Manufacturers of construction equipment are falling over each other in the scramble to introduce electrified off-road vehicles that eliminate diesel engines and, in some cases, hydraulic drives. A number of such machines were on display at this year’s bauma, and predicting more of the same at Conexpo 2020 will be the safest bet in Las […]
EV Engineering
We’ve come a long way, baby: the evolution of construction equipment hydraulics
Modern mobile machinery has changed quite a bit. Here is a look at how construction equipment hydraulics have changed over the last couple hundred years. By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor On a road near my home, there exists a hand-laid stone fence, perhaps 4 ft high and a hundred times as long. Crafted from locally-sourced […]
Mobile hydraulics gets an unwelcome jolt
One unmistakable take-away from this year’s bauma show was the buzz surrounding electrification. The idea of massive mobile machines running only on batteries may seem far-fetched, but for smaller equipment it has become a reality. At every turn, major manufacturers like Cat, Kobelco, Komatsu and Volvo to niche players like Ecovolve and Giant featured electrified […]
Bucher Hydraulics announces “revolutionary” new pump design
The performance of traditional hydraulic pumps has not kept up with increasingly stringent customer demands and new application requirements, according to officials at Bucher Hydraulics, Klettgau, Germany. They’re tackling such concerns with a new design for piston pumps and motors called the AX series. The AX is not an evolutionary improvement over existing products, said […]
Transforming mobile machines
Like the construction equipment industry as a whole, the Mobile Hydraulics Group of Bosch Rexroth enjoyed a good a year in 2018. “Our efforts to restructure the company and gain market share definitely paid off,” said Bernd Schunk, Senior Vice President Sales for Mobile Hydraulics. “We generated another double-digit increase in revenue, boosted by the […]
Notes from bauma: Five machines riding the wave of electrification
It seems on every corner at bauma 2019 someone was talking electrification – replacing diesel powered machines with battery powered electric drives. Among the reasons: legislative pressures for zero-emission vehicles in city centers, their suitability for indoor demolition and basement projects, and the preference for low-noise machines required for night-time work and in quiet zones […]
Notes from bauma: Hydraulics faces the digital, sustainable and electrifying
Without a doubt the overriding theme at bauma 2019 among construction-machine builders and component suppliers alike is digitization. Most mobile-hydraulics engineers are well-aware of the possibilities: Digital machine management, data storage in the cloud, telematics, software and apps, electrohydraulic controls, ubiquitous sensors, and so on – these are clearly becoming the new standard building blocks […]
Electrification exposes hydraulic-pump shortcomings
Heightened concerns over climate change and global warming are key reasons for the growing interest in zero-emission vehicles. Battery-electric mobile machines, while still mainly in the prototype stage, may require hydraulic-pumps and variable-speed drives to evolve to suit future applications. Hydraulic pumps are high-performance components. However, according to engineers at Bucher Hydraulics, Klettgau, Germany, they […]
Danfoss acquires majority shares in Scottish hydraulic R&D firm
Today, Danfoss announced it has acquired the majority shares of Artemis Intelligent Power Ltd. (AIP), an R&D and engineering company based in Edinburgh, Scotland, specializing in hydraulic system development. The acquisition includes AIP’s Digital Displacement technology, which will enable Danfoss to develop hydraulic pumps, motors and systems with unprecedented levels of efficiency, controllability and design […]
