During the past three years the Institute for Fluid Power Drives and Controls in Aachen has developed a new hydraulic system for mobile machinery called STEAM. The system represents a new step in excavator hydraulics, as it aims to reduce both the hydraulic system losses as well as those of the internal combustion engine by using a hybrid hydraulic architecture with accumulators. Starting with initial simulation studies the development has been followed by scaled test bench measurements and has progressed to a full scale validation using an 18 t excavator. The following publication aims to summarise the results obtained thus far with the aim of making them available to industry and encouraging their implementation in future applications.

Liebherr mobile harbor cranes use electrical generators to provide electrical power for load attachment devices such as container spreaders or magnets. Upcoming exhaust and noise emission standards and energy saving considerations lead to a broad diesel engine speed range. The challenging design aspect is to ensure a constant speed of the asynchronous generator by the hydraulic drive system. In addition, electrical load profiles of inductive consumers usually have DT1 system characteristics with very small time constants. They evoke fast torque variations interfacing the hydraulic transmission. Liebherr mobile harbor cranes, see Figure 1, usually have a closed hydraulic circuit containing a hydraulic pump with a high displacement volume that is adjusted electronically in accordance to the current diesel engine speed. Regarding the energy saving aspects, a further minimization of the diesel engine speed leads to a larger pump size with increasing torque losses. Depending on the pressure setting, the volume flows can be reduced in constant pressure grids. Especially in part-load operation this results in better efficiency compared to closed hydraulic circuits by minimizing the displacement volume of hydraulic components. To obtain a stable generator speed, it is essential to adjust the displacement volume of the hydraulic unit for equalizing its input torque with the Figure 1: LHM 800 Group 10 - Mobile Hydraulics | Paper 10-5 199 generator load torque. In interaction with the software-based control architecture, the stability of the electrical frequency depends on the mass inertia of the generator drive and time constants of the embedded hydraulic actuators. The system model, represented by ODEs is established and verified with a hydraulic simulation software. On that basis, the design approach of a PI-state-controller is presented. Corresponding controller gains and state feedback parameters are determined by pole placement techniques. To conclude this investigation a comparison between the hydraulically closed circuit and the constant pressure grid is shown by simulation and measurement data.

The aim of this study is to develop a dynamic model of the loader system of a backhoe-loader. Rigid bodies and joints in the loader mechanism and loader hydraulic system components are modelled and analyzed in the same environment using the physical modelling toolboxes inside the commercially available simulation software, MATLAB/Simulink. Interaction between the bodies and response of the hydraulic system are obtained by co-operating the mechanical and hydraulic analyses. System variables such as pressure, flow and displacement are measured on a physical machine and then compared with the simulation results. Simulation results are consistent with the measurement results. The main result of this work is the ability to determine the dynamic loads on the joints and attachments of the backhoe-loader. In addition to that, prototyping time and costs can be highly reduced by implementing this model in the design process.

Condition monitoring of hydraulic systems has become more available and inexpensive to implement. However, much of the research on this topic has been done on stationary hydraulic systems without the jump to mobile machines. This lack of research on condition monitoring of hydraulic systems on mobile equipment is addressed in this work. The objective of this work is to develop a novel process of implementing an affordable condition monitoring system for axial piston pumps on a mobile machine, a mini excavator in this work. The intent was to find a minimum number of sensors required to accurately predict a faulty pump. First, an expert understanding of the different components on an axial piston pump and how those components interact with one another was discussed. The valve plate was selected as a case study for condition monitoring because valve plates are a critical component that are known for a high percentage of failures in axial piston pumps. Several valve plates with various degrees of natural wear and artificially generated damage were obtained, and an optical profilometer was used to quantify the level of wear and damage. A stationary test-rig was developed to determine if the faulty pumps could be detected under a controlled environment, to test several different machine learning algorithms, and to perform a sensor reduction to find the minimum number of required sensors necessary to detect the faulty pumps. The results from this investigation showed that only the pump outlet pressure, drain pressure, speed, and displacement are sufficient to detect the faulty pump conditions, and the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) machine learning algorithms proved to be the least computationally expensive and most accurate algorithms that were investigated. Fault detectability accuracies of 100% were achievable. Next, instrumentation of a mini excavator was shown to begin the next phase of the research, which is to implement a similar process that was done on the stationary test-rig but on a mobile machine. Three duty cycle were developed for the excavator: controlled, digging, and different operator. The controlled duty cycle eliminated the need of an operator and the variability inherent in mobile machines. The digging cycle was a realistic cycle where an operator dug into a lose pile of soil. The different operator cycle is the same as the digging cycle but with another operator. The sensors found to be the most useful were the same as those determined on the stationary test-rig, and the best algorithm was the Fine KNN for both the controlled and digging cycles. The controlled cycle could see fault detectability accuracies of 100%, while the digging cycle only saw accuracies of 93.6%. Finally, a cross-compatibility between a model trained under one cycle and using data from another cycle as an input into the model. This study showed that a model trained under the controlled duty cycle does not give reliable and accurate fault detectability for data run in a digging cycle, below 60% accuracies. This work concluded by recommending a diagnostic function for mobile machines to perform a preprogrammed operation to reliably and accurately detect pump faults.

During the past three years the Institute for Fluid Power Drives and Controls in Aachen has developed a new hydraulic system for mobile machinery called STEAM. The system represents a new step in excavator hydraulics, as it aims to reduce both the hydraulic system losses as well as those of the internal combustion engine by using a hybrid hydraulic architecture with accumulators. Starting with initial simulation studies the development has been followed by scaled test bench measurements and has progressed to a full scale validation using an 18 t excavator. The following publication aims to summarise the results obtained thus far with the aim of making them available to industry and encouraging their implementation in future applications.

Liebherr mobile harbor cranes use electrical generators to provide electrical power for load attachment devices such as container spreaders or magnets. Upcoming exhaust and noise emission standards and energy saving considerations lead to a broad diesel engine speed range. The challenging design aspect is to ensure a constant speed of the asynchronous generator by the hydraulic drive system. In addition, electrical load profiles of inductive consumers usually have DT1 system characteristics with very small time constants. They evoke fast torque variations interfacing the hydraulic transmission. Liebherr mobile harbor cranes, see Figure 1, usually have a closed hydraulic circuit containing a hydraulic pump with a high displacement volume that is adjusted electronically in accordance to the current diesel engine speed. Regarding the energy saving aspects, a further minimization of the diesel engine speed leads to a larger pump size with increasing torque losses. Depending on the pressure setting, the volume flows can be reduced in constant pressure grids. Especially in part-load operation this results in better efficiency compared to closed hydraulic circuits by minimizing the displacement volume of hydraulic components. To obtain a stable generator speed, it is essential to adjust the displacement volume of the hydraulic unit for equalizing its input torque with the Figure 1: LHM 800 Group 10 - Mobile Hydraulics | Paper 10-5 199 generator load torque. In interaction with the software-based control architecture, the stability of the electrical frequency depends on the mass inertia of the generator drive and time constants of the embedded hydraulic actuators. The system model, represented by ODEs is established and verified with a hydraulic simulation software. On that basis, the design approach of a PI-state-controller is presented. Corresponding controller gains and state feedback parameters are determined by pole placement techniques. To conclude this investigation a comparison between the hydraulically closed circuit and the constant pressure grid is shown by simulation and measurement data.

Hydraulic systems represent a crucial part of the drivetrain of mobile machines. The most important drivers of current developments, increasing energy efficiency and productivity, are leading to certain trends in technology. On a subsystem level, working hydraulics are utilizing effects by improving control functions and by maximum usage of energy recovery potential. Independent metering and displacement control, partly in combination with hybrid concepts, are the dominating approaches. Traction drives gain advantage from optimized power split transmissions, which consequently are being used in a growing number of applications. On the level of components, increase of efficiency and dynamics as well as power density are important trends. Altogether, design of systems and components is more and more based on modular concepts. In this sense, among others, sensors and control elements are being integrated to actuators; electric and hydraulic technology is being merged. In order to achieve maximum efficiency and performance of the entire machine, control of hydraulics has to include the whole drivetrain and the entire mobile machine in its application. In modern words, mobile hydraulic systems are a part of cyber physical systems.

This diploma thesis deals with the creation of models simulating the processes of an emission-free wheel loader, which was created by rebuilding the original version with a combustion engine. Part of the work is the methodical creation of models from the basic part of the machine to a simplified model of the overall machine, its functional verification and calibration based on available information’s and measurements. In this paper, selected parameters of the overall machine model are verified based on performed measurements, the suitability of selected components is verified, and the optimization and modification of the model is performed based on verification. The aim of the thesis is to present the simulation and verification procedure and its practical use in the development of an emission-free wheel loader with electric drive.

This diploma thesis deals with the design of control algorithm for hydraulic directional control valves of a zero-emission mini excavator. Zero emission excavator have same parameters as diesel engine powered version of it. To solve this problem simulations were done for hydraulics and control algorithm of this machine. To find right parameters of simulation models, experiments have been done. There were also proposed some methods to obtain the right set of parameters. The result of this diploma thesis is control algorithm for directional control valves of this very unique mini excavator that doesn't have any competitor (in terms of control algorithm). Set of parameters was also tested during experiments.

The diploma thesis dealt with a partial problem of conversion of the mini-excavator E19 by Bobcat with an internal combustion engine to emission-free propulsion. The main task was design and construction of electrical and hydraulic circuits focusing on the drive of a mini-excavator. The simulations verified the properties and behavior of the mini-excavator under different conditions and initial settings. The results were comfirmed by experimental measurements. The output of the simulations recommended adjustments to the values of individual parameters depending on the travel speed but also the efficiency of the entire machine.