Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - April 2023 - 8

TECHNICAL
INNOVATIONS
HYDRAULICS
Danfoss targets excavators with new digital-hydraulics system
Danfoss' Dextreme
Swap system has been
fitted to three 20-ton
diesel-powered Volvo
EC200 excavators in
Ashcourt Group's fleet
for field trials.
SAE INTERNATIONAL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Todd Zarfos
President
Carla Bailo
2024 President
Srinivasa (Sri) Srinath, Ph.D
2022 President
Susan Ying, Ph.D
Vice President - Aerospace
Daniel Nicholson
Vice President - Automotive
Audley Brown
Vice President -
Commercial Vehicle
Andrew Jeffers
Treasurer
David L. Schutt, Ph.D
Chief Executive Officer
Danfoss Power Solutions claims to increase the
productivity of excavators while reducing their
fuel consumption by up to 15% by swapping out
the machine's main hydraulic pump for a Digital
Displacement pump, custom software and controller.
The system - appropriately called
Dextreme Swap - has been fitted to three 20ton
diesel-powered Volvo EC200 excavators in
Ashcourt Group's fleet for field trials, in collaboration
with U.K. Volvo dealership SMT.
" Our Dextreme Swap system is configured
for installation directly into excavators without
modification to the existing main control
valve, " Leif Bruhn, head of Digital
Displacement, Danfoss Power Solutions, told
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering. " We offer a
simple first step for OEMs to experience and
validate the benefits Dextreme systems can
bring from a control and integration standpoint. "
Danfoss highlighted the Dextreme system
at CONEXPO/IFPE 2023 (International
Fluid Power Exposition) in Las Vegas.
Ashcourt, a building-materials supplier based
in England, is running two of the excavators at
its Partridge Hall Quarry in East Yorkshire, and
the third machine at a nearby material washing
facility. Forecast to complete 2,000 operating
hours during the yearlong field trials that began
in February, the modified excavators include
data logging equipment so operating data can
be compared with Ashcourt's existing fleet of
standard Volvo EC200 machines.
8 April 2023
" Our goal is to see how the Danfoss
Dextreme-equipped machines perform in
terms of productivity and fuel use in a tough
quarrying and material moving environment, "
said Ashcourt Group plant director John Hood.
" So far, the feedback from our operators has
been uniformly positive. The fuel savings I can't
speak to yet, but my team is telling me the new
machines are very responsive and strong, with
the EC200 performing more like an EC250. "
Up to 50% fuel savings
A study by Danfoss Power Solutions revealed
that excavators account for 50% of all carbondioxide
emissions generated by construction
machinery. Around 90% of those emissions
come from excavators of 10 tons or more, according
to Danfoss, which is why the company
is specifically targeting that market with its
Dextreme system.
" Today's excavator systems are only 30%
efficient, with around 70% of the engine's energy
wasted as heat in the hydraulic system, "
Bruhn said. " We've designed the Dextreme
system to radically reduce hydraulic system
losses, leading to increased productivity and
lower fuel consumption. "
Dextreme Swap is the simplest configuration
in a " solution pathway " that consists of three
technology-integration levels: Swap, Flex and
Max. Danfoss expects the Max version to deliver
fuel savings of up to 50% in excavators of all
Gregory L. Bradley, Esq.
Secretary
Judy Curran
Mary Lee Gambone
Michael Weinert
Joan Wills
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TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
DANFOSS
http://www.sae.org/sections http://www.sae.org/chapters/collegiate/
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - April 2023

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