer contacted X-RIS after experiencing irregular shutdowns. During their on-site inspection, they discovered that one hose in the oil-cooling circuit had come loose, resulting in coolant loss. “They told me something was wrong, and it turned out one of the fluid lines was loose,” Pierre-Emmanuel recalls. In fact, the end-customer had already identified the issue before X-RIS became involved. “They actually found it themselves before calling us.” What made the situation frustrating was that nothing unusual had happened. “The hose had been there for five or six years, nobody had touched it.”
The failure was not sudden or dramatic; it just developed quietly over time. “With a tiny leak, it can take months. At the beginning, you only see short shutdowns.” Without access to system data, these early signs blended into the background. “Sometimes it’s on, sometimes it’s off.” By the time the problem was addressed, the system had already been disrupted.
Fact box
System setup
- X-ray system installed at a remote military site
- No remote access permitted due to security constraints
- Oil-cooled system with integrated diagnostics
Observed issue
- Irregular shutdowns
- Progressive degradation over time
- No early insight available to service teams
Diagnostic limitation
- No access to logs or trends
- First signal arrived via customer phone call
- Patterns remained invisible until the on-site visit
Outcome
- Cooling circuit failure identified
- Root cause immediately confirmed via BLOX logs
- Customer reconsidered data access strategy
What BLOX revealed once access was possible
After traveling on site and extracting the logs, the diagnosis was immediate. “When you look at the BLOX data, it’s obvious, you can clearly see the cooler faults and the irregular shutdowns, and once the data was available, there was no debate.” The issue was visible across the system overview. “It’s on the main page, you also see it in the daily events and in the alerts.” The fault itself was clearly labeled - the message says, cooler flow failure,” he notes, adding that alerts are treated as critical. “They’re dangerous, so they’re clearly flagged, the system was telling us what the problem was; BLOX had correctly identified the affected subsystem.”
What was missing was not insight, but timely access to it.
“The problem wasn’t difficult to diagnose. The problem was obvious as soon as the data became available.”
Understanding the weak signals
The cooling failure followed a recognizable pattern: a small leak caused oil to move within the tank, intermittently triggering the level sensor. “At first, you just get very short shutdowns; they’re caused by the oil moving inside the tank, but over time, the behavior changes, and it goes from sometimes on to sometimes off.” “Then it happens more often, eventually, the system can no longer operate, and finally, it’s totally off.”
This progression from seldom to severe was clearly visible in the logs. “Once you see the data, the pattern is clear, because it’s not random behavior.” With earlier access, the root cause would have been immediately apparent. “If I had the data, I would have seen it directly, because you immediately know the problem is in the cooling system.”
Future Vision – from reaction to prevention
After this incident, the customer reconsidered their position on data access. “Yes, I think they are now incentivized to share data.” The experience changed how they viewed diagnostics and support, and the conversation shifted from fixing a single failure to preventing similar situations in the future. “The first step is to give them a way to extract logs themselves,” he explains, because regular sharing creates value even when there is no active issue. “Even if there is no problem, they should send logs every three months, and for me, that’s already preventive.” Looking ahead, the vision extends further. “My vision for more than ten years has been full diagnostic service, but for that, we need remote access, and that includes motor currents, automation, and defined thresholds. We need to know what is normal and what is not, and with that foundation, diagnostics move from reaction to prevention.”
“Without access to the data, you are always reacting. With access, you can prevent.”
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