Excavator: Hybrid

Caterpillar Rolls Out Hybrid Excavatoras Layoffs Hit Mining Division

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
 
As a slowdown in mining sales softens its bottom line, equipment giant Caterpillar Inc. is hoping construction customers will be drawn to the promised fuel savings in its new 336EH hybrid excavator. 
Earlier this month, ENR visited the company's demonstration center in Edwards, Ill., to see the machine up close. Announced last year, the new machine is based on the design of the existing non-hybrid 336E but uses a special hydraulic hybrid system to recycle energy. 
The system takes advantage of an excavator's typical duty cycle: digging, swinging, dumping and swinging back to dig. The excavator captures swing energy as the machine's rotation slows down by storing pressurized fluid in accumulator tanks. It then pushes the fluid back out to aid the next cycle. 
According to Caterpillar, the new 40-ton model boasts a 25% fuel consumption improvement over the non-hybrid 336E, with only a 9% price increase. But when measured in tons moved per liter of fuel, the machine promises up to a 50% fuel-efficiency increase. 
Running on the same 300-hp, Tier 4 Interim Cat 9-liter diesel engine as the standard 336E excavator, the hybrid model adds a pair of hydraulic accumulator tanks, located in the back of the machine and precharged with nitrogen gas. The stored hydraulic power allows the excavator’s diesel engine to run at a near-constant speed of 1,500 rpm, which conserves fuel and emissions. 
Caterpillar says order sheets for the new hybrid are full, but the company is keeping mum about the size of the initial run. The 336EH will be formally launched at Bauma later this month in Munich, where Caterpillar will hand the keys of the machine to its first buyer, Norway-based SA-Anlegg AS. 
"The hybrid is currently being manufactured in our facility in Japan, and we plan to build them in our Victoria, Texas, facility for the American market," says Ken Gray, Caterpillar global product manager for large hydraulic excavators. "If there's a good reception at Bauma, it will then be built in our Belgian plant.” 
The non-hybrid 336E will continue to be available, Gray adds. “We want the customer to have that option, but we see the hydraulic hybrid as a complete system, not just an add-on [to the 336E],” he says. Caterpillar is also developing a 336FH excavator, which will meet Tier 4 Final emissions standards. 
Caterpillar may be looking for a bright spot in the construction sector as the equipment giant has taken a hit in its mining division this year. The company took a $580-million write-down at the beginning of the year after its acquisition of a China-based mining equipment manufacturer went sour. The write-down, coupled with an overall softening mining sector, has resulted in lower demand for the company's new mining equipment. 
These recent issues may be to blame for recent layoffs at several of Caterpillar’s U.S. facilities, including over 460 positions at its Decatur, Ill., plant and up to 300 positions in its South Milwaukee, Wis., facility, both set to take effect in June. 
Analysts have lowered their expectations for Caterpillar’s first-quarter earnings, as the company is expected to report its first back-to-back drop in quarterly profit since 2009. 
 
 </div>

Caterpillar Rolls Out Hybrid Excavatoras Layoffs Hit Mining Division

As a slowdown in mining sales softens its bottom line, equipment giant Caterpillar Inc. is hoping construction customers will be drawn to ...

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
 
 
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7516313194738814311" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>During a press event at its headquarters in Peoria, Ill., Caterpillar unveiled its very first hybrid excavator, the Cat 336EH. The new machine is the first in an upcoming line of hybrid excavators and will be officially launched in April 2013 at the Bauma International Trade Fair in Munich, Germany. 
However, this isn’t an electricity/fuel hybrid like the automobile industry has segued into. Instead, Cat developed a new hydraulic hybrid technology that it says allows the new 336EH to get up to 25 percent greater fuel efficiency than the standard 336E and up to 50 percent greater fuel efficiency over the Cat 336D. 
“We wanted to accomplish this hydraulically instead of electrically,” says Ken Gray, Caterpillar’s global product manager for large hydraulic excavators. About 98 percent of the components on the new excavator are currently standard, and the 336EH will be the largest hybrid excavator in the world, the company says. 
“To us, the term hybrid means taking extra energy and storing it until it can be used,” Gray says. “It doesn’t matter what kind of energy is stored. One plus: it will be the quietest machine in its size class, with a 65.2 decibel sound level.” 
“The difficult part of it is how to control the flow,” he adds. “That’s where the real intellectual property is.” 
Machine design on the 336 started back in 2009, but the design on some of the hydraulic components goes back further. Cat says it made the decision to go all-hydraulic in 2011, choosing the all-hydraulic approach because of the high power density of hydraulics. 
“It works a lot like a clock coil spring,” Gray says, taking advantage of the excavator’s swing cycle and the fact that there are two start-stops in a typical 15-second load and dump cycle. When the machine slows, the hydraulics store energy that will be reused when it swings again. “It’s the first hybrid machine that will actually lower a user’s owning and operating costs,” Gray says. 
Cat is using three main new components to conserve, optimize, and reuse hydraulic power: 
? Electronic Standardized Programmable Pump: By matching the engine and pump closely, Cat can use a larger displacement pump and significantly reduce fuel consumption; 
? Adaptive Control System: The brains of the system, this directs the flow of the energy throughout the machine; and 
? Hydraulic Hybrid Swing System: This takes otherwise wasted swing braking energy and recovers and reuses it. 
“I can’t talk about the price, but customers will be able to pay for it within 12 months, or 2,000 hours,” Gray says. “To us, a seven-year payback on a hybrid doesn’t make sense.” 
Before its launch at Bauma, customers can begin placing orders through Cat dealers in February 2013. Shipments will begin in April. 
 
 </div>

Caterpillar unveils the 336EH, its first hybrid excavator

During a press event at its headquarters in Peoria, Ill., Caterpillar unveiled its very first hybrid excavator, the Cat 336EH. The new ma...

+ Read more »

Caterpillar Rolls Out Hybrid Excavatoras Layoffs Hit Mining Division

Caterpillar unveils the 336EH, its first hybrid <b>excavator</b>