Industrial Vehicle Technology - June 2020
ELECTRIC AND HYBRID FUTURE
2020-07-10 05:04:44
CARRARO WAS BACK AT CONEXPO IN LAS VEGAS IN MARCH, TO DISPLAY THE EVOLUTION OF ITS HERITAGE – AND OFFERING PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
ConExpo 2020 was for Carraro Group the ideal occasion to demonstrate its capability to develop state-of-the-art solutions in keeping with the evolution of markets requirements.
Within a scenario that registers massive urbanisation (by 2050 nearly 70% of the global population will live in urban areas) and an extensive migration from the rural areas of developing countries, the need for infrastructure is expected to grow constantly. This means new constructions, more maintenance and a substantial growth in demand for equipment. In this context the new global motto is ‘do more with less’. Productivity and efficiency – such as less fuel consumption – are the key pillars.
The Carraro way
In the construction equipment sector, as in agricultural, Carraro offers a wide range of solutions from basic to premium, leveraging as much as possible the design modularity and scalability to address the most advanced solutions together with the ones using more ‘frugal’ technology. This way best cost and performance are obtained.
That this is possible is thanks to a solid global footprint, with state-of-the-art operations and R&D centres in Asia (China, India), South America (Argentina, Brazil) and Italy. All are centrally coordinated from the Italian headquarters.
The organisation enables a deep understanding of local market requirements that, combined with a consolidated know-how integrating hydraulic and electronic competences to the mechanical ones, makes Carraro a real global system provider.
Today the company is able to offer a comprehensive product portfolio of complete drivelines for all the most popular construction equipment machines. These include backhoe loaders, tele boom handlers, compact and small wheel loaders, wheel excavators, and soil compactors. In addition to this, Carraro Engineering is able to develop innovative solutions for further CE and special applications.
Electrification: the new path
Leveraging the 25 years of experience in development and supply of integrated drive systems for material handling electric traction applications, Carraro more recently extended its portfolio to include hybrid electric machines and electric powertrains.
The company can now offer the design of the whole system, combining its traditional mechanical know-how with strong electric/electronic competences. Able to support all electric architecture topologies, Carraro can lead the complete e-powertrain through a dedicated ECU, then sizing and integrating the most suitable electric modules: from motors and generators, to inverters, batteries and battery management systems to obtain the best performance for the entire system.
ConExpo highlights
From its booth in Las Vegas, Carraro displayed three examples of its innovations, both in terms of products and service capabilities, highlighting its unique value proposition, from component to complete machine.
The eTCH90 Long Drop, a torque converter full powershift transmission, is designed to become a parallel electric hybrid unit, suitable for several equal size tire machines, starting from tele boom handlers. The eTB220C, a gearbox specifically developed for full electric applications, is able to have minimum power losses even at high input rotation speed. Lastly the FLS 3.2 is a full powershift hydrostatic gearbox that can fulfil the performance demand of several machines, ranging from small wheel loaders to tele boom handlers.
All the gearboxes are controlled by software developed to run in the Carraro proprietary ECU, fully compliant with ISO 25119 (functional safety).
For all the powertrain applications, Carraro can achieve further fuel efficiency and productivity through the simultaneous control of the whole powertrain (i.e. engine and transmission) thanks to its competence in developing control software to be injected in its proprietary ECUs.
Author: Fabio Gallo, strategic marketing and product management director, Carraro
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