Future Wheeled Excavator – Higher Efficiency by Electrification

In order to find new concepts for saving energy and resources for mobile working machines the project “ERMA – Energy and Resource Efficient Mobile Working Machines” was initiated by the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau and Volvo Construction Equipment Germany GmbH. One of the main goals of this project is to analyze the potential of electrifications of a wheeled excavator.
This paper presents some of the first results of ERMA. It shows the outcome of a detailed power loss analysis for the propulsion system of a hydraulic wheeled excavator based on measured data. For the example hydraulic power transmission alternative electric concepts for the drive unit are examined to improve efficiency. New concepts are mathematically described and numerically simulated to point out the potential improvements.

_{Pick, S.; Müller, S.; Bach, P.; Faß, U.: "Future Wheeled Excavator – Higher Efficiency by Electrification" in: Eckstein, L.; Pischinger, S. (Hrsg.): "Proceedings of the Aachener Colloquium Automobile and Engine Technology", RWTH Aachen, Aachen 2012, S. 1577-1594. - ISBN: 978-3-940374-61-5.}