Winners of the LEAP Awards have been announced for the second annual awards competition. In the Hydraulics category, Husco has taken the Gold award for its Exacto Pilot Interrupter System, which enables digital control of any pilot operated mobile machine.
Husco’s Exacto Pilot Interrupter System
Changing the control method on large machines is traditionally a long and expensive process for an OEM. It can take from 2-4 years from conception to develop, design, validate, test and productionize. Exacto was conceived to be fitted to current market machines either as a factory fit or in the field to give safe, autonomous, augmented, or remote digital control of the machine.
Exacto utilizes pressure transducers, solenoid valves, a wiring harness, and a precision controller with electrohydraulic control algorithms and software. All of this is combined into a single sub-system allowing for ease of installation and integration with current production systems and other systems such as machine control or remote operation.
Safety is a high priority for any system with autonomous features. Exacto has three layers of safety control and requires physical operator and machine electronic handshakes to allow operation, system fault detection/reporting, and safety focused hardware and software. If the system detects any erroneous functions, then the system defaults back to manual operation so the vehicle can be controlled manually or the machine can be taken to service under its own power.
Exacto is an advanced hydraulic subsystem to enable OEMs and machine control providers alike the precise, safe, digital control of a vast array of machine types or an endless possibility of job requirements.
Bosch Rexroth’s Cryto-Box hydraulic power unit
The Silver award goes to Bosch Rexroth for its CytroBox — The Hydraulic Power Unit of the Future. The CytroBox is unlike any hydraulic power unit (HPU) that has come before it. With a compact and energy-efficient design, the intelligent CytroBox is suited for a variety of hydraulic power applications, and comes fully equipped with a variable speed drive, electronic controller, sensor package, and its own IoT solution. To save space in a machine and on a manufacturing floor, the CytroBox is aligned vertically, and requires only 0.5 m2 of floor space. To accomplish this, a revolutionary design was engineered for the oil reservoir, hydraulic drive unit, electronic controller, and hydraulic manifold.
Utilizing decades of Rexroth hydraulic experience and knowledge, the hydraulic reservoir was designed using computational fluid dynamic modeling (CFD) to optimize the return oil flow path, to use only a quarter of the oil of traditional HPUs. For applications where a 600 liter tank is required, the CytroBox can do the job with only 150.
The traditional hydraulic drive consisting of a large asynchronous motor, bellhousing, and hydraulic pump has been replaced by a much smaller synchronous servo motor close-coupled to a dynamic, axial piston pump, and directly mounted to a polymer concrete base. This new hydraulic drive solution reduces space by 80%, provides equivalent flow and pressure, and maintains a noise level of less than 75 dB(A).
The variable-speed servo drive adjusts output energy to match the required instantaneous load. Motor speed is reduced during cycles of reduced load to save energy while constantly operating under highly dynamic closed loop control to maintain the required pressure in the system. The result of this on-demand power reduces energy by up to 60%
Linde Hydraulics’ Fast Stroking Concrete Pump HPV135-02T
Finally, the Bronze award goes to Linde Hydraulics Corp. for its Fast Stroking Concrete Pump HPV135-02T. Linde Hydraulics has developed a new faster stroking variable axial piston pump for use in concrete pump applications. Constructive changes with the variable axial piston pump’s internal design have allowed for Linde Hydraulics to offer a pump with a significantly faster response time.
By utilizing the existing housing of the HPV135, Linde has ensured compatibility with existing systems without major adaptions. Changes within the piston, along with new technology in the control system, have resulted in a pump with a working pressure of 450 bar and a peak pressure of 500 bar. The HPV135-02T provides response time (0-> Vmax) of .14 sec and (-Vmax -> Vmax) of 0.24 sec.
Linde Hydraulics’ Fast Stroking Pump technology is an excellent fit for concrete pump applications due to its rapid response at both minimum and maximum displacement. Other applications benefiting from this technology include mobile hydraulic applications requiring a fast response time along with very precise control such as saw applications, oil and gas equipment, and marine steering assemblies. Additional mobile hydraulic applications will also benefit from these advances as development continues on additional displacements.
This new technology increases the ability of the operator to precisely control the flow of product for ease of operations both on the hopper side as well as on the discharge end. This provides improved safety conditions for all on-site as well as a smoother finished product due to smoother flow. The rapid response to controls provided by the system is a key component in not only preserving and protecting transported material but also critical control in crisis situations.
Filed Under: Mobile Hydraulic Tips
