IVT Magazine

Transcription

IVT Magazine

THE MAGAZINE FOR INDUSTRIAL VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY, DESIGN & ENGINEERING
› Volvo GaiaX
› Yanmar YT01
September 2014
iVT Industrial Vehicle Technology International
New OEM concepts
Design Challenges
› Chinese concepts
› JCB Project 120
SEPTEMBER 2014
VOL 22 No. 3
Interview
Carlo Lambro
www.iVTinternational.com
Brand President,
New Holland Agriculture
Ergonomics
Intuitive delivery
of in-cab data
Published by UKIP Media & Events Ltd
Raging bull
Strength with style: Lamborghini adopts a new
look as it prepares for the battle of a lifetime
EFFICIENCIES you may not see,
but will surely NOTICE.
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November 25-28, 2014
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©2014 Dana Limited
DOSG46237 IVT_Sept2014_CnstrxAd_BCSnipe_v1.indd 1
7/30/14 10:33 AM
CONTENTS
p26
COVERSTORY p18
STYLE WITH SUBSTANCE
The Lamborghini Nitro – enough said
p44
REGULARS
CASE STUDIES & SPECIAL FEATURES
4
12
NEWS
7
CONSTRUCTION FOCUS
BY JIM MANFREDI
9
AGRICULTURE FOCUS
BY PETER HILL
10
MATERIALS HANDLING
FOCUS
BY MICHAEL LEU
82
BULLETIN BOARD
88
THE INSIDER
THE FULL PACKAGE
38
Exclusive interview with Carlo Lambro,
who, as brand president of New Holland, is
disarmingly frank about gaps in his portfolio
26
BRAND SPANKING NEW
Yanmar has given the compact tractor a
conceptual revamp in its attempt to
become a premium brand
32
LOOKING BOTH WAYS
JCB celebrates 60 years of backhoe
loaders with a look ahead to 2073
DC (CHINESE STYLE)
Design Challenge takes a new twist, with
the winners of the BICES 2013 contest
showing some unusual ideas for offhighway machinery of the future
44
URBAN MYTH
The latest in Volvo’s line of mythologically
titled machines is the one that’s most likely to
hit the market in unadulterated form – honest
52
INTUITIVE THINKING
A new wave of display and interface
technologies is set to improve safety and
overall performance by providing operators
with highly intuitive feedback
Site dumper drivers are revolting
62
EQUATORIAL GIMME
With future growth in demand likely to be
clustered around the Equator, suppliers
with a strong global presence are likely to
play a key role in OEMs’ plans
“What we are lacking at the moment
is a mid-range CVT tractor, but we
are working on that” p12
September 2014
New OEM concepts
› Volvo GaiaX
› Yanmar YT01
Design Challenges
› JCB Project 120
SEPTEMBER 2014
VOL 22 No. 3
Interview
Carlo Lambro
Brand President,
Ergonomics
Intuitive delivery
of in-cab data
Raging bull
Vol. 22 No 3
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The views expressed in the
Art Director Craig Marshall
articles and technical papers
Design Louise Adams, Andy Bass, Anna Davie,
James Sutcliffe, Nicola Turner, Julie Welby, Ben White are those of the authors and are
Head of Production & Logistics Ian Donovan
Deputy Production Manager Lewis Hopkins
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iVTInternational.comSeptember2014
1
CONTENTS
PRODUCTS&SERVICES
66 FLEXITIME
72 TRENDINGNOW
Wachendorff’s Opus A6 display
screen is a highly customizable allrounder – just ask Kotschenreuther
67 FOURSTEPSTOHEAVEN
SNDC’s HVAC takes operators from
the hell of extreme temperatures to
divine comfort in four easy steps
68 SMARTTHINKING
Cobo’s Smart Sentinel offers
advanced integrated technology for
exceptional fleet management
71 PLASTIC2.0
Hella’s Therma Pro work lights use a
synthetic housing to deliver a host of
operational advantages
Marzocchi’s hydraulically driven pumps
offer more independence than belt- or
PTO-driven models
74 MAKEACONNECTION
ContiTech’s hydraulic couplings
ensure reliable connections between
elements of a truly remarkable vehicle
SUSTAINABILITY IN COMPOSITES
KARL VADASZFFY, iVT INTERNATIONAL
ON THE WEB
Exclusive composite materials feature at:
76 SHIFTWORK
The manual gearbox is evolving again.
The innovative SIM propulsion system
from Linde Hydraulics is the next step
79 POSITIONOFPOWER
The VP series of driveshafts from
Comer Industries combine high
performance with low maintenance
p71
FOREWORD
p68
81 IDEASINMOTION
Mark Ankers of Curtis Instruments
shares his thoughts on material
handling challenges of today
p76
Whenever I acquire a new piece of technology, I always start
out with the best intentions. Barely is the smartphone, DVD
player or cycle computer out of its box before I’ve opened the user
manual and set to work reading up on how to get the most out of
it. Unfortunately, I rarely get past the Basics section, because by
the time I’ve dutifully pressed a few buttons in accord with those
simple instructions, I’ve kidded myself that I’ve gained enough of
an understanding to get by, and gone off to do something more
interesting instead.
The trouble is, that approach barely scratches the surface
these days. This was illustrated when I bought a new car in April
and dutifully began reading the 200-page driver’s manual, a few
pages each night – at least, for a week or so, anyway. Then, one
fine summer’s day, the heater suddenly began pumping out hot
air and I realized that I had absolutely no idea how to turn it
down via the surprisingly complex control panel – or not
without averting my eyes from an enjoyably twisty country lane
for an unnerving length of time anyway.
With winter fast approaching, it really is time I started
reading the Climate Control section, because who knows what
hidden gems it might contain that could make all the difference
to the pleasure – or even the safety – of my journey. One such
innovation that I did find in the early pages of the manual, for
example, concerned the electronic key fob – it turns out that if
you fiddle with it in just the right way, an emergency key slides
out to be used in the event of battery failure.
AS LONG AS
IT’S GREEN…
with fuel costs rising and oil running
low, composite materials made from
natural resources could be set for great
things. but even ‘normal’ composites have
much to offer in terms of sustainability
Offering the potential to
increase fuel efficiency via
weight reduction – thereby reducing
CO2 emissions and cost of ownership
– composite materials have played a
key role of late in improving the
environmental impact of both offand on-highway vehicles.
Yet although some operators still
view their durability with a healthy
skepticism, this is an area that is
now further adding to the green
credentials of composite materials.
When used to substitute material
that is prone to impact and damage,
for instance, they can also support
the strength and durability of
products over time. They also offer
the opportunity to introduce new
solutions to shape vehicles for
improved cosmetic and functional
design, replacing materials that are
less malleable or lose strength
through processing.
Rodney Hansen, MD of Dark
Matter Composites, a consultancy
offering composite training and
advisory services, certainly believes
that maintainability is one reason
composites should be employed,
particularly as an alternative to steel:
“The advantage they have over
traditional metal and plastic panels
is they’re corrosion resistant and can
be made impact resistant. Once you
have corrosion resistance, you
reduce maintenance costs.”
Carbon fiber is, says Hansen,
most commonly used today, but he
thinks the biggest potential growth
lies in thermoplastics and natural
fibers. “A thermoplastic is quite a
soft material, but with enough fiber
reinforcement it becomes tough and
impact resistant,” he comments. “So
it’s perfectly suitable for use as an
alternative to SMCs in body panels.”
One US company, Advanced
Composites Engineering, specializes
in the manufacture of carbon fiber,
composite-reinforced plastic
structures and molded products. MD
Joe Albertelli furthers the discussion
of robustness: “If thermoformable
composites are utilized, when a
structure is damaged, it can be
heated and reworked. There are
plastic composites such as Spectra
that have damage-tolerant, impactresistant laminates, which we use in
high-impact environments.”
However, Albertelli says higher
costs are currently a deterrent in
their wider implementation, but he
believes that, as fuel costs continue
to rise, this will change.
But John Darlington, head of
product management at TenCate
Advanced Composites, a developer
and manufacturer of thermoplastic
(TenCate CETEX) and thermoset
composite materials, isn’t convinced
remolding after impact is practical:
“Unreinforced thermoplastic sheet
material is durable anyway – it will
flex, but recover. Remolding it is
possible, but requires the component
to be raised in temperature to above
the softening/melt temperature –
sometimes above 200°C – to enable
the part to be repaired. Ensuring
that durability meets customer
needs is the primary goal.”
ABOVE: DuraPulp – a
mix of wood pulp and
renewable polymers – is
one of a host of new, more
environmentally friendly
composite materials
emerging onto the market
Weight issues
For some vehicles – those lifting
pallets off the ground, for example –
composites could make them lighter
and, therefore, more fuel-efficient.
TenCate’s John Darlington believes
iVTInternational.com September 2014
p84
This news came as more than a surprise to a colleague who
had owned the same model for several years, incidentally –
which made me remember an article written by our ergonomist
pal Steve Casey several years ago. In it, he mentioned how one
auto maker had taken the view that discovering these hidden
gems months or even years down the line would ‘delight’ the
consumer – but it would actually probably be more accurate to
use the word ‘enrage’. I can certainly vouch for that, and while
I’m unlikely to ever need the actual key, I can’t help wondering
why perhaps some subtle color-coding couldn’t have been
employed to differentiate what is otherwise a generally uniform,
unremarkable rectangular shape.
The word I’m chasing is ‘intuitive’ – and you’ll find a fair few
references to that subject dotted throughout the issue. The main
one, of course, is Steve’s latest article on that exact topic,
covering the use of visual techniques in display screens, as well
as other, non-visual, methods of information delivery that are
emerging in the automotive market and could have practical use
in off-highway. And, as I say, there are a few other references to
innovative HMI elsewhere in the issue – but at the risk of
enraging you, I’ll leave you to find them for yourselves…
So with all that in mind, I’ve just started reading my iPhone
manual again – and it turns out that you can actually use one of
these things to make phone calls! Why couldn’t Apple have
mentioned that five years ago?!
Richard Carr, editor, iVT International
WINTER SPECIAL: • Design Challenge • Build the perfect cold weather vehicle • Overaasen TV
Coming up in the November issue of iVT 1000 runway snow blower • Prinoth Leitwolf snow groomer • Winterizing engines • Winterizing
electric drives • Cat’s Coldest Journey • Interview: Anders Larsson, Volvo Technology
2
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Track beauty
CHEADLE, UK –JCB’s 1CX backhoe loader
has become even more versatile with the
addition of a tracked version. Launched at
Hillhead, the 1CX-T is likely to appeal to
customers looking for increased climbing
ability, unparalleled stability and exceptional
pushing power in soft ground conditions.
By delivering lower ground pressure
than the wheeled version, the 320mm-wide
tracks enable greater productivity in wet and
loose ground, with a 40% improvement in
tractive effort, and excellent track retention
assured via the solid undercarriage and four
triple-flanged rollers. Due to the height of
the track pods, ground clearance has been
increased, although the overall height of
the machine remains under 2.4m, making
it ideal for basement digs.
4
Structural improvements have been
carried out on the chassis, loader arms and
rear frame to cope with the extra loads and
expected increase in duty cycles of a tracked
machine. With an increase in overall width –
up from the 1.56m of the standard 1CX to
1.80m – its stability on rough terrain is also
enhanced which leads to further benefits,
most notably 14% greater shovel capacity.
Although it is built on a skid-steer base,
the tracked backhoe loader offers a superior
lift capacity to a competitive 600kg skidsteer, providing a 25% greater dump angle
and up to 15% more breakout force. Front
loadover height rises to 2.65m, compared
with the 2.59m of the wheeled model, to
enable easier loading into high-sided overthe-road trucks.
The four-ram lift-arm geometry provides
parallel lift for maximum load retention and
also provides a stable platform for powered
attachments. The front loader’s arms are
equipped with a standard skid-steer hitch
which, in conjunction with the powerful highflow auxiliary hydraulics, makes the machine
compatible with a broad range of buckets
and attachments at either end.
With similar power to a 2.5 metric ton
mini-excavator, (140Nm of torque and 49hp
from a naturally aspirated Perkins 404D-22
four-cylinder, Tier 3 engine) the standard
sideshift telescopic dipper arm digs up to
36% deeper with the Extradig option, and
more than a comparable skid-steer with a
backhoe attachment. And because the
1CX-T’s backhoe has been designed as an
WHAT’S NEW
RIGHT: The versatility of a tracked
loader with the power and stability
of a backhoe loader
BELOW: Greater stability has led to
14% greater shovel capacity and a
boost in loadover height
integral part of the machine, its compact
dimensions make it particularly ideal for
work on confined job sites.
When push comes to shove
Even when providing increased pushing
power, the Power Management System
reduces fuel consumption by controlling the
transmission output to enable travel speeds
with lower engine rpm. Maximum breakout
force can be provided without spinning the
tracks or stalling the engine.
Unlike a compact tracked loader, however,
the 1CX-T enables operators to easily enter
the cab from a full-height side-entry door,
removing the requirement to clamber over a
potentially dangerous front attachment. Cab
options include a standard canopy, a low-
height canopy for greater maneuverability,
and a full cab with integrated heating or
optional air-con. Both cab and canopy are
fully ROPS and FOPS certified.
But how realistic would it be for this new
tracked technology to make an appearance
higher up the range? “Technically, it would
be possible for the 2CX and 3CX models to
be offered on tracks,” said a JCB spokesman.
“However, the key benefit of the 2CX and 3CX
backhoes is their ability to travel on the road
between sites.”
But if this tracked backhoe loader still
isn’t innovative enough for you, why not have
a look at page 32 to see the winning designs
from JCB’s Project 120 competition, which
asked designers to predict what form these
machines might take in 60 years’ time?
5
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UPTIME IN PRACTICE
Agricultural
Forestry
Mining/Quarrying
Construction
Materials handling
Stationary
Power generation
Today, machine uptime is decisive for agricultural companies’ profitability. You depend
on harvesters, cultivators, bale wrappers and other equipment to just keep on going.
That’s why Volvo Penta engines are reliable and safe – and a perfect match, whatever
your specific application may be.
By meeting present and future environmental legislation they are also your investment
in a more sustainable tomorrow.
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WHAT’S NEW
CONSTRUCTION FOCUS
JIM MANFREDI, MACHINERY OUTLOOK
MAGNI-FICENT ADDITION
CASTELFRANCO EMILIA,
ITALY – Magni TH has added
to the nine models of its RTH
range presented at Bauma
2013, launching the RTH 5.23
Smart, a rotating telehandler
that should provide an ideal
compromise between price
and performance.
Although built on a smaller
chassis than the normal RTH
5.23, with pivoting outriggers
rather than its telescopicpivoting stabilizers, the Smart
version incorporates most of
its other standard features,
such as the pressurized fullvisibility cab with standard
air-con and 100% air filtration,
and driver controls grouped
together on an exclusive glass
touchscreen display.
Comprising five main
operational screens and one
for diagnostics, this CombiTouch interface is also easily
navigable via an automotivestyle joystick similar to that
used in high-end cars.
Other ergonomic features
in the cab include a forward
view that is almost entirely
glazed, rather than being
obscured by a conventional
control panel, and a movable
steering column that aids
operator access and egress
as well as ensuring a more
comfortable operating
position.
The load-sensing hydraulic
circuit consists of a BoschRexroth variable-displacement
pump, a Danfoss SIL 2 valve
system with electroproportional
control, and instantaneous
spool position detection in
accordance with EN13489.
CLASS WAR
WICHITA, KANSAS, USA –
Case has updated its skidsteer and compact tracked
loader ranges, claiming
performance similar to that of
competitive machines from a
class above, while maintaining
optimum ergonomics.
One of the smallest of its
seven-wheeled loaders, the
SR150, has been replaced
with the SR160, which offers
up to 15% more power (60bhp
total) and 27% more torque
from its turbocharged T4F
engine, without impacting
upon the loader’s compact
dimensions. Hydraulic flow
has been increased by 19%.
The mid-range SV185 and
SR175 models use a turbo,
high-pressure CRI and a
maintenance-free DOC to
meet T4F without requiring
regeneration. With 90bhp, the
most powerful models feature
a turbo with electronically
controlled wastegate and
multiple-injection highpressure CRI, with EGR and a
DPF ensuring T4i compliance.
High operating capacities –
up to 1,360kg on the largest
skid-steer – result from the
Power Stance chassis, which
now rides on a 21% longer
wheelbase. At 890mm, the
cab is now 25% wider, with
larger side windows and
ultra-thin wire side screens
enhancing 360° visibility.
Sidelights on the A-pillar
provide an improved view of
the work area in low light
conditions.
DUAL EMPHASIS
Cat has renamed SEM
(Shandong Engineering
Mechanics) Caterpillar
(Qingzhou) Co Ltd (CQCL) in
a bid to add emphasis to its
dual-brand strategy in China
and expand the SEM-branded
product line as well as CQCL’s
production capacity. In 2012,
Cat expanded its excavator
production capacity at its
plant in Xuzhou by 80%.
The Qingzhou plant will
now produce Cat-branded
wheeled loaders and an
expanded SEM-branded
product line that includes
motor graders, compactors
and dozers. The plan is to
transform SEM from a
leading Chinese wheeled
loader brand to a full-line
construction equipment
provider. The expansion at
Qingzhou should triple its
SEM-branded wheeled
loader capacity and enable
it to begin producing higherhorsepower dozers.
Karl Weiss, Caterpillar’s
global VP in charge of the
project, said the Qingzhou
plant has been entirely
integrated into Caterpillar
Inc and its manufacturing
level and quality procedures
have reached Caterpillar’s
global standards.
Differentiated value
proposition of the two
brands – Cat and SEM –
will also help to render
better, broader and more
comprehensive support for
the company’s clients.
CAT’S FRENCH SALE
Caterpillar is planning to
shut down and sell its plant
in Rantigny, France, about
65km north of Paris. The
facility, which employs 244
people, produces road paving
equipment including planers,
compactors and pavers.
The company will relocate
two of the three production
lines to the USA, and will
temporarily continue to
manufacture universal or
multipurpose machinery in
Rantigny, while seeking a
buyer for this subdivision. If
it fails to find a taker by the
end of 2015, the making of
that sort of equipment will
likely be transferred to Italy.
EQUIPMENT SALES UP
Construction equipment
sales in China, Europe, India,
Japan and North America
are set to grow 5% in unit
terms this year, according to
Off-Highway Research. All
five key regions should see
increased equipment sales,
with Japan leading the way –
the last time this happened
was 2004.
The industry fell 1% in
2013, with sales in these
territories totaling 713,363
machines. Now more than
747,000 pieces of equipment
are set to be sold in these
five major markets.
JOY-OUS OCCASION
Joy Global Inc has entered
into a definitive agreement
to buy Mining Technologies
International Inc for €38.5m.
A Canadian manufacturer
of underground hard rock
mining equipment, MTI
serves North American
markets and is a worldleading supplier of raise
bore drilling consumables.
Joy will be acquiring
substantially all of the
assets associated with MTI’s
hard rock drilling, loaders,
dump trucks, shaft sinking,
and raise bore product lines.
The company’s fiscal 2013
revenues associated with
these product lines were
approximately €67.9m.
“This acquisition
represents an exciting
opportunity as [Joy] executes
its growth strategy to expand
its underground mining
product lines into the hard
rock markets,” commented
Ted Doheny, Joy’s president
and CEO.
Subscribe online at www.machineryoutlook.com
7
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WHAT’S NEW
AGRICULTURAL FOCUS
PETER HILL, iVT INTERNATIONAL
EXHAUSTING ALTERNATIVE
ANKARA, TURKEY – Powered
by a 3.4-liter common-rail FPT
F5C engine, New Holland’s
upgraded T4 PowerStar series
is the first in Europe to feature
Particulate Matter Catalyst
(PM Cat) technology for Tier
4F compliance.
Located in the exhaust
system downstream of the
DOC, the PM Cat burns off
the PM as it passes through
– and as the high flow of gas
ensures the filter will never
block, there is no need for
regeneration. No additional
GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA,
USA – With big improvements
in power outputs, Case IH’s
new 240 Series of Axial-Flow
combines has been designed
to meet the demands of the
largest farming operations.
The 7240, 8240 and 9240
deliver 498hp, 571hp and
636hp from their FPT Cursor
16 engines respectively, up
from the 449-571hp of the
7230, 8230 and 9230 models
they replace. The engines
feature a HI-eSCR system
that reduces emissions by
95%, and a variable-speed
cooling fan that runs at the
optimum speed to minimize
power demand and noise.
A key feature is the option
of fully suspended tracks in
addition to the standard type.
Available in widths of 610mm
and 724mm, they feature four
idlers that operate in pairs,
enabling them to adapt more
accurately to the ground for a
efforts from the operator are
needed to activate the cleaning
process, and the system is also
maintenance-free – an industry
first, claims New Holland.
Providing 58, 64 or 74
maximum horsepower, the
three PowerStar models also
benefit from precision fueling,
which has not only achieved
fuel savings of up to 13%,
but enables an enhanced
response when the engine is
placed under load. The flat
engine curve between 1,9002,100rpm maintains maximum
power over a larger working
range, making it ideal for
work with power-hungry
implements such as forage
wagons. A power-to-weight
ratio of 30.4kg/hp maximizes
productivity without causing
soil compaction problems.
The driver’s cab has been
enhanced with an optional
‘baler bar’ that can be used
to mount monitors for baler
and wrappers – located to the
right of the operator, this is
in the ideal line of sight when
working.
POWER UP
more stable ride and
ensuring that headers up
to 12.5m wide remain level.
They also provide more active
support for the new, larger
14,400-liter grain tank, while
reducing ground pressure.
With maximum unloading
rates of 156 l/sec, the long
auger enables a comfortable
distance to be maintained
between trailer and combine,
enabling true 12m Controlled
Traffic Farming systems to be
implemented.
The ‘Luxury’ cab features
electrically adjustable mirrors,
ample storage space, a semiactive seat option, and a
refrigerated coolbox.
LS MTRON GROWS
South Korean tractor maker
LS Mtron continues to make
waves in the compact and
utility market, with a new
KRW50bn (US$4.85m)
engine plant potentially
bringing OEM sales.
LS Mtron is growing fast
– last year, it completed a
5,000-unit tractor facility in
Brazil to serve Central and
South American markets,
having already constructed
a factory in China that will
complement its HQ in South
Korea. The engine plant will
help the OEM build annual
capacity up to 200,000 units
by 2020.
“We will achieve annual
sales from the tractor
business of KRW1tn
(US$97m) in 2016 by
developing overseas
markets more aggressively,”
said LS Mtron CEO Jae-Seol
Shim. “We are now set to
become a global leader in
the tractor market.”
Sales have grown from
KRW100bn (US$9.7m) in
2008 to KRW552bn (US$53
m) in 2013. The next target
is KRW700bn (US$68m).
DIFFERENT CLAAS
Sourcing 70-110hp tractors
from Same Deutz-Fahr will
not only ease investment
demand at Claas, but also
free-up capacity to build
more of its larger tractors at
its Le Mans, France factory.
Claas wants to lift revenues
by 6-16% in major regions –
and by as much as 30% in
Asia-Pacific – and enter the
US tractor market. The highpower Xerion will likely be
first as it complements the
Lexion combines assembled
in Omaha, Nebraska, but
the Le Mans-built tractors
will follow.
To rebuild Russian sales
devastated by import tariffs,
Claas is almost trebling the
size of its Krasnodar factory.
Apart from relieving the
impact of tariffs, this will
allow Lexion production to
be added to the smaller
Tucano as demand for
bigger combines grows.
CNH GOES BIG IN CHINA
The largest agricultural
equipment plant in NorthEast China has been opened
by CNH Industrial to produce
a line of Case IH and New
Holland Agriculture products
catering for the full cycle of
corn, wheat, soybean and
hay production.
Built in the area of its
previous assembly plant in
Heilongjiang Province, the
vertically integrated US$100m
manufacturing complex is
claimed to feature the latest
fabrication and painting
technology, with auto-guided
vehicles used for assembly
and testing. The on-site R&D
center has use of a dedicated
outdoor test track opened in
September last year.
“We have been present in
China via our agricultural
equipment brands for more
than 100 years,” said Richard
Tobin, CEO. “The inauguration
of our new plant marks an
important milestone
confirming our commitment
to Chinese agriculture.”
Product lines include
Case IH Axial-Flow combines
and New Holland T6000 and
T7000 tractors.
RUBBER BARONS
Trelleborg will open its first
North American production
facility dedicated to premium
radial tires for agricultural
machinery. The US$50m
project, using an existing
location in Spartanburg,
South Carolina, will ensure
availability of tires for OEMs
and dealers in a market
central to Trelleborg’s
growth strategy.
Production startup is
scheduled for late 2015,
with additional equipment
installed over the following
three years to extend the
US-built product range.
Subscribe online at www.machineryoutlook.com
9
WHAT’S NEW
HANDLING FOCUS
MICHAEL LEU, FORKLIFTACTION.COM
LINDE AIMS HIGH
Linde MH will invest a
“substantial amount of
money” in its Aschaffenburg
production site in the future.
“In terms of production, we
believe that Linde has now
become the market leader
in Europe for [the electric]
segment, too,” says Sabine
Neuß, COO. “By making
investments worth about
€60m by 2021, we’ll expand
our production capacity in
the medium-term and
simultaneously optimize our
processes even further.”
INDIAN PUSH
Voltas Material Handling
will now operate under the
name Kion India to lift the
Kion Group’s corporate
profile in India. Kion India
will continue to sell under
the established Voltas and
Baoli brands in India.
Voltas Material Handling
was launched in 2011 as a
JV between the Kion Group
and Voltas Ltd, before the
Kion Group became the sole
owner in November 2012.
A spokesman said the
group intends to fuel the
development of a “stable
manufacturing environment”
by providing Indian industry
with a backbone of reliable
and competitive materials
handling technologies.
“Until now, the Kion group
wasn’t fully visible to normal
retail customers as Voltas
was used as a brand and
Voltas Material Handling as
a company name. With the
name change, customers will
better know the association
with Kion group and there
will be a fresh base for
communication.”
In the past, Voltas focused
on IC forklifts as it had limited
experience with electric
forklifts and warehouse
technology. “Voltas was,
therefore, more dependent
on market fluctuations as
the demand for IC forklifts
drops more significantly in
weak market phases than
for warehouse technology
and electric trucks,” he
continued.
DETANK EYES UK
Chinese industrial forklift
maker Detank wants to
conquer the UK market.
Launched in 2010, Detank
claims it is one of the
“fastest-growing industrial
machinery brands”.
Its new forklift range
includes 1-10t diesel trucks,
1.5-3.5t LPG trucks, and
1.3-2t electrics.
Each model has been
designed for the UK and
North American markets
and built to European
designs, using familiar
components to simplify
maintenance and repairs.
TRUCK SALES RISE
The global material handling
equipment market grew to
556,800 trucks for the first
half of 2014 – 10% higher
than the 507,800 trucks
recorded for the same period
last year, according to data
released by Jungheinrich.
Europe, the OEM’s main
sales market, also recorded
an increase of 10%. Demand
in western Europe rose by
12%, with eastern Europe’s
market volume growing 1%.
Demand in Asia was up 15%,
while the North American
market grew by 8%.
Board chairman of
Jungheinrich, Hans-Georg
Frey, said: “Incoming orders
and group net sales should
be within a range of €2.42.5bn. EBIT should amount
to €175-185m.”
CROWN’S GLORY
Crown Equipment has
opened a new facility in
Roding, Germany, with a
production hall and office
premises covering nearly
12,000m2. The new facility
will enable it to significantly
expand its European
production capacity.
Global materials handling online: www.forkliftaction.com
10
GIVING IT LARGE
NIJMEGEN, NETHERLANDS
– Answering the problems of
handling bulky 16-18 metric
ton loads that often don’t fit
on standard pallets, Hyster
has launched four trucks with
the aim of saving fuel in heavy
steel, concrete and pipe
handling operations.
For 16,000kg operations, the
H16XM-12 provides full rated
capacity with a 1,200mm load
center, while the H16XM-9
offers 900mm. For 18,000kg
operations, it has launched
the H18XM-7.5 and H18XM-9.
All offer the flexibility to extend
the load center, and feature a
3.75m wheelbase to enhance
maneuverability.
Stability is enhanced with
a wide, heavy-duty drive axle,
while the OEM claims it has
achieved less mast deflection
than comparable products.
Cummins engines enable
compliance with T4i/Stage
IIIB without recourse to SCR
or a DPF. Use of the Eco-eLo
operating mode reduces the
maximum engine rpm as a
means of enhancing fuel
efficiency, while the HiP High
Performance mode is the
standard setting.
Performance is further
enhanced with cooling on
demand and load-sensing
hydraulics. “This means it
saves fuel, it runs quieter and
helps extend the life of major
components,” said Chris van
de Werdt, sales manager for
Hyster Big Trucks. “The oil
and filters last longer and
hoses, seals and components
wear less.” Oil-immersed disc
brakes further support a lower
cost of operation.
Load-sensing power
steering also provides loweffort operation, which is
further complemented by the
smooth autoshift transmission,
which virtually eliminates
jerking and provides true
inching capability.
ANIMAL MAGIC
CLECKHEATON, UK – Valmar
has redesigned its complete
portfolio of standard and
bespoke sideloader products.
The standard range begins
with the 3-5 metric ton
compact Hippo machines,
through the 5-8 metric ton
Rhino, and culminates in the
10-20 metric ton Mammoth.
All feature full hydrostatic
power-on-demand hydraulic
and drive services to provide
the smooth handling and
acceleration required when
handling sensitive loads.
The latest addition is the
Mammoth (pictured), an 18
metric ton capacity model
that was designed to handle
steel billets up to 12m long.
Though typically seen as a
machine for the timber
industry, Valmar’s models
have been widely deployed
within the building, concrete
and steel industries; this model
is the first of three that will be
supplied to a stainless steel
manufacturer in Sheffield, UK.
MOVING YOU
FURTHER
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Head Office
Istanbul Office
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Tel. 82-52-202-9279 / E-mail. [email protected]
RICHARD CARR, iVT INTERNATIONAL
THE FULL
PACKAGE
NEW HOLLAND HAS A PRODUCT LINE
THAT MOST OEMs WOULD ENVY, BUT
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, BRAND
PRESIDENT CARLO LAMBRO REVEALS
THAT THERE’S STILL MORE TO COME
12
OEM INTERVIEW
If there’s one question to
which a journalist can usually
be confident of receiving a less than
satisfactory answer – or even short
shrift if we’re unlucky – it’s asking
the head of an industrial vehicle
business about any gaps in their
product portfolio. Yet as I look back
at the transcript of my interview
with Carlo Lambro, brand president
of New Holland Agriculture, it seems
that a large portion of our discussion
concerned that exact topic – albeit
being balanced by another sizeable
chunk covering the prototypes and
innovations in which the company
is breaking new ground thrown in
for good measure.
We fell into the first area rather
unexpectedly, with Carlo revealing
that, only the previous day, parent
group CNH Industrial had acquired
the assets of the Wisconsin, USAbased precision spraying equipment
manufacturer Miller-St Nazianz,
adding a new dimension to New
Holland’s core business. Miller had
been manufacturing and distributing
New Holland-badged front-boom
self-propelled sprayers for about four
years, and the acquisition looks set
to expand crop production sales far
outside of that company’s North
American homeland.
“What we have sped up [in the
12 months since Carlo took on his
role] is the structure to even further
enlarge our product offering, not
only on our conventional business
– tractors, harvesters and balers –
but also looking at other types of
activity linked to the farming
applications,” says Carlo.
“But the Miller acquisition was
the conclusion of a long discussion
and successful relationship.”
Implementing change
That sounds as though further
acquisitions, or perhaps even just
some straightforward investment in
product expansion, might be on the
cards – so would that be most likely
in terms of towed implements, an
area where New Holland seems to be
under-represented in comparison
with its main rivals?
“Today, New Holland is not
gainfully involved in the implement
business – and although we’ve now
acquired Miller, that mainly produces
self-propelled equipment. But we’ve
valued the implement business at
between € 8-9bn in Europe alone, so
it is a very, very important business.
Of course, we want to keep investing
in our core business, but we also
want to look at expanding it with
the possibility of entering into some
type of association, from an OEM
agreement to an acquisition, so we
are looking around for ways to
complete our product offering in
terms of implements, especially for
the EMEA and APAC regions.
“In North America, we have
implements for tractors [mowers and
loaders] as well as haying equipment
[rakes and disc mowers] coming out
of our plants, but we are a little bit
lacking in this offering in EMEA.
But we are looking at the potential
in that business and we hope to be
ready to give some good news in the
next few months.”
Implements – especially of the
‘intelligent’ variety that can enable
more precise tractor steering and
operation, etc – could certainly hold
the key to a more profitable business
in future, given their widely predicted
importance to the development of
precision farming. So putting all
MAIN IMAGE: Carlo
Lambro is refreshingly
frank about products
that New Holland could
add to its portfolio
RIGHT: With the
acquisition of sprayer
manufacturer Miller-St
Nazianz, New Holland
is set to expand its crop
production sales
13
B&PImmagine
www.bondioli-pavesi.com
No one wins alone.
To win, you need an efficient, effective team.
That’s why, every day around the world,
our team works with original
equipment manufacturers,
providing advanced technical solutions
and professional know-how.
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Helping you win is our mission.
Professionals in motion
OEM INTERVIEW
your eggs into the self-propelled
‘basket’ is therefore presumably not
the ideal scenario?
“When you study mechanization,
the question arises: what is a tractor?
The tractor in itself is doing nothing,
unless you want to use it like a car,”
Carlo confirms. “It’s just a generator
of power, even with the best engine,
the best cab and the best technology.
So you really need to make the most
of whatever is linked to the tractor,
so the implements area will become
very important. Precision farming is
shifting from a focus on individual
machines to systems that create or
support a whole ecosystem of
interconnected machines.
“So there is potential, of course,
for intelligent implements, but we
are also working on developing
applications that can either be
monitored from the tractor or on
the implement itself, so of course
our products are ISObus-compatible,
ensuring the tractor and implement
can dialog altogether. But as of
today we are focusing on working
with companies to be sure that their
intelligent implements can integrate
with our intelligent tractor.”
On the right track
Getting back to tractors, I wanted
to know whether the New Holland
range could be expanded further –
and, given sister company Case IH’s
famed Quadtrac models, doesn’t the
OEM’s small range of TK4000 64-88
PTO hp crawler tractors look rather
weedy in comparison?
“Our mission statement is to
have the broadest product offering
on the market, so we offer tractors
from the compact Boomer right up
to the 670hp T9,” says Carlo. “On
tracked tractors we can boast a long
experience: in 1932, Fiat developed
its first crawler specialty tractor that
became a mass-produced vehicle.
And this knowledge and experience
is now making its way into our highhorsepower tractors. So at the Farm
Progress Show in Boone last week,
we introduced the Genesis T8 with
a SmartTrax system, with wheels at
the front and rubber tracks on the
rear to reduce soil compaction.
“This is not the first step in New
Holland track applications, as in the
North American product offering we
also have the T9 SmartTrax, and we
“PRECISION FARMING IS SHIFTING
FROM A FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL
MACHINES TO SYSTEMS THAT
SUPPORT A WHOLE ECOSYSTEM OF
INTERCONNECTED MACHINES”
are offering tracks with our biggest
CR combine. So we are moving in
this direction, starting with the highhorsepower models, but with the
plan to expand to other parts of the
product offering. It is more of a
North American product at the
moment, but the weight of the
tractor is becoming more and more
important in the high-horsepower
segment in Europe, so the market
here is growing in potential.”
Another North American product
– though sadly one that now has no
chance of a European launch – is
the TV6070 Bi-Directional tractor,
which Carlo reveals is now set to be
phased out: “From the commercial
point of view, it is sad news, but
from a purely business point of view
it is the right choice as the market
was so limited.”
This tractor was highlighted
(under its 1998 TV140 guise) in iVT
September 2013 as one of the 20
most interesting vehicles that we’d
covered in our 20-year history but,
as further digging revealed, it was
ultimately never marketed in Europe
as the investment in adapting it to
CE-mark standards could not be
justified. European farmers were also
more than a little skeptical about its
use of a hydrostatic transmission
(which was well suited to North
American applications) which neatly
– or at least, tangentially – brings us
on to the next potential product
area for expansion: CVT.
Continuous innovation
MAIN IMAGE: A distant
glimpse of the world’s
biggest combine harvester
CENTER: AutoCommand
has a place in tractors
beyond the T7
ABOVE & BELOW: Not just
the compact TK4000 – the
new Genesis T8 SmartTrax
is evidence of a fresh
approach to tracks
Termed ‘AutoCommand’ in the
OEM’s portfolio, CVT transmission
technology is currently available in
its T6, T7 and T8 tractors, covering a
rated power range of 110-367hp. So,
how feasible is its expansion further
down the range?
“For sure, there is room to
expand that,” Carlo confirms. “Our
in-house technology has proven to
be very successful, very reliable and
very well accepted by the customers.
Sales in Europe may not be huge,
but it is selling quite substantially in
North America, where we also offer
compact [40-50hp] Boomer tractors
with EasyDrive, our belt-driven CVT.
“So what we are lacking at the
moment is a mid-range CVT tractor,
but we are working on that – we are
already studying how to bring this
system down to the 90-100hp utility
tractors, so you should see some
news about this transmission in this
15
OEM INTERVIEW
specific horsepower range in the
future. With the T7 and especially
the T6, which is used in similar
applications to those mid-range
tractors, putting a continuously
variable transmission together with
our FPT Industrial engine means
we can declare fuel savings between
10% and 15%. However, we are still
in the prototype phase and need to
assess this further to make sure that
this is a viable solution for customers,
as their investment in CVT is a little
higher so they need to have some
kind of pay-off in running costs.”
Additionally, on the subject of
adding a full-suspension tractor to
the mix, Carlo is clear: “We are
evaluating if this feature is viable
commercially – of course we can do
it, but right now, it is the cost and
benefits that we have to question,
not the technical aspects.”
Cleaning up
Well, that’s quite enough
of what New Holland
doesn’t have – what about
the stuff it does have that the
other OEMs don’t? Although
Carlo dismissed my question
concerning the electrification or
hybridification of drive systems as
not being the right solution for New
Holland, under its self-appointed
‘Clean Energy Leader’ tag the
company has certainly brought
some fascinating innovations to the
market (at least in prototype form)
in recent years. This was perhaps
most evident with the NH2 fuel cell
tractor (see iVT Nov 2009) which
was set to play a key role in the clever
virtuous circle concept of the Energy
Independent Farm, whereby selfsufficient farmers could make their
own fuel from biomass to run their
equipment. However, this hydrogenpowered concept now seems to have
fallen out of favor, to be replaced by
the T6 140 methane-powered concept
unveiled at last year’s Agritechnica.
“We haven’t abandoned hydrogen
– the NH2 is still at our pilot farm,
but in terms of time-to-market and
feasibility, we are now focusing our
effort on methane,” Carlo confirms.
“We try to always be ahead in terms
of a solution for alternative fuels –
we were first on the market with
biodiesel in 2006, then there was
the hydrogen tractor, and now we
16
TOP: The T6 140 methanepowered tractor is still
undergoing testing at
New Holland’s Energy
Independent Farm
ABOVE: The EasyDrive
belt-driven transmission
offers a cost-effective CVT
for compact tractors
BELOW: Neither gone
nor forgotten – the NH2
hydrogen-powered
tractor is still undergoing
tests, but methane is now
seen to be a more likely
fuel source for the future
believe methane could be the real
answer. We based it on a T6 model
because that’s a multipurpose model
suitable for livestock and open-field
use, so we are able to benchmark this
solution in different applications.
“So far, we have learned that the
autonomy must be improved because
we cannot run for a full day yet [the
50kg of compressed methane, stored
in nine tanks, delivers approximately
half a day’s normal operation via the
four-cylinder, 3-liter FPT Industrial
engine] and if you have to stop and
refuel every four or five hours, that’s
going to be an issue,” he continues.
On the upside, however, emissions
are about 80% lower than those from
a standard diesel engine. “And in
terms of power and reliability, it is
giving some good results and would
certainly be viable for implementing
across the range. Just as with the NH2,
you can generate the fuel yourself if
you have a sustainable farm with a
biogas plant, although the cost of
transforming methane derived from
biomass into methane suitable for
engines is high. So most farmers who
want to run a methane tractor might
find it more economical to take fuel
from a normal methane pumping
station rather than from a digester
– although that could all change
within five years as the technology
advances. Even so, in terms of the
running cost, methane gets us 10
times closer to the objective than
was the case with hydrogen.”
What’s next?
The idea of the Energy Independent
Farm, and exactly how New Holland
interprets the present and prepares
for the future of farming, will be
displayed to a wider, more general
audience in Milan, Italy at World
Expo 2015 from next May. “We’ll
show what we have done in the
past, how we have developed over
our 120 years of farming, and we’ll
also try to offer insight as to how
we see the evolution continuing,”
promises Carlo.
More immediately, those World
Expo activities will also be promoted
at Eima in November, along with
the first European showing of New
Holland’s CR10.90, which is claimed
to be the world’s most powerful
combine harvester. But given Carlo’s
refreshing candor regarding those
product gaps, I’m pretty sure he’d
have told me if we’ll also see a fullsuspension, fully tracked T9 with
CVT on display too… iVT
Exhibiting at:
Eima, Bologna Italy,
12-16 November 2014
hall 20 booth B17
Bauma China
hall N1 2015
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STYLE
WITH SUBSTANCE
THE ITALIAN SENSE OF STYLE IS LEGENDARY, AND GOOD LOOKS WERE
VERY MUCH TO THE FORE WHEN GIUGIARO DESIGN HELPED SAME DEUTZFAHR RE-CLOTHE ITS EVOCATIVE LAMBORGHINI TRACTOR RANGE
She oozed style, a beautiful
example of Italian chic design
and sophistication. And the lovely
young model in a flowing white
dress standing beside that new
Lamborghini tractor was getting
almost as much attention… But
while the tall, long-legged woman
may have been first to catch the eye
of farmers, young and old, touring
the Same Deutz-Fahr Group exhibit
at the SIMA show in Paris last year,
the new Lamborghini Nitro is
virtually unmissable.
With its brightest of whites
contrasting crisply with the blackest
of blacks, the Nitro is hard to ignore,
especially when under the glare of
the spotlights. Its overall appearance
may be what draws the attention
first, but then the fine detail and
unusual styling features quickly
become apparent.
18
Most obvious is the broad mattfinish black stripe that runs the full
length of the bonnet. It stretches
from the windscreen to the nose
and is slightly recessed so that the
white edges of the side panels
add definition to the bold style
statement. It starts to taper as it
reaches the nose panel, where a
bright and shiny chrome-finish
version of the famous Lamborghini
bull badge sits prominently framed
by three tapering sides of a recess.
The stripe theme is then continued
by the grille, which itself is unusual –
for one thing, it’s an open honeycomb
structure, giving a hint of sportiness.
For another, it is surely the smallest
of grilles on a tractor of this size.
Tractor nose grilles used to be almost
entirely functional, providing the
only route for cooling air to be drawn
in over the radiator. A large surface
area was therefore a prerequisite for
providing sufficient airflow, so for
many years grilles were nothing
more than an upright rectangular
panel of metal or plastic mesh, with
little adornment.
Now, as styling has become a
more important tool in the branding
and identity of whole families and
individual models of tractors, and
new materials and manufacturing
techniques have allowed greater
scope for ever-more sophisticated
designs, so the grille and the structure
supporting it have become the focus
of the stylist’s imagination.
Today, with higher power density
engines generating more heat, multistage cooling packs demanding still
more air volume and greater efficiency
in the routing of airflow, the frontal
grille’s role has become shared with
ever-larger perforated zones on top
CASE STUDY
19
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CASE STUDY
and at either side of the hood. It is
also less critical to overall cooling
performance these days.
For the Lamborghini Nitro,
Giugiaro Design, Same Deutz-Fahr’s
renowned consultancy, has taken the
opportunity to shape a much more
stylized nose grille as part of a new
‘face’ for Lamborghini tractors that
is already migrating to smaller and
larger models in the range.
The grille itself continues the
theme of the black stripe on the
hood, narrowing as it extends
almost to the bottom of the nose
panel and given added prominence
by recessing the road and work lamps
on either side of the structure.
The angular shape of the white
surrounding panel emphasizes the
three-dimensional character of the
overall design and there are hints as
to the strength of the vehicle behind
the ‘face’, such as the black fillets
that separate the vertical pairs of
lights and visually reinforce the
grille surround.
The structure forming the upper
boundary of the small horizontal
grille across the bottom of the nose
MAIN IMAGE: Giugiaro
Design has brought
added style to the latest
Lamborghini tractors, which
revert to their original white
livery
TOP RIGHT: Color impact:
a traditional color scheme
makes the aggressive
Lambo appearance softer
for the niche Hürlimann
brand
ABOVE: Neat intersections
of grille, lamps and novel
hood stripe
assembly, and which is ‘pierced’ by
the main grille, achieves a similar
effect, while the strakes on recesses
either side of the lower grille suggest
a degree of sportiness.
“Combined with LED lights set
into the upper surface of the nose
panel above the lamp assembly, the
overall impression is of a tractor
having a new, aggressive personality,”
says Ruggero Cavatorta, Same DeutzFahr group communication director.
“The honeycomb front grille not
only underlines the sporty flair of
this brand but also helps to optimize
the cooling, and thereby the overall
efficiency, of the new Deutz engine.”
Keeping the faith
The Nitro is an important new
addition to a Lamborghini range that
has been relaunched in an attempt
to rejuvenate its appeal and arrest a
progressive slide in sales, which is
also afflicting the group’s other
Italian brands.
In Italy and other southern
European markets, the founding
Same brand remains the group’s
strongest, but that is not the case
elsewhere. Same tractors accounted
for 18% of SDF’s €929m tractor sales
revenues in 2013, almost half the
figure achieved 10 years earlier.
To some extent, SDF has been a
victim of its own success in promoting
Deutz-Fahr as its international brand.
Energetic product improvement,
allied to brand development that
has leaned heavily on automotive
design to project the desired
performance image, has strengthened
Deutz-Fahr to the extent that in 2013,
it accounted for 70% of group tractor
sales revenues, compared with 42%
a decade earlier.
Lamborghini is one of SDF’s two
minor brands, contributing less than
8% of revenues – compared with a
20% share 10 years ago. Hürlimann,
originating from Switzerland, now
commands less than 1% of revenues
versus its previous 4% share.
New products and new imagemaking aim to reverse that trend –
but would it not instead be easier to
simply focus on Same and DeutzFahr? Logically – and logistically –
it would, but the marketing team
believes it still has an asset in both;
21
CHINA - FASTER HYDRAULICS Co, Ltd.
CHINA
- FASTER
HYDRAULICS
Co, Ltd.
200233
SHANGHAI,
P.R. China
200233
P.R. China
n° 1289,
YishanSHANGHAI,
Road, Caohejing
Hi-tech Park
CHINA - FASTER HYDRAULICS CO, Ltd.
n°
1289,
Yishan
Road,
Caohejing
Hi-tech
(+86) 021-6082
- Fax (+86)
021-6082Park
3080
200233 3060
SHANGHAI,
P.R. China
(+86) 021-6082
3060 - Fax (+86) 021-6082 3080
[email protected]
n° 1289, Yishan
Road, Caohejing Hi-tech Park
[email protected]
(+86) 021-6082 3060 - Fax (+86) 021-6082 3080
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INDIA-DISTRICT
-FASTER
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HYDRAULICS
Pvt.
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410501
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INDIA
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Plot
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Plot n°
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PosterIVT2012.indd 1
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USA - FASTER
Inc.
HEADQUARTERS:
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OH 43537-9505
HEADQUARTERS:
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OH 43537-9505
ITALY - FASTER S.p.A.
6560 Weatherfield,
Ct.
BRASIL - FASTER DO BRASIL
ITALY
FASTER
S.p.A.
6560
Weatherfield,
Ct.
I-26027 RIVOLTA D’ADDA (CR) Italy
(+1) 419-868-8197
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HEADQUARTER:
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06/02/12 17:40
CASE STUDY
and Lamborghini in particular. By a
quirk of image and distribution, it is
the strongest of the group’s brands in
Poland, for example. And it has been
chosen as the second of the group’s
brands to be introduced into the
Indian market – as a premium brand
with sporting overtones. Until now,
only Deutz-Fahr tractors manufactured
at SDF’s Ranipet factory in India have
been available.
Sporty connections pay
Capitalizing on Lamborghini’s sporty
connections is inevitable for a tractor
that was once built by the same
business that made high-performance
sports cars, especially as many people
assume they still are – after all, the
fighting bull logo and ‘Lamborghini’
script are still the same. SDF does not
directly associate the tractors with
the cars – but neither does it make
much, if any, attempt to correct the
misconception.
Indeed, a quick google reveals
that Nitro launch information was
MAIN IMAGE: Control layout
aims to set high ergonomic
standards; there are highquality plastics, too
FROM TOP: Light clusters,
instruments and controls
are all designed for function
as well as style
released to national and specialist
motoring correspondents as well as
to the agricultural media. A number
of newspapers and magazines then
excitedly reported on the ‘sports
tractor’ with the evocative name.
These days, of course, Automobili
Lamborghini is owned by Volkswagen
Group which, coincidentally, has
also owned a majority holding in
Italdesign Giugiaro for the past four
years. Giugiaro Design, the Italian
group’s industrial and transport
design division, created the Nitro’s
looks under the watchful eye of
Fabrizio Giugiaro, its co-chairman
and styling director, and describes
it as: “A step forward in mediumpower tractors; it displays cuttingedge technical features, and the
coming-together of the ‘fighting
bull’s’ strength and determination.”
The importance of the design
consultancy’s relationship with the
group’s tractor-manufacturing client
was underlined when Giorgetto
Giugiaro, Italdesign’s president,
attended the high-profile launch of
the Nitro and its Spark and Mach
siblings earlier this year.
During that event, Lodovico
Bussolati, SDF CEO, said of the
tractors: “The new ranges unveiled
today, the result of our investment
in R&D, follow the Lamborghini
legend, standing out for their
attention to design.”
Beauty on the inside, too
The Giugiaro Design consultancy is
playing a major role in redeveloping
the appearance and character of SDF
products under the guidance of group
R&D manager Pierangelo Margutti.
This process started with a modest
evolution of the ‘face’ of the more
powerful models in the Deutz-Fahr
range, before moving on to a rather
more comprehensive program of
design work. This culminated in
a sharper design language for the
group’s mid-range tractors, a fresh
interpretation of the Deutz-Fahr
‘rocket’ logo, and a new futuristic
23
CASE STUDY
and muscular style for two flagship
ranges being introduced to the
Deutz-Fahr line-up.
The relationship has also led to
Giugiaro Design having a hand in
the evolution of SDF’s cab interiors,
where it is especially important to
achieve a balance between clarity of
function, practicality in use, and the
desire of the stylist to make things
look good.
It is here, after all, where a farmer
or his driver gets his first impression
of a tractor and how comfortable it
will be to spend a day at the wheel,
as well as how easily an inexperienced
driver could understand and master
the controls. It will also provide first
indications of which design flairs
might turn out to be design flaws:
things that might look great in a
CAD rendering may turn out to be
irritating at best, impractical or even
awkward at worst, to a busy operator.
Although operators do question
the practicality of light color schemes
when mud-spattered clothing and
ABOVE: Color-coding helps
identify related controls
greasy fingers come in to close
proximity, the dual-tone light-gray
interior of the Nitro’s cab does make
it a light and airy place to be.
Bright highlights are provided by
the color-coded controls – orange
for driveline, blue for hydraulics,
green for electronic control of the
lift linkage, and mandatory yellow
for PTO-related levers and switches.
Storage compartments, areas for
drinks bottles and cups, and several
ventilation outlets for the Denso
climate control air-con have all been
given a high priority, as has visibility
through the apertures, glazed all
round with curved Sekurit glass
from Saint-Gobain.
The operator gets a shapely
Grammer seat with the ‘Lamborghini’
script written large on the adjustable
back cushion, while ‘trainees’ get to
perch on a seat that offers vertical
adjustment of the backrest and a
split fold-up cushion.
Analog instruments, a small data
screen and all warning lights are
housed in a display attached to the
steering column – an increasingly
common solution that maintains
the spacial relationship between
instruments and steering wheel,
regardless of adjustments to the rake
and reach. Flexible gaiters on the gear
and parking brake levers add to the
impression of high specification.
Critical acclaim
The renewed Lamborghini styling
flair has certainly caught the eye of
the critics. First, the Nitro won the
Golden Tractor for Design accolade in
the 2014 Tractor of the Year awards,
judged by an international panel of
agricultural machinery journalists.
It then won a Red Dot Product
Design Award; the judges exclaiming:
“This tractor, with its commanding
lines and black-and-white contrasts,
catches the eye and delights with
high ergonomic quality.” As SDF
states in its promotional video for
the Nitro: “What if strength could
always have style…” iVT
BEAUTY ON BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
SDF Group transmissions and axles
manufactured and assembled at the
Treviglio headquarters in Italy are
among the major components used
in the new Lamborghini Nitro range,
consisting of 95hp [69.5kW], 105hp
[77kW] and 116hp [85.5kW] models.
For operators who prefer stick-shift
drive, the Nitro’s mechanical transmission
provides five gears and two or four underdrive and creeper ranges, giving up to 60
ratios forward and reverse, with threespeed powershift available on all versions.
Advanced transmission features include
SenseClutch modulation adjustment to
vary the response of the shuttle clutches
between ‘soft’ and ‘sharp’ to suit
different applications, and Stop&Go,
which automatically controls the clutch
so the operator can stop and move off
again, touching only the brake pedal.
For finer, completely progressive speed
control, the Nitro can also be had with
SDF’s own CVT, with separate ranges for
field and road use, and three control
modes – automatic, manual and PTO –
the last of which keeps the engine revs
constant.
An uncommon economy hydraulic
pump option is one of three hydraulic
systems available – a single open-center
pump providing 60 l/min at 2,200rpm,
a tandem option that delivers 90 l/min
for more demanding applications such
24
series-production products, as well as
customer-specific solutions.
as loader work, and the Eco tandem
installation that provides 60 l/min oil
flow from just 1,600rpm. These systems
supply oil for transmission, four-wheel
drive and PTO engagement functions,
not to mention the Bosch Electronicscontrolled three-point linkage assembly
supplied by CBM Group from its former
SDF factory in Lublin, Poland.
Hella lighting products play a major
role in providing practical solutions for
illuminating the work area but also in
the appearance and styling. SDF and
Giugiaro Design chose a circular theme
throughout, using conventional and
projector lamps at the front, and twin
compound fender-mounted rear lamps
using LED and reflector technology.
Recognizing that lighting is a focal
point of a vehicle’s appearance, Hella
pursues advanced industrial design
to give OEMs a high degree of design
freedom, with an extensive range of
A perfect body
The tractor’s relatively limited amount
of bodywork is the main channel for
design expression, however, with a
clean finish and crisp lines for the
engine hood, fenders and cab roof
panel being essential for providing a
key quality message.
Supplier Verniciature D’Arcore uses
Telene thermosetting resins, which are
converted by the reaction injectionmolding process to produce a highperformance polymer favored by OEMs
for its resistance to impact damage.
The material is designed to
retain this characteristic at low
temperatures while resisting
distortion in extreme heat,
whether that is from the
environment or resulting
from close proximity to the
engine, exhaust pipe and
similar sources.
Advantages claimed over sheet
molding compounds include weightsaving and quicker production cycles,
especially when functional elements
must be incorporated. Telene’s Class A
surface and high-level paint adhesion
minimizes labor-intensive finishing
work. Telene’s recently introduced
1800 series is similar to the established
families but can be used in non-heated
molding tools to make components
with similar properties, which is
attractive for prototyping to test
new components before
committing to costly
production tooling.
The new UE Agriculture
Braking Regulation is
coming soon! Don’t wait to
take it into consideration!
The DUAL LINE HYDRAULIC TRAILER BRAKING SYSTEM offer many advantages:
• It is safer.
• It is a unique system for all UE.
• The new Tractor system allows also to operate the brakes of the old Trailer already present in the market .
• For Italian trailer it is required a proper coupling interface.
Dual female coupling
system (patent pending)
Tractor hand combined
brake function lever
(patent pending)
Automatic, manual and
old fashion device for Ag.
trailer (patent pending)
Load sensing valve
Manual and Automatic
type (patent pending)
Multi functions valve
and coupling holder
(patent pending)
SAFIM offer a NEW CATALOGUE OF PRODUCTS to comply with the
new UE Regulation for tractors and trailers
We will show the products at the EIMA show in Bologna from 12th to 16th November 2014
Visit our booth Pad 18 /B 87 and the central hall of the Technical Innovation
HYDRAULIC BRAKES AND SERVO-ASSISTED BRAKE SYSTEM
SAFIM S.p.A. via Livingstone, 6 - 41123 Modena Italy - Phone +39 059 894411 - [email protected]
www.safim.eu
BRAND
SPANKING NEW
DETERMINED TO ACHIEVE ‘PREMIUM BRAND’ STATUS, YANMAR IS
CELEBRATING ITS PAST – AND FLAGGING UP ITS FUTURE – WITH
A CONCEPT DESIGN THAT SHIES AWAY FROM THE CONSERVATIVE
APPROACH USUALLY APPLIED TO COMPACT TRACTORS
26
CASE STUDY
Compact tractor styling is set
to become a lot sexier, judging
by the concept developed to help
the Japanese manufacturer Yanmar
celebrate its centenary and create a
new ‘quality’ brand image.
The swept-back racy appearance
of Yanmar’s Y-Concept YT01 tractor
was created by industrial designer
Ken Okuyama, whose automotive
projects have clearly been influential.
Okuyama worked as a chief designer
for General Motors, a senior designer
for Porsche, and a design director at
Pininfarina, and has been credited
with masterminding the looks of the
Maserati Quattroporte and Ferrari
Enzo, among others.
The YT01 forecasts a move to
sleeker lines supported by design
flourishes that suggest strength,
power and durability – a far cry
from the largely utilitarian shapes
exhibited by most current designs
in the compact tractor sector.
MAIN IMAGE: Yanmar’s
futuristic tractor design
is part of an imagebuilding project
ABOVE: There’s standard
Yanmar compact tractor
hardware beneath the
stylish exterior
27
1
joystick
1 1 safety
functions
+ reliable
Cer t if ie d
Saves t ime i n r isk analysis and
reduces documentat ion ef for t .
Robust
Withstands harshest condit ions
outside the cabin.
Reliable
Ensures long life and
high level of reliability.
+ developed in accordance
w ith the machiner y direct ive
ISO 13849-1:2008 to PL d
+ SIL 2 cer t if ied according to
DIN EN IEC 61508:2010
+ resists high stat ic load of
2000 N and extreme v ibrat ion
+ electronics fully sealed to IP 67
+ operat ing temperature range
-25°C...+85°C
+ use of contactless hall sensor
and reed sw itch technolo gy
+ electronics prov ide redundant
signals
+ CAN SAE J1939 protocol w ith
safety-related adjustments
* for more informat ion about the J4F joyst ick please v isit www.elobau.com
*
CASE STUDY
Premium quality
For Yanmar, the concept underscores
its beginnings as a manufacturer of
agricultural equipment; the company
claims to have created the world’s
first commercially viable small diesel
engine in 1933. It was the desire of
Magokichi Yamaoka, the company’s
founder, to free farmers from their
toil that spurred progress in
agricultural technology, explains
Yanmar, and built the foundations
for its expansion into construction
equipment and the marine power
and energy markets.
Yanmar now aspires to lift its
image to ‘premium brand’ status,
ready to step up to the next level on
the world stage with a three-part
philosophy: ‘Technology, service
and hospitality’. No, it isn’t getting
into the corporate events business
– it defines ‘hospitality’ in this
context as anticipating customer
needs and desires in order to deliver
excellence through its world-class
engineering expertise and a 360°
service philosophy.
Yanmar promises a ‘constant
stream of breath-taking innovation’
and several premium brand initiatives
are being adopted to project this
new image through events as well as
the hardware, including high-profile
football matches and local farmers’
markets, to encourage interaction
between producers and consumers.
The car-influenced
styling flourishes
and ‘fastback’
shape aim to give an
impression of speed
The boldly designed concept
compact tractor seen here has toured
numerous exhibitions, while there is
also a six-seat driving simulator in a
children’s entertainment center in
Japan, and a marine project that
comprises a sleek power cruiser with
an opulent cabin, matching marine
wear and a concept marine engine.
Unfortunately for earthmoving
equipment fans, though, there’s
nothing ready on the construction
front just yet.
Labor efficiencies
As far as the tractor is concerned,
Yanmar attributes its YT01 concept
with technologies such as guidance
and autonomous operation, which
are currently being developed in its
R&D department and would enable
one operator to command several
tractors at the same time for muchimproved labor efficiency.
That is something for the future,
however – for now, the YT01 only
gives clues as to how Yanmar tractors
may be styled in the coming years.
It is certainly a very bold design,
with a sharply tapered hood, sweptback windshield and rounded rear
window, with the shape of the airconditioning pack hinting at an
aerodynamic spoiler and creating
‘visual speed’.
The narrow hood and large onepiece door windows of the styling
concept also produce the practical
benefit of providing the driver with
good visibility forward and to the
sides, says Okuyama, and the same
could be said of the projector lamp
and LED lighting, which is integrated
with the rearview mirror supports
29
CASE STUDY
GET THE MATCHING OUTFIT
You may not be able to buy the tractor just yet, but the concept
farm work clothing pictured below is available. Said to combine
cutting-edge materials, design and technology, the clothing range
project was overseen by Kashiwa Sato, creative director for Yanmar’s
premium brand project, with the aim of developing highperformance wear that offers outstanding functionality and
fashion sense, and adds a little fun to each day.
Lightweight fabric is cut following research into typical body
movement made during farm work, to eliminate the stresses
and strains of these actions. “The design process involved
repeatedly talking to farming families to hear their
opinions and needs first-hand,” explains Sato. “Our
choice of titanium brown as the base color was
inspired by the image of farmers facing the land
each day in their work.” This earthy brown is offset
by a lively pink highlight for the women’s wear
and black accents for the men’s designs.
The agricultural jacket and washable jump suit
have a smartphone pocket that still gives access to
the screen; pockets have a waterproof inner fastener;
built-in knee pads are made from high-rebound
urethane; and a hip fastener on the jump suit describes
a gentle curve so that it can be opened and closed from
both left and right.
and the mirror shells themselves, as
well as being set into the grille.
The grille itself is formed from
large honeycomb panels and has
been positioned at an acute angle
from the vertical chrome-finish strip
that meets two angled strips leading
into the headlights to form a ‘Y’
shape, for obvious reasons.
Chromium strips on the doors
pick up the angles established by the
grille, hood and shapely front ballast
weight, while around the back the
appearance is dominated by two
large composite LED light clusters
and the large curved window.
Added aggression comes from the
tires – not wide and bulky, as might
be the case on a European concept
tractor, but the regular, narrow type
with the deep tread necessary to
maintain grip in paddy rice fields.
30
It’s a different matter when it
comes to the wheels on which they
are mounted, however. Gold-colored
‘spokes’ stand out against a black
background, while a new Yanmar
chevron-like logo adorns the
chromed hub trims.
Quality seat
Inside the sleek cabin, a leathercovered seat in black with a red
central stripe continues the exterior
‘quality’ theme, while the leatherclad steering wheel again reflects
Okuyama’s automotive experience
via the spoke-mounted control
buttons. There is also a large, flat
display screen in front of the driver
providing essential information on
the machine’s operational status.
The seat armrest control console is
dominated by a dial for the engine
ABOVE LEFT: The rear
is dominated by the
large curved window,
aerodynamic air-con
housing and large
light clusters
ABOVE: Bold wheel styling
ABOVE RIGHT: Leather seat
and new control concepts –
except for the rear linkage
– are evident in the cab
speed controller and a linear selector
for the transmission that appears to be
rather like a modern interpretation
of the controls used to operate big
North American tractor powershift
transmissions of old.
Matching the speed controller,
subsidiary controls are also silverygray dials in the main, with only
the manually operated lever for the
rear-mounted implement linkage
remaining much as on current
production Yanmar tractors.
Visually, the concept is certainly
a world away from the conservative
designs of current compact tractors,
but would surely need to be toned
down for practical considerations in
production form.
Like it? Boxed scale models are on
sale to add a futuristic touch to any
tractor enthusiast’s collection! iVT
HF Compact Brand AdF (IVT)_04-14_215 x 275 4/2/14 2:17 PM Page 1
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DAN GILKES, iVT INTERNATIONAL
LOOKING BOTH WAYS
JCB HAS CELEBRATED ITS FIRST 60 YEARS OF BACKHOE LOADER
MANUFACTURING WITH A DESIGN COMPETITION TO SEE HOW
THESE ICONIC MULTIPURPOSE MACHINES MIGHT LOOK BY 2073
JCB may well produce a vast
array of equipment, but the
company is virtually synonymous
with the backhoe loader. In fact,
it celebrated 60 years of backhoe
manufacture just last year, having
produced more than 500,000 of
these iconic machines.
So earlier this year, it harnessed
the power of social media and the
internet to engage with backhoe
loader customers and designers of
the future. As part of the ongoing
development of this ever-popular
machine, the company decided to
look forward 60 years in an attempt
to see what customers would expect
from the backhoe loader of 2073,
32
with the launch of the Project 120
design competition.
The brief for the project was to
bring together the experience of the
last 60 years with a vision for the
next 60, to design a machine that
retained the fundamental versatility
and functionality of the original
concept, with both a loading end
and an excavating end. The method
of achieving this was left up to the
contestants, though the machine
had to evolve to work in harmony
with possible future changes to
human habitation.
JCB provided contestants with a
design kit and created a space on
Facebook for them to demonstrate
their ideas. The 10 finalists would be
decided by a public vote on social
media. With a first prize of £2,000
on offer, 54 contestants shared their
design posts, ultimately reaching an
audience of more than 461,000.
More than 1,000 votes were cast
for designs from around the world,
including the USA, the UK, Europe,
India and Japan. The contest also
generated incredible interest from a
diverse audience, including a tweet
from futurist designer Daniel Simon,
the creator of iconic vehicles for
Hollywood blockbuster films Tron
and Oblivion. Leading automotive
firms Ford Motor Company and
McLaren Automotive also
DESIGN COMPETITION
1
Same but (very) different
After much consideration, first prize
was awarded to Henry Parnell, from
the UK, for his QBOTS design. This
machine is perhaps the most similar
to today’s backhoe loaders, with four
equal-sized wheels and a twin-arm
loader at the front.
A spider excavator pod sits on top
of the main gyro-bot structure of the
machine. The gyro-bots can also be
separated from the main structure
and used to survey the jobsite. The
excavator is also demounted once
on site and can be relocated using
four articulated legs. The machine
operates autonomously, through a
wireless link to the site office. It is
powered by super-graphene batteries
that double as the machine’s
counterweight.
contributed positive comments on
the contestants’ submissions.
The 10 finalists were then invited
to present their work at JCB’s World
Headquarters in Rocester, UK, either
in person, by video conference or
through email submission,
depending on their location.
Far more than simply putting
together a batch of drawings and 3D
renderings, each design included
comprehensive detailing, along with
information relating to construction
materials and power sources as well
as equipment operation. The indepth research, forward thinking
and imagination involved in creating
the three winning designs were more
than JCB’s designers and engineers
could have envisioned at the outset
of Project 120.
“What these three [winning]
designers have achieved and their
understanding of the industry in
which we are involved is breathtaking,” says JCB’s chief innovation
and growth officer, Tim Burnhope.
“They have managed to combine
elements of futuristic science fiction
with a practical understanding of
the way in which flexible, versatile
JCB equipment could be powered
and operated in 60 years’ time. We
have been very encouraged by the
talent on show and the interest in
JCB that Project 120 has generated.”
33
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IVT_Intern_183x115.indd 1
11.09.14 09:41
CUSTOM CONTROL SOLUTIONS
• CONSTRUCTION
• FORESTRY
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• INDUSTRIAL
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logo are registered trademarks of OTTO Engineering, Inc. All rights reserved. 2014-33
DESIGN COMPETITION
2
A.C.E.R. in the hole
Second prize, and £1,000, was
awarded to British entrant Peter
Spriggs, who lives and works in
Gothenburg, Sweden. He created
A.C.E.R, an Advanced Construction
and Excavation Robot. Resembling
a wheeled excavator with a front
loader attachment, A.C.E.R also runs
on four equal-sized wheels, with the
front wheels flipping 90° to provide
extra stabilizing support when the
machine is working as an excavator.
The front loader bucket is
connected through a telescopic arm
with a variable-width fork attachment
to cope with varying bucket sizes.
The buckets are also equipped with
leading-edge lasers to weaken the
ground prior to excavation.
A.C.E.R’s backhoe attachment
connects to the main cylindrical
pivot point of the chassis, while
each drive wheel houses twin
superconducting electromagnetic
drive motors.
35
DESIGN COMPETITION
3
Inflated opinion
Third place, with a prize of £500,
went to Mike Elwell and a team of
three others from the University
of Notre Dame, in the USA. Their
design – JCB3 – runs on four selfstabilizing inflatable tracks, which
rotate on a primary hub.
This design has been created for
one specific purpose – to deal with
the future’s inevitable mountains
of landfill waste. Autonomous
operation of the digging elements
has been used to ensure operator
safety and to maximize on-site
efficiency.
Once in position, JCB3 splits into
a static Central Action Base (CAB)
control room, with the autonomous
backhoe and loader components
free to work independently. The
primary power source is a methane
generator, making good use of the
landfill waste in which the machine
is working. This is backed-up with
photovoltaic surface coatings on
the cab and body sections.
Boom, bucket and traction
control on both remote digging
units use battery-powered electric
servos and internal synthetic
tendons for all boom movements.
ON THE WEB
More images from Project 120 and other designs
from Henry Parnell and Peter Spriggs at:
36
A new dimension
“The backhoe loader is not 60 years
old, it is 60 years young,” declares Tim
Burnhope. “It has rapidly developed
into a powerful and versatile tool
carrier and, because of this
versatility, it is also far more than
just a digging machine. We’re really
looking forward to the next 60 years
of the backhoe loader.
“Project 120 has taken the future
of this flexible machine into a new
dimension and we have been really
excited by the creativity, ingenuity
and design expertise that contestants
have shown. It has been a real success
for JCB, both in terms of engaging
with social media and in creating an
interactive forum for future machine
design discussion.” iVT
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lhy_az_ss_ivt_09-14_fullpage_4c.indd 1
03.09.2014 14:52:13
D E S I G N
(CHINESE STYLE)
THE BICES SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY
AND COMMERCIAL VEHICLE DESIGN CHALLENGE OFFERED A
PLATFORM TO SHOWCASE A VARIETY OF GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
OFF-HIGHWAY INNOVATIONS
If you’re expecting our regular
Design Challenge, you’re in
for a surprise this time – having
appeared in every issue since March
2009, the feature will be making
only occasional appearances from
now on. But fear not, we’ll still
regularly have some of the best, or
at least most unusual, concepts to
show you – such as 2013’s BICES
Second International Construction
Machinery and Commercial Vehicle
Design Challenge, for example, in
which more than 500 of China’s upand-coming designers submitted
work for consideration.
The winning designs were then
revealed at the exhibition in Beijing
last October, displaying a unique
combination of skill, imagination
and, to some extent, naivety. So let’s
take a look at blue-sky thinking
Chinese style, with a quick stroll
through some of the highlights.
ABOVE: Puppy Dog snow
removal vehicle
MAIN IMAGE: Scorpion AllTerrain Excavator
INSETS LEFT TO RIGHT:
Engineering Rescue Robot,
Crab-style Backhoe Loader,
Pangolin tunnel-boring
machine
BELOW: Small/mid-sized
biaxial grader
Animal magnetism
Firstly, it’s evident that many of the
designs took inspiration from the
animal kingdom. First prize in the
College Group, for example, went to
the Scorpion All-Terrain Excavator,
designed by Zhang Xi Yan and
Zhang Xiao Ci. Able to rotate and
travel in any direction, the location
of its six individual wheels echoes
the animal’s aggressive stance, while
enhancing machine performance in
mountainous areas.
“Scorpion-inspired bionic design…
optimizes the vehicle’s form, function,
and structure,” explain its designers.
38
“The boom morphs into the tail; its
arthropod features complement our
modular design. The overall styling
is both stable and flexible – not
unlike a hunting scorpion.”
Inspired by the same creature,
Longking’s Engineering Rescue Robot,
designed by Kuang Qian You, was a
surprising (to me, at least) winner
in the Social (Individual) Group. I
personally don’t quite see where the
innovation lies – we all know the
backhoe loader is a rare beast in
China, but is a remote control
version designed for operation in
hazardous areas really innovative?
A much more innovative take on
the backhoe loader was inspired by
the crab. Yang Wei Jie, Zhou Shan
Shan and Yin Gang Jiang’s
honorable mention-winning design
fits two sets of excavating arms to
two overlapping turntables on its
upper body. Below that, four loading
hoppers or buckets are mounted to
a 360° rotating table, and can be
intelligently controlled to discharge
automatically. Unless these are to
be emptied into a constant flow of
dump trucks, this would appear to
be a cumbersome process, although
each of the machine’s four threestage telescopic legs is equipped
with two hydrostatically driven
wheels to offer a high degree of
maneuverability.
Another overtly animalistic
design, the Pangolin tunnel-boring
machine, won Wang Fang and Zhai
Xiao Tian an honorable mention. It
DESIGN CHALLENGE
CH A L L E N GE
uses a spiral ‘feeding mechanism’ on
the boring head to push debris into
the shovel-board unit before sending
it to a compression unit at the rear,
which compresses it all into blocks
for subsequent handling.
And perhaps the most blatant
nod to the animal kingdom – and
China’s love of the cute – was the
Puppy Dog, a community-oriented
snow removal vehicle that won Hou
Ji Chan an honorable mention in
the Student (Individual) Group.
On the road (machinery) again
Road machinery – and compactors
in particular – inspired most victories,
ABOVE: Scrat road roller
with the animal influence (this time,
the squirrel) being apparent in the
Scrat road roller, which won Second
Prize in the Social Group for Lu Yi
Lin, Wang Ming Jiang and Yang
Wen Jun. This breaks free from the
traditional roller design by adopting
a tractor unit to tow an oversized
compacting drum: “It turns the
table on the bulky block design of
road rollers of the past,” according
to the designers.
An honorable mention was given
to the Scanning Panoramic Roller
designed by Tian Xiao Guang,
Wang Ming Jiang and Zhang Fan; a
fascinating concept that – while at
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DESIGN CHALLENGE
PIECES OF EIGHT
We’ve all seen or heard of quad-track machines, but until now the term
eight-track has mainly been reserved for recording studios. However, the
stunning LNG/CNG-powered Foregoer ‘adaptive telescopic crawler crane’
designed by XCMG’s Wang Shuo and Liu Min could change all that – with
eight wheels enclosed within tracks, it delivers high climbing and obstacle
surmounting performance, along with a small turning radius and high
speed and agility. It also features a 360° rotating boom and a heightadjustable cab built from titanium alloy for enhanced strength and safety.
first glance appears similar in its
layout to the Scrat – actually houses
the operator within the oversized
front drum. Several advantages are
said to stem from this – although I’d
hazard a guess that reducing wholebody vibrations may not be one of
them. A robust frame connects the
main drum to a much smaller one
at the rear, which is also used to
control steering.
Some kind of unspecified natural
influence (dung beetles, perhaps?)
seems to be at work in the styling
of the Extendable Modular Roller,
which won the Scrat’s design team
an honorable mention. This uses a
two-part rear drum, with each of its
sections capable of sliding to one
side, effectively doubling the ground
contact area. When the drum is fully
extended, the height of the rear
counterweight can be adjusted to
ensure greater stability. The suspended
cab design should greatly reduce the
vibrations felt by the operator.
Another flexible compactor
design – the Advance Double Drum
Roller – won Yang Di an honorable
mention. An undeniably stylish
machine, its layout for normal
operation is generally similar to
existing compactors – aside from
the operator being required to enter
from the rear, anyway. But when road
conditions are poor, and faster speeds
are required to reach the jobsite, the
wheelbase shortens, pushing the cab
higher. At this point, the cab is able
to revolve 360°, providing the user
with more efficient observation and
inspection of the asphalt.
reasoning behind the CHD-FLY (not
pictured), a multifunctional longrange mountainous area roadwork
vehicle. Combining a dozer, roller
and loader, it garnered an honorable
mention for Zhao Ya Pan, Yan Bing
and Yang Bao Gui, and also provides
bidirectional driving via rotation of
the seat or the entire cab. This can
also move along the length of the
machine via a trapezoidal groove.
Good grades
Two motor graders also won prizes,
with Sun Zhi Ren’s SaG concept
taking the idea of a compactor or
paver’s traditional sliding seat a step
further by having the entire cab
slide out to either side for a better
view of the task, most notably when
emulating the movement of the
blade. Four tracks are another
interesting development, especially
with an adjustable mechanism that
enables their contact areas to alter
in accord with travel speed.
The ‘small/mid-sized biaxial
grader’ won second prize in the
Social (Individual) group for Zhang
Long and, like the SaG, also features
a highly mobile cab – although this
time, it travels back and forth along
a rail that runs virtually the entire
length of the machine. Coupled
with the cab’s rotational abilities,
this allows the grader to be driven
in either direction without having
to turn 180°, making it particularly
useful for snow-clearing or building
single-lane roads in rural areas.
‘Why take three machines into
the mountains when you can use
one instead?’ seems to be the
Twists on forklifts
TOP LEFT: Scanning
Panoramic Roller
TOP: Warehouse Electric
Forklift with 3D-printed
lattice chassis structure
ABOVE: SaG motor grader
BELOW: Advance Double
Drum Roller
A couple of interesting twists on
the forklift truck were also evident
– quite literally in the case of the
Multidirectional Electric Forklift
from Dong Shuo and Feng Yu Qin.
Winning Second Prize in the College
Group, this gives a nod to the
articulating design more commonly
seen on specialist warehouse trucks,
but instead of the front part of the
41
DESIGN CHALLENGE
ABOVE: Multidirectional Electric Forklift
RIGHT: Extendable Modular Roller
LEFT: Compact Amphibious Cleaning
Vehicle
chassis rotating, the mast revolves
around the front structure.
Their entry reads, “Our team
replaced the truck mast with two
separate screws, with a horizontal
part linking them at the top. The
screws are connected at the bottom
to a motor, which is powered by a
power source in the truck. Driven
by the motor, the screws can rotate,
hoisting the attached fork. There is
a groove on the vehicle body for
attaching the fork assembly.
“Meanwhile, the two separate
screws, via the groove and chains,
mesh with a circular gear inside the
vehicle body. The driver can rotate
the fork assembly around the truck
body to any position by turning the
gear, and [then] move the goods
onto the fork, before rotating it to
the front of the truck for handling.”
A much more stylish warehouse
electric forklift design won Hou Jia
42
Ping, Yang Wei Wei and Wang Yong
Xin an honorable mention, though
while the use of a 3D-printed crisscross lattice structure for the chassis
undeniably takes the eye – and also
helps to remove vibrations – its
durability and practicality must
certainly be in question.
Finding a niche
ABOVE: Straddling Street
Railing Cleaning Vehicle
BELOW: Waterborne
Scavenger
A handful of the winning designs
were for some incredibly quirky
niche applications, my favorite
being the Straddling Street Railing
Cleaning Vehicle from Liu Zhi An,
Liu Mei Li and Li Gong Xun that
solves a problem few of us realized
existed. The innovative way in
which it tackles the task using a
longitudinally split and upwardpivoting hopper is truly admirable
however – assuming that the more
logical approach of slotting onto a
section of railings from one end is
rarely possible, that is…
Two other interesting niche
applications that were met with a
quirky solution focused on cleaning
up waterways, with the Waterborne
Scavenger winning Tian Xiao Guang,
Wang Ming Jiang and Zhang Fan yet
another award – First Prize in the
Social Group. This crawler-type
refuse collection vehicle removes
algae, duckweed and other kinds of
rubbish floating on the surface with
an auger, before sending them via a
conveyor to be compressed in the
middle of the machine. Ejected from
the back of the Scavenger, these are
then collected by boat.
At just 1.5m in diameter, the
Compact Amphibious Cleaning
Vehicle from Zheng Yi Lei, Wang
Chao and Gao An Di garnered an
honorable mention for its ability to
clear waste from lakes and rivers, as
well as clean dry ground by acting
just like a wet/dry vacuum cleaner.
Smaller refuse is sucked in through
the intake at the front, before being
disposed of in a similar way to the
Scavenger; with bulkier items such
as plastic bottles and bags picked
up by a robotic arm before being
placed in the hopper. Operation is
via remote control, or autonomous,
where it searches for debris using
infrared sensors.
A curate’s egg
So all in all, the BICES Design
Challenge certainly seems to have
achieved its primary aim of inspiring
innovation in vehicle design. As the
official statement concluded: “Some
of the submissions achieve a high
level of design sophistication. In the
meantime, the experts also point
out that some of the designs show a
basic lack of understanding of the
fundamentals of construction
machinery. The experts recommend
that, once the contestants decide
on a theme, they must develop a
comprehensive understanding of
their selected theme – in particular
they must become aware of the
trend and future direction of the
product, so as to ensure that they
innovate – rather than reinvent –
the wheel.” iVT
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The Measurable Difference
28.08.2014 11:35:17
URBAN MYTH
44
CASE STUDY
THE LATEST IN VOLVO’S ‘MYTHOLOGICAL’ SERIES OF CONCEPTS
TAKES INSPIRATION FROM SWEDISH DESIGN CULTURE TO BRING
THE COMPACT EXCAVATOR INTO LINE WITH THE DEMANDS OF THE
MODERN CITY ENVIRONMENT. BUT THE GAIAX IS NO MERE FANTASY…
The latest offering from Volvo
CE’s decade-long production
line of mythically themed concepts
may be slightly less dramatic than
the SfinX excavator, Centaur hauler,
Gryphin wheeled loader and Fenix
paver, but it’s the one that’s by far
the most likely to make it onto the
construction equipment market
without requiring dilution of its
innovations to make it more
palatable to commercial tastes.
As was sneak-previewed in iVT
Sept/Oct 2013 (p36), the concept
unveiled at ConExpo this March
took the humble compact excavator
and gave it a thoroughly modern
makeover, drawing inspiration from
a range of sources including Swedish
furniture. Like its predecessors, the
GaiaX was also drawn from Greek
mythology, being inspired by the
primordial deity Gaia, the creator
and mother of the universe.
“The Mother Earth figure
embodies many characteristics of
the concept compact excavator –
its innate affinity with the ground,
its power, strength, and all-seeing
control, as well as its protective
qualities,” says Sidney Levy, acting
design director at Volvo CE.
“This is a machine designed to
work in harmony with nature, with
minimal environmental impact, and
that cares for the user and site staff,
keeping them safe from harm. Like
Gaia, it is the first of a generation –
and of exceptional beauty.”
User first
“The GaiaX places the user right
at the heart of the machine,” Levy
continues. “It should be easy, almost
effortless to operate, providing the
ultimate in comfort, efficiency,
productivity and safety.”
Of course, doing all that is easy if
you’re using billion-dollar high-tech
solutions – the real test of a designer’s
creativity and ability is to visualize a
beautiful machine that’s optimized
for use without being way out of the
price range of its target market.
The user-centric GaiaX is
therefore very minimalistic with
plenty of ‘air’ in the design and no
more structural features than are
required to carry out the job. The
traditional cab has been replaced
with a lightweight steel guard rail,
with the battery pack alone acting
as counterweight.
For users who might baulk at the
absence of a weatherproof operating
environment, however, one clever
option is a ‘zip-up’ cab that maintains
the simple approach.
“We felt that the zip-up cab was
an elegant solution, and although
it has not been used in construction
equipment before, it
45
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06.08.14 14:13
CASE STUDY
“THE GaiaX PROJECT HAS BEEN AN INCREDIBLE
OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE WAY
CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT IS USED – WE FEEL AS IF
WE ARE PAVING THE WAY TO THE FUTURE OF VOLVO
AND PERHAPS THE INDUSTRY TOO”
has been successfully implemented
on other vehicles,” reveals Levy.
This minimalist approach offers
two notable advantages – economy
and sustainability. Given the reduced
parts list, the purchase price of this
potentially high-volume concept –
at least for the basic option – should
become much more affordable than
a traditional model, although Volvo
is unwilling to estimate by just how
much. “Given the speed at which
this type of technology progresses, it
is difficult to price a concept product
such as the GaiaX – but as these
systems advance and become more
readily available they will become
more affordable,” Levy concedes.
Looking at the cab, however, one
highly valued ergonomic aspect of
today’s construction equipment
appears to have been abandoned
completely. Has this minimalism
been achieved at the expense of
useful storage spaces, I ask?
“When we envisaged the GaiaX,
we imagined how it might be used
on future jobsites and how it might
interact with new types of machines
and processes,” Levy counters. “Part
of this imagined scenario involves
the operator spending less time in
the cab [see sidebar, Groundbreaking
HMI] and more time concentrating
on high-value operations – so it’s
possible they will not need to store
anything in the machine at all.”
Then there is the ecological
benefit – by reducing the amount
GROUNDBREAKING HMI
Though the structure of the
GaiaX may be quite simple, the
human-machine interface (HMI) is
highly advanced – with half of the sixstrong design team dedicating their
time to developing a revolutionary
operator experience.
“The GaiaX project has been an
incredible opportunity for our design
team to experiment with the way
that construction equipment is used
– we feel as if we are paving the way
to the future of Volvo and perhaps
the industry too,” says Levy.
Operators can still sit on the
excavator in a traditional way – as
required for precise movement and
transport – but because the GaiaX is
designed to be partially autonomous,
most applications can be carried out
remotely by using the removable
augmented reality tablet computer.
The main benefit of this transparent
iPad-like device is that only one
person is required to use the machine
– the operator can dig and keep an
eye on the surrounding environment
at the same time. Remote operation
also allows the machine to be used
in potentially dangerous situations,
while the operator maintains a safe
distance. However, the mini joysticks
ensure that the operator always has
ultimate control, including the power
to override the machine if necessary.
The augmented reality tablet will
be mapped with the city’s utility
systems, showing the exact location
of water pipes and electrical cables
on screen and enabling the operator
to visualize or simulate the work,
using segmented reality, before it is
carried out. A ground scanner gives
precise information on obstacles to
guarantee the effectiveness of autodig modes and projects images onto
the ground to show the worksite and
mark safe zones for the operator and
passers-by. The tablet also connects to
other machines in the fleet to provide
a more effective way of working.
The HMI will always suggest the
most economical and ecologically
friendly way to complete the work
but will give the user the option of
entering new requirements that are
related to the task. For example,
material may need removing from a
certain area to allow for safe passage
of other vehicles, or a larger excavation
area may be required to provide
better visibility.
“Ground-penetrating radar
technology does exist, but the images
we displayed at ConExpo show this in
a more advanced state than is available
today,” answers Levy when asked
when this technology could appear
on standard excavators. “The basic
technology has been developed, but
more research is needed to make this
as accurate and efficient as possible.”
of steel required, Volvo is able to
explore how it can ensure its future
machines can become even more
environmentally responsible. This
minimalist machine was therefore
designed to find out whether its
customers valued this approach.
“The GaiaX is designed to be
simple and easy to use, so it would be
possible to customize the machine
depending on the job at hand,” adds
Levy. “That simplicity, as well as the
47
IVEKA_Anzeige_MOTOCANDIS_183x115_RZ_07.05.14_IVEKA_Vorschlaege 07.05.14 10:12 Seite 1
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CASE STUDY
simple interfaces between the parts,
means it would be easy to switch
parts and create variations – so, if
necessary, regional variations could
potentially be implemented.”
Adding to the environmental
credentials of the GaiaX are the
lithium-ion rechargeable batteries
that should see the operator through
a whole working day, although the
machine can also be used while
plugged into an external electrical
power source. Its four electrically
powered tracks provide good ground
surface contact and ensure superb
stability and maneuverability, even
on steep inclines.
The hydraulic system has not
been removed completely, however
– the machine is a mix of existing
and new technology, incorporating
electrohydraulic pumps.
“We envisage the GaiaX being
used in city environments, such as
in the street or even inside buildings,
where it would be easy to plug into
a power source. That said, there are
some great leaps being made in the
development of electrical engines,
which should one day be small and
powerful enough to drive a machine
such as this,” adds Levy.
Sitting comfortably
The GaiaX’s zero emissions and
silent movement may be advantages
when operating in built-up areas,
but could perhaps be a disadvantage
in terms of safety. Passers-by are
therefore protected using warning
sensors that alert the operator to
their presence, while an airbag
inflates from the seat to shield the
operator in case of collisions, rollover or falling objects. The machine
is also equipped with an integrated
first aid kit.
The orange guard rails command
the attention of those around the
job site for a high degree of safety
and are covered with leather, a
natural material that is especially
pleasant to the touch.
One of the main inspirations
springs from another of Sweden’s
national specialties. Award-winning
Swedish furniture designer Monica
Förster was involved in the project
right from its inception, creating
the operator’s seat from three-
MAIN IMAGE: The ‘official’
prototype (below) featured
quad tracks, but these
other options will be
shared with customers
to maximize feedback
ABOVE: Inspiration for the
driver’s seat came from
an unusual source – the
Swedish furniture industry
dimensional molded wood to exude
Swedish beauty and simplicity – a
first in the off-highway industry.
“Our design team attended a
conference with Monica Förster last
year and we were so excited by her
design process that we wanted to
apply it to one of our machines,”
reveals Levy.
The unusual seat encourages a
symbiotic relationship between the
operator and machine, with the
natural flexibility of the corrugated
wood helping to absorb any bumps
or vibrations. It’s unclear how this
might compare with the latest airsuspended models in terms of
reducing WBV, but the tension in
the seat can be adjusted depending
on the corrugation, offering a lot of
flexibility. “By using wood, we are
able to reinforce our commitment
to environmentally conscious
machinery, as well as evoking our
Swedish design roots,” he furthers.
Förster’s design process involves
creating simple mock-ups of her
projects using paper and straws – a
refreshingly low-tech approach that
appealed to the Volvo CE designers.
“Usually we start work on a new
concept by jumping on the 3D
computer-aided design package.
We had never worked with physical
objects at this stage before – but it’s
definitely helped to unleash our
creativity,” explains Levy.
“When we started to envisage the
GaiaX, we wanted to take our design
49
CASE STUDY
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY
“THE GaiaX’S STRUCTURE GIVES US
A CHANCE TO LOOK FORWARD AND
ENVISAGE HOW THESE MACHINES
WILL WORK IN THE FUTURE”
process back to basics, to experiment
with different approaches to design
and to think about our machines in
different ways. It’s important to keep
developing our creative processes,
and this is definitely something that
we will do with future products.”
This counter-intuitive back-tobasics approach for something as
advanced as the GaiaX also allowed
the design team to remain focused
on its main goal of simplicity and
sustainability throughout the entire
design process. “Many people have
been involved in bringing the GaiaX
to life and we are all proud of what
we have managed to achieve,” Levy
says. “By drawing from the furniture
industry and incorporating Monica’s
aesthetic expertise, we have created
a practical and elegant machine that
perfectly encapsulates Swedish
simplicity and innovation.”
MAIN IMAGE: Sidney Levy,
acting design director at
Volvo CE (photo: Jennifer
Barteluk)
BELOW: Free apps enable
the user to get a greater
insight into the GaiaX
Despite being more production-friendly
than the SfinX excavator, the GaiaX
certainly seems to have adopted some
of its more obvious features, such as the
lattice boom and independently movable
tracks. In our 2004 exploration of the
SfinX (see www.ivtinternational.com) it
was revealed that the boom was designed
in expectation of suitable steels being
developed to handle the digging forces
– so, a decade on, is the GaiaX’s boom
ready for operation yet?
“As a futuristic concept machine, the
GaiaX also envisages technologies and
materials that are not yet in use,” Levy
confirms. “The boom may not be
operational at the moment, but the
process of developing and designing the
GaiaX’s structure gives us a chance to
look forward and envisage how these
machines will work in the future.”
So have any of the innovative ideas
the SfinX showcased made their way
into current Volvo products yet, even
in diluted form? “The role of concept
machines is to ask questions and discuss
possibilities. By investigating different
ways of constructing our machines, we are
able to understand how best to develop
our current products. Although they may
not include features directly taken from
concept machines, our existing products
are influenced by the issues we raise in
creating these concepts. For example,
we discussed different ways to improve
operator comfort and access to the cab,
and this helped us to discover how we
can enhance the operator experience. We
have since improved the railings on our
machines to facilitate easy access, and we
addressed the choice of material and
colors we use when creating our cabs. “
Also mentioned in that 2004 article
was an expectation that future excavator
operators might wear fighter-pilot style
helmets with VR projections – but given
the GaiaX’s transparent controller, is that
no longer Volvo’s belief? “We made this
prediction based on our research at a
time when that type of technology was
almost unheard of,” says Levy. “Now, with
the development of wearable technology,
it is more and more likely that this kind of
feature will be used in the future. However,
the aim of a concept machine is to help us
discuss all possibilities, not to find a single
solution – predicting a range of features is
part of our development process.”
Apps (which are still available
for free download from iTunes and
Google Play) also allowed ConExpo
visitors to take a 360° walk around
the machine, with a zoom facility.
Augmented reality functions enable
anyone to intuitively interact with
the innovative excavator.
“The aim of the project was not
to produce a fully operational model
or to develop these technologies,
but to design and demonstrate
potential future technologies and
enter into a dialog with engineers
and customers and come up with
different options for our future
machines,” Levy explains.
In fact, some innovative features
had to be removed from the GaiaX
as these elements may be included
in Volvo machines much sooner
than 2030 – the date the design
team chose to envisage their future
machine working – but Sidney Levy
won’t be drawn on which features
were removed and are currently
under discussion.
“We use our concept machines as
a sort of lab, exploring and testing
new technologies that may find
their way into our machines in the
future. We use the design process as
a chance to spark communication
in order to ensure that any features
that are ready are implemented as
soon as possible.” iVT
True to life?
Given that all of Volvo’s other
mythical concepts have been
displayed only as large-scale models,
it was a little disappointing that the
life-size GaiaX shown at ConExpo
was not fully operational. But while
its tracks, arm and boom might have
been static, visitors were able to test
the concept HMI for themselves
using a prototype of the transparent
controller – although that was not
capable of completing all required
machine functions.
50
LEARN MORE ABOUT
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NOW!
September 2014
› Volvo GaiaX
› Yanmar YT01
Design Challenges
› JCB Project 120
SEPTEMBER 2014
VOL 22 No. 3
Interview
Carlo Lambro
Brand President,
Ergonomics
Intuitive delivery
of in-cab data
Raging bull
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STEVEN CASEY, ERGONOMIC SYSTEMS DESIGN
DON’T THINK, JUST DO IT! A NEW WAVE OF
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PERFORMANCE, BY PROVIDING HIGHLY INTUITIVE
FEEDBACK TO VEHICLE OPERATORS
Developing displays that are
easily, naturally, and quickly
comprehended and acted upon by
users has been a central goal of
interface designers since the modern
origins of ergonomics and human
factors engineering in the 1940s.
All manner of information can be
displayed to a vehicle operator, but
it is ultimately a matter of how that
information is displayed that will
determine its fundamental usefulness
to the human user, as well as overall
vehicle performance. The essential
measure of a display’s effectiveness
is how quickly and accurately the
operator responds to the data that
is being presented – and presenting
this information in a truly intuitive
manner will almost always help in
achieving this goal.
The term ‘intuitive display’ has
certainly been tossed around in
many product introductions and
marketing promotions of late,
especially as a result of the rapid
technological advancement and
proliferation of colorful, flat-panel,
high-resolution displays. In just a
few short years they have become
ubiquitous, tucked in our pockets
and purses, sitting and hanging on
our desktops and walls, as well as
mounted in our vehicles. They may
tell us someone wants to talk with
us, entertain us, direct us where to
go and how to get there; inform us
about the health of the machine we
are operating, keep track of how
much work we are completing, or
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A display that is intuitive, at least
according to the dictionary, is one
that has ‘the power or facility of
attaining to direct knowledge or
cognition without evident rational
thought and interference’. A display
that is intuitive is therefore one that
provides ‘quick and ready insight’
with no need for additional, timeconsuming thought or action.
In contrast, a non-intuitive
display is one that requires careful
and time-consuming study in order
to grasp its meaning, a display that
might use highly unconventional
formats, unfamiliar graphics, or
even force the user to consult other
information – such as the operator’s
manual – to clearly understand the
information that is being presented.
A natural example: the
intuitive display of depth
As an example of how an intuitive
display might present information,
particularly concerning the depth of
a visual scene or perhaps the distance
to an object, consider the intuitive
cues that we all use for perceiving
visual depth. These are elements of
our visual system that we rarely
think about, but are instrumental
in our ability to quickly assess the
distance between ourselves and the
objects we perceive visually.
ABOVE: Volvo’s Fenix paver
concept displays a host
of the most important
operating data on a
head-up display on the
windscreen
LEFT: Trust Lamborghini
to make a mimic display
for tractor lighting look
highly stylish without
compromising its
intuitiveness
BELOW: Binocular disparity
is what enables us to
accurately judge distances
– whether in a landscape
or on a vehicle display
There are a half-dozen well
understood visual cues that humans
use to perceive depth, or the distance
to an object. Some or all of these
cues can be incorporated in a display
to provide what might be considered
to be intuitive information about
depth, with no requirement for
‘direct knowledge or cognition
without evident rational thought
and interference’.
One of the most important cues
to human depth perception is that
of binocular disparity, which results
from the divergent angles with which
a pair of eyes will view objects in the
visual field. Monocular vision with
one eye, or a scene presented on a
2D screen, lacks binocular cues to
depth. But separated by a few inches,
our two eyes obtain divergent views
that provide valuable information to
us about the distance to the objects
we see. Our brains seamlessly process
this information and tell us about
the distances involved.
Second, each of our eyes, through
the flexible lenses and muscles that
control them, adjusts to the distance
of the object on which our eye is
focused, a visual process known as
accommodation. We receive internal
and intuitive feedback from our eyes,
revealing whether we are focused on
something very close, such as a hand
in front of our face, or on something
far away, such as a distant mountain
or airplane in the sky.
Another intuitive cue to depth is
convergence, which is the relative
angle of a pair of eyes focused on an
object (these two angles of the eyes
are a separate cue to the differences
in the two images that binocularity
disparity provides). This convergent
angle tightens as we move closer to
the object in focus and widens as we
move away from it, and again our
visual system naturally conveys this
sense of convergence to our brain to
provide a third channel of intuitive
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information concerning the depth
of what we are perceiving visually.
A fourth cue to visual depth is
the relative position of two objects
in a visual field; of course, the object
overlaying the object behind it is
closer to us, and the one behind is
further away.
Our fifth natural cue to depth is
known as size-distance invariance.
If we know roughly how large an
object typically is (say, a charging
bull), we know instinctively that the
larger its appearance in our visual
field, the closer it is to us.
On a more subtle level, we have
cues such as color saturation; when
objects are viewed from a greater
distance, their colors tend to become
less saturated or vivid as a result of
the refraction of light and the Earth’s
atmosphere, something any good
landscape painter knows well.
Taken together, these six natural
cues to depth provide a great deal of
intuitive information that we rarely
think about, but we all use on a
continuous basis. They are also cues
that can be integrated into displays
that need to convey information
about depth.
Other approaches to achieving
intuitiveness in a display
Whereas the above examples focus
on innate perceptual processes that
can be used to provide intuitiveness
in a display, another approach is to
rely on real-world analogs. One
possibility in this regard is a mimic
display, for example, a side view of
a tractor: one with overhead lights,
head lights, side lights, rearward
lights, and so forth. A simple graphic
picture of the tractor in the side view
and its lights provides a quick and
accurate way to inform an operator
which lights are on and which are
off, without much need for thinking.
In addition, a map display or a
realistic schematic can also serve to
TOP & ABOVE: Alberto
Seco’s iHelmet from iVT
June 2012 used color
saturation to highlight the
most important current
data
enhance a display’s intuitiveness.
Surprisingly, sometimes reducing the
amount of information provided, or
even distorting it, such as is done
on the iconic map of the London
Underground, can make a display
more intuitive and easily understood.
The further the designer deviates
from potential ‘perceptual’ aspects
of intuitiveness and into the realm
of highly complex graphic design,
the greater the chance of the display
not being as intuitive as hoped.
Also, what might be intuitive to
an individual in one culture or part
of the world might not be intuitive
to those in other cultures or regions.
While it may be intuitive to North
American householders to turn on
the room lights by flipping the wall
switch up, for instance, the intuitive
action for Europeans is to flip it
down. Such differences highlight
the importance of knowing your
markets and users when predicting
the intuitiveness of an interface.
Providing intuitiveness
in state-of-the-art displays
Unsurprisingly, designers of modern
display systems for cars, aircraft and
off-highway machinery have been
able to provide their displays with
a certain degree of intuitiveness by
incorporating the above, as well as
other perceptual characteristics and
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naturalistic graphic elements, within
the natural visual scene in particular.
At the extreme end of current
technology (and cost) is the helmetmounted display that was developed
by Rockwell Collins for the F-35
Joint Strike Fighter. Of course, the
requirement for quick, accurate and
reasonably intuitive information
comprehension in a fighter jet need
hardly be mentioned.
The primary display on the F-35
is projected onto the faceplate of the
pilot’s helmet and is binocular in
nature, providing that critical,
intuitive cue to depth. The system
works equally well at night and in
daylight. Cameras located outside
the cockpit provide a complete 360°
view for the pilot, far above and
beyond what can be seen through
the cockpit canopy.
With the helmet in position and
activated, the pilot ‘sees’ through
the floor, through the wings, and
directly down to the ground, which
is particularly important when
executing a vertical landing. Critical
imaging, including the flight path,
way points, status and position of
the aircraft, and targets can all be
displayed in the visual field as well,
providing unprecedented situational
awareness. The display system is of
course undeniably complex, but it
has been designed to be as intuitive
as possible.
Back on the ground, international
automotive supplier Continental of
Babenhausen, Germany, is
introducing its next generation of
head-up display that will provide
augmented reality ‘supplements’
into the natural visual scene outside
the vehicle. As with most head-up
displays, this system projects the
artificial images at depth into the
scene, so the user’s accommodation
and convergence need not change,
whether focusing on the real view
outside or the artificially added
graphics and alphanumeric data.
The added information is presented
naturally and where it is needed in
the visual environment.
For example, if a car’s adaptive
cruise control has been activated to
follow and match the speed of a
particular vehicle ahead, the system
identifies the specific vehicle that is
TOP: Even with a typical
driver-assistance solution
such as adaptive cruise
control, it is reassuring to
see relevant information
about the activated control
function displayed in
Continental’s HUD
ABOVE: Interior cameras
will help to close the
information loop between
the driver, the vehicle and
vehicle’s environment
LEFT: The Rockwell
Collins Helmet Mounted
Display System features a
binocular 40x30° field of
view, high brightness and
high-resolution display,
with integrated digital
night vision and provides
the pilot with unparalleled
situational awareness
being followed and displays a depthcue graphic path behind it. When
navigating, the system projects an
appropriate directional arrow at the
actual location in the visual field to
show the next turn or maneuver.
Continental aims to “connect
what the driver’s eyes see with
explanatory information” to create
a “more holistic human-machine
interface” by placing important
information in the driver’s direct
line of sight. In concept, this is
essentially what is being done for
the F-35 pilot via the helmetmounted display.
An alternative take
on the ‘intuitive display’
Sensing, computational and display
technologies have advanced to the
point where we should not only
consider if a display is ‘intuitive’ to
the user, but whether the display is,
for lack of a better phrase, acting in
an intuitive manner with regard to
the user.
There are a number of fully
commercialized systems on the
market in which the display – which
serves as the front end (to the user)
of a network of sensors, programs,
computers and processors – adapts
to the current behavior of the user
or the task that is being performed.
Bosch’s Driver Drowsiness
Detection system, for instance,
analyzes the steering, speed and
other inputs of the driver (as well as
59
time of day and length of journey)
to model and predict the drowsiness
of the driver and create a ‘tiredness
index’ – basically a prediction of the
driver’s state of alertness. Should, for
instance, the driver repeatedly fail
to make a steering input for a period
of time and then makes an abrupt
steering correction, the system may
signal a state of drowsiness and alert
the driver through the display and
audio signal. This is a classic ‘drift
and jerk’ maneuver made by a very
fatigued or impaired driver.
Daimler has also developed a slate
of technologies in which ‘intuitive’
feedback can be used to modify the
behavior of the driver. Among these
are its Drowsiness-Detection System,
a Lane Keeping Assist system, Active
Blind Spot Assist, and even an
assistance system to prevent wrongway driving.
Its Lane Keeping Assist system
employs a forward-facing camera in
the windscreen to image the forward
track ahead as well as lane markings
on the road. When the system detects
that the vehicle has departed from
the lane, a vibration motor in the
steering wheel activates (serving as
an intuitive ‘tactile display’) to warn
the driver of the lane departure.
The system is also even capable
of keeping the vehicle within a lane
by applying the brakes to only one
side; any manual inputs from the
driver will automatically stop the
automatic intervention. Daimler’s
vibratory ‘display’ in the steering
wheel during lane departure is
60
ABOVE: Daimler’s Active
Blind Spot Assist for
commercial vehicles
uses auditory and
visual warnings, while
the Mercedes-Benz
S-Class Coupé applies
it to a dashboard display
RIGHT: By seeing and
recognizing other vehicles,
pedestrians and cyclists
on the road, the Mobileye
system literally ‘thinks
ahead’ and warns drivers
of potential hazards before
they have a chance to occur
similar in concept to the use of a
‘shaker stick’ on a control yoke of a
Boeing commercial airliner, which
shakes if the aircraft is about to stall.
Headquartered in Jerusalem,
Israel, Mobileye has developed its
numerous driver-assist offerings by
relying on an integrated sensing and
display system (EyeWatch) that also
links to the driver’s smartphone that
is mounted inside the vehicle and
serves as a display. A number of
major automobile manufacturers
have adopted the company’s
technologies for their vehicles. The
system detects and tracks vehicles,
lane markings, traffic signs and
pedestrians, and alerts the driver to
impending lane departures, collisions,
and other undesirable conditions via
the visual display and audible sound.
Mobileye’s speed limit indicator
actually searches the visual field for
speed limit signs, then compares the
vehicle’s speed with the posted
speed limit, and alerts the driver
with an alarm and visual warning,
should the speed limit have been
exceeded. Just as Bosch’s and
Daimler’s drowsy driver detection
systems monitor driver behavior and
provide the driver with simplified,
intuitive feedback to help avoid an
accident, Mobileye’s speed limit
system is effectively monitoring the
driver’s behavior by monitoring the
vehicle’s speed, as well as providing
simple and intuitive auditory and
visual feedback during instances of
excessive speed.
These products are certainly only
the first wave of rapidly evolving
technologies and systems that can
process highly complex data about
the vehicle, the environment and
the driver, and provide simplified,
helpful and intuitive feedback to the
vehicle operator for the benefit of
overall system performance. How
they can benefit the operators of
industrial vehicles is entirely up to
you… iVT
For further information, contact: Steven
Casey, 5290 Overpass Rd, Suite 105, Santa
Barbara, CA 93111, USA
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.ergonomicsystemsdesign.com
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the globe – in particular in countries
62
ABOVE: The changing face
of HMI over the next 10
years
such as China, Brazil, Turkey and,
increasingly, those in Southeast Asia.
Some examples of recent supplier
global expansion projects include:
• Argo-Hytos acquired a majority
stake in AT Automacao Industrial in
Jarinu (São Paulo, Brazil) recently.
Since January 2014, the company
has also opened offices in Istanbul,
Turkey. The next step might be a
stronger presence in Russia.
• Bosch-Rexroth has announced two
takeovers: the acquisition of Hytec
Holdings (Pty), a leading supplier
and manufacturer of hydraulic and
automation components and fluid
power solutions in Africa. With the
acquisition, the company will
expand its network south of the
Sahara, particularly in South Africa,
Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia and
Zambia. Furthermore, the company
plans to take over the hydraulics
business unit of Maestranza Diesel
S.A. in Chile, so as to strengthen its
presence in one of South America’s
most promising markets.
• Linde Hydraulics announced a
strategic alliance with the Italian
power transmission and fluid power
company PMP Industries in May
2014. It also declared the extension
and deepening of its worldwide
strategic alliance in the field of
hydraulics that it started with Eaton
Corporation in 2010. The core of the
cooperation is to provide customers
with access to the entire range of
products and services from both
companies and to expand their
global sales channels. In particular,
the two partners plan to combine
their strengths in the emerging
markets of South America, Southeast
Asia (including Vietnam, Thailand
and Indonesia) and India.
Furthermore, Linde announced
that it would use the funds of its
new Chinese owner Weichai not
only to build a brand-new factory
in Germany, but also to increase its
sales activities in China.
• Parker Hannifin opened a new
plant in Chennai, India, for the
production of filtration, pneumatics
and drives, sealing and shielding
products in 2013.
Risk and reward
The increasing trend toward
globalization poses a particular
challenge to the large number of
medium-sized companies in the
hydraulics industry. While overseas
expansion is a necessity on the one
hand, it also poses a substantial risk
MARKET REPORT
for them. Therefore, it is all the more
important to prepare these ventures
carefully and to be aware of how to
fully exploit the potential of these
new markets.
Due to the high price sensitivity
typical of emerging markets, western
component manufacturers must also
come up with matching products for
this environment. Therefore, we can
expect much more development
and production of hydraulic and
electronic products in these areas.
According to the market conditions,
customized products will gradually
emerge, enabling supply shortages
in western countries to be avoided.
However, the level of training and
creativity assets need to be carefully
considered, as well as the fluctuation
and rising personnel costs.
A demand for powerful
system technologies
There is one technological change
that has been taking place in the
industrial vehicle industry during
recent years, and is set to continue:
stricter requirements in terms of
energy efficiency and exhaust
emissions require new solutions.
Hydraulics and electronics will be
the crucial components in highperformance system technologies.
To successfully address this
development, hydraulic suppliers
must also offer electrohydraulic
system solutions. Whereas today’s
hydraulics are still driven directly by
the diesel engine – or indirectly via
a gearbox – electric pump drives
(powered by a generator) will be
used in the future. This will pose
several new technical challenges to
the industry.
The developments in industrial
vehicles (see Table 1, below) aim at
increasing the efficiency of these
machines and their automated work
functions. Also, we will see more
ergonomically optimized humanmachine interfaces.
Energy-efficient hydraulic systems
are in the foreground in the western
world, and the emerging countries
will have to follow this trend. This is
especially true for the export versions
of their machines – though mediumand long-term, this also applies to
machines for their own region.
To ensure they will be able to
provide the corresponding system
solutions, hydraulic companies have
extended their product portfolios to
Trends
Electrohydraulic solutions
Efficient driving and working drives
Diesel-electric drives require matching electronically controlled hydraulic solutions
Automated work functions
Hydraulic components (pumps, motors, valves, cylinders) equipped with sensors and
electronics; substitution of hydraulic controls with electrical controls
Ergonomically optimized HMI
Whereas operating systems based on joystick solutions are dominating today, there will be
tablet solutions coming into play in the future
TABLE 1: Trends in electrohydraulic solutions for mobile working machines
63
MARKET REPORT
LEFT: Caterpillar’s Cat
Connect telematics
platform is soon likely to
enjoy success in emerging
markets – but for different
reasons to those in the
West
OPPOSITE PAGE
(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
LEFT): Vemcon’s uniGrip
could challenge the status
quo in terms of joysticks;
Innas uses automotivestyle production technology
for its advanced Floating
Cup pump technology; the
PC210LCi-10 Komatsu
excavator greatly improves
operator efficiency through
Intelligent Machine Control
intuitively using touch and swipe
movements, with guides to support
the fingers during blind operation.
The hydraulics system is controlled
via a heavy-duty joystick from the
Rafi Joyscape series, which features
a waterproof and wear-free design.
Mounted on the armrest, the
Glasscape touchscreen can be used
for data display and information
input/programming and provides
reliably tactile feedback when
actuated.
More futuristically, Volvo CE’s
GaiaX concept (see p44) relies on a
tablet-style device to control many
of the excavator’s functions.
Far beyond operating devices
include additional hydraulic
products, comprising valves, pumps
and accessories including filters and
accumulators or electronics, such as
controllers and sensors. This is being
carried out by in-house development,
partnerships or acquisitions.
Examples include:
• Large hydraulic suppliers such as
Bosch-Rexroth, Danfoss, Eaton and
Parker offer not only the hydraulics,
but also the electronic control
technology;
• Hydac and TTTech have
established a joint venture – called
TTControl – in the field of electronic
control technology;
• Weber-Hydraulik acquired Fluid
Team, LOG Hydraulik and Hyco
International in recent years. In late
2013, a joint venture with the Dutch
company VSE, a manufacturer of
spring and steering systems used in
the automotive and agricultural
industries, has been completed;
• Hawe Hydraulics, best known for
hydraulic power packs and valves,
has acquired InLine Hydraulik, a
manufacturer of axial piston pumps.
Programmable logic controllers
complete the program range.
HMI – an intermediate step to
automated machines
Human-machine interfaces (HMIs)
play an important role in modern
machines. These must meet many
demands, such as user acceptance,
64
systems support, driver assistance,
and aiding health and safety.
Joystick solutions have prevailed
for years, and electronic joysticks
will – if they haven’t already done
so – replace hydraulic models. In
addition, intelligent display devices,
including head-up displays, typically
provide the operator with the correct
information.
However, existing joysticks and
displays may come under pressure
from new solutions. The Vemcon
uniGrip solution, for example, is an
intuitive, efficient and safe operating
system for mobile machinery. The
system allows operation of the tool
or attachment with the right hand,
leaving the left hand free to control
directional travel, meaning a faster,
harmonic motion will be possible.
When using uniGrip, even untrained
excavator operators can quickly learn
how to control the machine in an
efficient way. Experienced excavator
drivers can control all the machine
functions simultaneously.
In cooperation with Continental,
Rafi has produced a new capacitive
input system for agricultural and
construction machinery. This uses
capacitive sensors for the operation
of machinery and comprises a 3D
operating element, a haptic Glasscape
touchscreen and a wear-free joystick.
The ergonomically shaped 3D-Scape
control module is integrated into
the driver’s armrest and functions
BELOW: Rafi’s Glasscape
touchscreen provides
intuitive operation with
reliable, tactile feedback
BOTTOM: The highway
‘exits’ on the road to
autonomous vehicles
HMI technology, however, must also
be seen in conjunction with other
technologies, such as intelligent
machine control systems and satellitebased machine information systems.
At last year’s Bauma, Komatsu
presented a dozer with Intelligent
Machine Control, before introducing
the PC210LCi-10 hydraulic excavator
with a new machine control and
guidance system in August of this
year. According to the OEM, the
The Way to Automatic Mobile Working Machines
MARKET REPORT
ADOPTING TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE
AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR
Manufacturers of off-highway machinery are observing the trends in the
automotive industry very carefully, as many of the developments from this
industry can be transferred to their own products. Industrial vehicle OEMs
are using technologies from the automotive sector to reduce energy
consumption and exhaust emissions, using, for example:
• Fuel-efficient engines with speed reduction;
• Start/stop systems;
• Electric/hydraulic hybrid technologies.
Another important lesson comes from telematics solutions, classed
under the term ‘connectivity’ in the automotive industry. Such longdistance data-transmission systems can be used for both fleet management
and customer service. It is also expected that the share of automated
solutions in the production of machines will increase.
Hydraulics and electronics suppliers also use manufacturing principles
from the automotive industry – Innas BV, for example, applies low-cost
manufacturing technology to the production of its Floating Cup hydraulic
pump technology, resulting in an ‘automotive’ cost level.
There are numerous parallels between the two industries, and Table 2
(available from www.ivtinternational.com) highlights examples of some
different technologies deployed both in cars and in off-highway machinery.
The corresponding annual growth rates between 2015 and 2020 for these
technologies are shown in the diagram below.
Due to the trends mentioned above, industrial vehicle OEMs are seeking
suppliers with a comprehensive product portfolio, a global presence and
the capabilities to solve interface problems. Globally oriented component
suppliers, who have a wide range of products, and an organization that
can correspond to the structures of the automotive industry, will benefit
most from this new set of rules.
operator no longer has to worry
about digging too deep or damaging
a target surface, as the system greatly
improves the excavator’s efficiency,
provides higher precision and higher
productivity, and increases site safety.
Many off-highway OEMs now
commonly offer satellite-based
machine information systems to
their clients – Komatsu, for example,
offers Komtrax as standard. Caterpillar
has a partnership with Trimble and
uses Cat Connect to offer its telematics
and fleet management platform.
Cat expects its system to benefit
users not only in developed countries,
but in emerging markets as well –
although there, they want data on
fuel usage as a way to combat fuel
theft, rather than for efficiency.
The technology presented here
constitutes precursors on the way to
fully autonomous machines. For
example, Volvo CE’s project THOR
(Terraforming Heavy Outdoor Robot)
has aimed to develop concepts for
the automation of machines for the
construction and mining sectors –
namely the semi-autonomous
control of a Volvo wheeled excavator
(and an autonomous wheeled loader
– look out for iVT November 2014).
The long-term goal is to have an
18-ton excavator performing fully
autonomous landscape-shaping tasks.
The medium-term goal is to assist
the driver in monotonous, repetitive
tasks. According to Volvo, this is a
research project, rather than a plan
to replace the driver with a fully
autonomous machine in the future.
The development process should
be seen as a kind of highway, from
which there will be ‘exits’ taking the
form of repeatedly useful assistance
systems, optimally via continuous
research, facilitating the everyday
life of operators.
Comparable trends are evident
in agricultural equipment, where
autonomous machines will also be
used. For this purpose, sensors and
software have to be developed, such
as stereo camera, radar, ladar and
thermography, that can recognize
obstacles, differences in soil texture
and objects such as people, animals
trees and fences. We can expect these
technologies to initially take form
in semi-autonomous systems.
The technologies described here
will be initially, and primarily, used
New Technologies for Mobile Working Machines
Growth rates p.a. 2015-2020
in western markets – but with the
widespread use of electronics, the
developments in emerging markets
are expected to be offset in time.
This development is facilitated by
the use of standard electronics, which
are adjusted by means of software to
meet customer needs. iVT
Joachim Stieler is founder and managing
director of Stieler Technologie- & MarketingBeratung, a German management consulting
firm specializing in the mechanical engineering
industry. For more information: www.stmstieler.de or [email protected]
65
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
STEFAN KLING
Flexi time
RATHER LIKE THE FORESTRY TRACTORS TO WHICH IT IS BEING FITTED,
THE OPUS A6 DISPLAY SCREEN IS A HIGHLY CUSTOMIZABLE ALL-ROUNDER
OFFERING FLEXIBLE USE AND OPERATOR-FRIENDLY FEATURES
Kotschenreuther Forst- & Landtechnik has
specialized in the field of forest technology for
more than 50 years. Its portfolio of forestry tractors
covers five models from 166-249hp, and is highly
adaptable to the individual needs of its customers.
The driver works inside a reinforced cab, operating a
variety of equipment such as a rope-winch on the
front, a loading and/or rear crane, and a stacking
shield at the rear. To enable flexible operation of these
distinctive additional attachments, the driver’s seat
has built-in controls and can be rotated up to 360°.
The operating functions are controlled using a
Hawe Hydraulik modular hydraulics control system.
This means that the controls can be bundled in an
uncomplicated manner, making it possible to develop
and implement machining concepts while taking a
wide range of user demands into consideration.
Highly robust, its PSL/PSV proportional directional
spool valves are well suited for the basic hydraulic
functions of the attachments. If additional features are
desired, these can be implemented using flangemounted function modules without having to
reconstruct the valve bank. The control system takes
up very little space and the weight also remains low.
Valve control system
The electronic PLVC valve control system is housed in
the cab. The freely programmable micro-control
system processes the data provided by the sensors as
well as the entries made by the operator. It also reports
any failures, which can be read out on-site using a
laptop, or can be transferred to service technicians via
modem. In this case, Wachendorff Elektronik’s Opus
A6 Standard serves as the operator interface unit,
using CAN to communicate with the named control
system. When used in this context, the Opus A6 takes
on the classic tasks of operation and observation. An
i.MX35 processor with 532MHz clock frequency, and
a high-definition 7in color display with a resolution of
800x480 pixels, form the basis of the device.
Two models are available, each featuring different
equipment depending on what the user requires in
performance, control concept, and interface variety.
For the standard interfaces, both models use two
CANbus, one RS232 and a full-speed USB interface, as
well as an Ethernet and video input. The basic version
of the A6 Eco is a pure indicator without a user
ABOVE: Kotschenreuther machines – quality you see
and feel, especially with the Opus A6 Standard (inset)
interface. A touchscreen can be used for operating
the full version of the device. The fully equipped
models in the A6 series also have three video inputs. A
live stream is shown on the display, which can be
switched to other inputs using software.
The A6 series has been expanded to include a new
version – the Opus A6 Eco Basic Touch. This device is
the same as the basic version, but is operated using
the touchscreen from the full version. The full version
also has access to four analog and/or digital inputs,
which can be configured using the software, along
with three digital outputs. Furthermore, the full
version of the Opus A6 Standard commands a highspeed USB interface on the front. The A6 Eco has to
manage without this addition. Users have access to as
much as 256MB RAM and 1GB mass memory.
Kotschenreuther uses the Wachendorff projector to
program the Opus operator unit. This Java-based tool
provides a convenient way of generating a graphical
user interface without the need for in-depth
knowledge of a programming language. Pointer
instruments, bar charts, scalable objects, or camera
images can be placed easily on the screen using ‘drag
and drop’ with a click of the mouse. This means that
most settings can be executed very simply. Installing
a new project is also simply a matter of ‘plug and play’
– the project is first loaded onto a USB stick and then
transferred to the device via the interface.
The Opus A6 and the Wachendorff projector both
support CAN protocols such as CANopen and J1939.
Wachendorff Elektronik supports these standards so
that its customers can make flexible and reliable
adaptations to their systems. If a customized solution
is necessary, customers can generate their own CAN
messages. These versions are used by Kotschenreuther
and provide the option of adapting the CAN
communication to individual requirements. This
option is known as CANFreestyle. iVT
Stefan Kling is graduate engineer geoinformatics at
Wachendorff Elektronik
FREE READER INQUIRY SERVICE
To learn more about this advertiser, visit
www.ukipme.com/info/ivm Ref: 501
66
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
JEAN MARC GUITTARD
Four steps to heaven
TAKING THE OPERATOR FROM THE HELL OF EXTREME TEMPERATURES TO
DIVINE COMFORT REQUIRES THE USE OF A HANDFUL OF CUTTING-EDGE
SIMULATION TOOLS, AS PART TWO OF OUR GUIDE TO DESIGNING THE
OPTIMUM CUSTOM-BUILT HVAC SYSTEM EXPLAINS
As highlighted in the June 2014 issue (p72), it
is very important to gather knowledge of the
application and the most severe circumstances in
which an off-highway HVAC system will operate.
When operating in the Middle East, USA or the south
of Europe in particular, the system will be challenged!
In order to ensure it is designing the right system,
SNDC’s engineering team therefore invariably goes
through four steps, beginning with the heat load
prediction (HLP) program. In order to maintain the
comfort condition inside the cab, an HVAC system’s
cooling and heating capacity unit – including air
intake (filter system) and air distribution (cab
dashboard and ducts) – has to deliver, despite being
challenged by a constant heat load from the outside.
Data from the 3D cab (windows and walls) and the
material used (insulation and glass coefficient) is then
entered in the HLP program. The extreme conditions
of use, including temperature, windspeed and
humidity will, together with the desired comfort
temperature inside the cab, lead to a calculation of:
the heat entering the cab in summer or leaving it in
winter, via conduction and convection; the fresh air
intake; sun and machine radiation (from the engine
compartment and hydraulic system) etc; and human
body heat and the resulting humidity generation.
The values obtained under those conditions will be
the minimum HVAC system expected performance.
Note, however, that when converted to the IMACA
standard (used to compare units tested under the
same conditions), the air in +35°C/50% RH for air-con
or -20°C for heater will provide a higher kW result than
calculated with cab equilibration at 25°C or lower.
Steps 2 and 3
With the required performance now specified, the
coils (evaporator, heater and condenser) can then be
designed. On the basis of the available HVAC unit
envelope, the thermal heat exchanger (THE) software
determines the dimensions and characteristics of all
coils, although it primarily takes into account the flow
conditions of the air crossing the coil, using data
provided by the HLP results.
The sheer variety of possible coil patterns, tube
sizes, circuits, configurations and fin spacing requires
a special emphasis to be placed on design. For an
evaporator, the main conditions to consider include:
• The air velocity through the evaporator, which
Customer
exigencies
Cab & machines
Time to achieve temperature...
Defrosting & defogging efficiency
Homogeneity of distribution air
Noise emission
Maintenance and access
Imaca
Air conditioning
Heating
Defogging & Demisting
Pressurizing & Cab seal level
End user felt comfort
Thermographic analysis
Environment
Temperature & humidity
Vibrations & shocks
Type of dust & concentration
Aggressive atmosphere
HVAC Unit
Behavior in different
environments
Control panel
--Automatic
Temperature
Control
(CANbus)
Standards
exigencies
Step 6
Testing rooms
Step 1
Heat Load
Prediction
Step 5
3D Design
3D HVAC design
Components & materials selection &
optimization
HVAC unit cabin integration
Easy to build (Method)
Easy to access
(Maintenance & repair)
Step 4
Refrigerant
Flow Prediction
Step 3
Air flow
simulation
Cabin comfort
optimization
HVAC balance
Tools design
--Functional and
failure analysis
--SNDC production
control check
Standard frigorific components
choice (compressor, expansion
valve, hoses sizes…)
Frigorific component sizing (Coils
exchangers, filter drier…)
Frigorific balance &
performance
optimization
could potentially lead to spitting water droplets;
• The fin spacing that is required to obtain optimum
condenser water drainage;
• The air pressure drop that can restrict the final
airflow of the unit.
The third step involves the use of airflow simulation
(AFS) software, which provides a good picture of
HVAC acoustics and performance in terms of driver
comfort, including in-cab air distribution, temperature
balance, and windscreen defrosting and defogging.
The AFS permits full analysis of the airflow loop
using a 3D design file. The tool ensures that each air
loop component, such as coil heater, coil evaporator,
casing, air flaps, air deflectors, ducts and louvers are
properly sized and provide acceptable pressure drop.
Step 4
Of course, knowing the required performance (Step
1), developing high-quality exchangers (Step 2) and
ensuring the air distribution quality (Step 3) are all
necessary steps – but it should not be forgotten that
Coil exchangers
study
Step 2
Thermal
Heat-Exchangers
HVAC
Design
Process
HVAC study
Air conditioning
&
heating thermal balance
Influence of cabin
&
machine on HVAC system
ISO 10263
ISO 14269
EN 15695
SAE J standards
...
Specifications &
preliminary study
Performance, efficiency,
reliability life duration test.
Thermal shock,
vibration, and
aggressive
ambient tests
Current
HVAC System
survey &
test
Air dynamics flow and heat
transfer predictions
Technology
Size
Performance
Configuration
(Tubes, pattern ...)
Air flow
optimization
Homogeneity of distribution air
Coils exchanger efficiency
Noise area detection
the refrigerant loop plays one of the most important
roles in an HVAC system.
The refrigerant flow prediction (RFP) software used
by SNDC takes into account each component of the
loop, and checks that:
• The minimum performance requirements (HLP) will
be provided and frigorific balance will be maintained
across all the conditions;
• Evaporator performance is relative to the speed
compressor and its discharge pressure and suction;
• Compressor capacity will increase lifetime.
Clearly, then, SNDC’s 28 years of experience in
HVAC systems for OEM markets is invaluable. These
two articles have been designed to educate readers
on the complexity of HVAC, because building an
HVAC system is rather like being a one-man band:
knowing the music is not enough – you must also
know how to play several instruments. This is the
price of driver cab comfort! iVT
Jean Marc Guittard, president, founded SNDC in 1986
67
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
GINO MAINARDI
Smart thinking
FROM ITS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS AS A ROLLOVER MONITORING DEVICE,
SMART-SENTINEL NOW OFFERS ADVANCED INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY
THAT ENABLES A VAST ARRAY OF GEOREFERENTIAL DATA TO BE
ACCESSED FROM ANY LOCATION
The automotive industry has always been in
the vanguard and has often demonstrated that
any new technology is likely to be welcomed by the
market if it meets two requirements: it must improve
conditions for all; and it needs to be easy to use.
Adopting this as a basic principle, Cobo S.p.A, a
multinational company with headquarters in Leno
(BS), Italy, and a worldwide supplier of devices and
systems to major OEMs involved in agriculture,
construction and the automotive industry (sports cars
and superbikes), has been consistently investing in
the ‘Smart-Sentinel’ project.
The company’s know-how supports its successful
combination of research and development in terms of
mechatronics, wireless sensors, plug-and-play systems,
connectivity and HMI devices. Integrating all these
leads to new systems and services that can satisfy the
requirements of the latest generations of vehicles.
In the beginning, the system was born as a safety
and prevention device to monitor overturning risk
(risk level control) in a continuous and automatic
manner, and has greatly helped operators control
tractors or public works vehicles under demanding
conditions or in difficult environments.
As a result of the constant evolution of Multisensor
and its in-built reception and communication devices
(GPS, GSM, RF, BT, CAN, ISObus), Smart-Sentinel
soon became a small operating control unit that can
provide georeferential data for farm-management
services for farmers, fleet-management services for
contractors and renters, online and remote telemetry,
e-services and maintenance for manufacturers of
vehicles and tools, as well as for workshops and
support centers.
Smart-Sentinel ‘gives voice’ to vehicles, related
tools, operators, work areas, and also to all the
resources that are involved in the services and
management of a modern business, whether that be
an agricultural, industrial, municipal company, or a
service provider.
Touching the ‘Fleet’ key once enables the user to
see the vehicles actually being used at any time,
where they are on a map, their main clusters, and the
operator and tool attached for each of them.
Queries can be asked by means of the ‘Stat’
function, enabling users to obtain a breakdown of
each resource (vehicles, tools, operators, work areas)
compared with the rest, at any time (in real time, in
the past few minutes, days or months). It takes just a
few seconds to make an overall assessment of both
resources and out-of-pocket expenses, such as which
vehicles and tools are being used, by which operators,
for how long, and how much fuel is used, per
individual work area.
Another feature worth highlighting is the ability to
budget costs and times of works to be executed in a
more efficient manner.
Data distribution
Multisensor can send data via GPRS using an ordinary
SIM card, or via a device with Bluetooth (tablets or
smartphones) which serves a ‘bridge’ making use of
its connection. An app facilitates the use of the user’s
mobile or tablet like a display.
Data is then sent via the internet to the user’s own
dedicated domain; from where he can easily consult
all data in this domain from any location.
Smart-Sentinel, besides efficiently managing a
company’s operations, offers a great safety advantage
as it automatically saves all the risk situations that
occur while driving a vehicle and the signals of alarm
‘sensed’ by the CAN network – with just a simple
ABOVE: Examples of Smart Sentinel technology
applications, both on Cobo’s Can View display and
on one of the most common modern tablets. (More
images and screenshots can be seen at www.
ivtinternational.com)
click, each of these can be associated to a moment,
position, and the operating conditions of the vehicle
where it occurred.
All of Cobo’s subsequent endeavors have been
aimed at making information and services easily
available because operators want systems and devices
that, besides being inexpensive, provide little invasion
into a vehicle’s interior space and can be used
anywhere, easily and quickly.
Finally, with Smart-Sentinel, the company is hoping
to attract and engage young farmers and managers,
to support them in their search for improvement and
change by using the devices and networks they love.
Cobo wants to share with these farmers and managers
the spirit that drives its business and product
development, which is expressed in the motto: ‘There
is nothing permanent except change.’ iVT
Head of innovation and advanced engineering, Gino
Mainardi has worked at Cobo Group since 2002
68
KAB seating benefits from expertise in design and manufacture of
vehicle seating for a wide range of application including truck
and bus, agriculture, construction and forklift.
Reduction in vibration by up to 40%
Advanced DRC damper self adjusts every
15 milliseconds
Effective protection against higher
vibration frequencies
Protects your body against excessive
jolts caused by intensive farming
activities
Integrated switch allows you to fine
tune the system performance to suit
your ride experience
INVICTUS
Pre m ium
DRC
Air suspension
Twin lumbar adjustment
Memory valve
Angle adjustment
Red seat belt and integrated
headrest
Height adjustment,
cushion tilt and
extension
KAB Seating will be attending the
IAA truck show in Hannover, Germany
www.kabseating.com • [email protected]
group
LED BEACONS
CAN-bus
STEERING COLUMN SWITCHES
LED
WORKLAMPS
CAN-bus
STEERING COLUMNS
SEATS (available also with
air suspension)
CAN-bus
MULTIFUNCTION
JOYSTICKS
LED
REAR LAMPS
HEADLAMPS WITH FRONT-SIDE-TURN
INTEGRATED LAMPS
ALUMINUM
STEERING
COLUMNS
WEIGHING SYSTEMS
VT3
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT
TOOL
LEVEL SENDERS
CAPACITIVE TECHNOLOGY
ELECTRONIC PEDALS
HALL EFFECT TECHNOLOGY
�2�5
ISOBUS - ISO11783
MULTILINK
FOR CAN-bus SYSTEMS
MULTIFUNCTION TFT CLUSTERS
C.O.B.O. SpA
DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS, SEATS, STEERING WHEELS
AND COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED COLUMN KIT FOR OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLES
Headquarters: Via Tito Speri, 10 - 25024 LENO (Brescia) ITALY - Tel. +39 030 90451 - Fax +39 030 9045330
email: [email protected] www.cobogroup.net
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LED MULTIFUNCTION
REAR LAMPS
CAN J1939
TOUCH/NO TOUCH
CAN-bus DISPLAYS
CUSTOMIZED THROUGH
VT3 SOFTWARE
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CAN-bus
ELECTRONIC CONTROLLERS
EN13849 COMPLIANCE
BOLOGNA, 12-16 NOVEMBER 2014
Hall 18
Stand B51
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Eliminate engine
overheating and
operator downtime
with a Flexxaire
engine-cooling fan.
Variable Airflow | Saves fuel
AutoReverse | Cleans the radiator
flexxaire.com
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
MICHAEL SOBOTKA
Plastic 2.0
HIGHLY CORROSION-RESISTANT, REQUIRING LESS MOUNTING ADJUSTMENT
THAN TRADITIONAL ALUMINUM MODELS, AND WITH LEDS THAT WORK AT FULL
CAPACITY, THE THERMO PRO TRULY REPRESENTS THE
NEXT GENERATION OF PLASTIC WORK LIGHT
Setting a new benchmark in vehicle lighting,
Hella will soon launch the Thermo Pro range of
high-performance LED work lights. This series features
a newly developed, heat-conductive housing made
from an innovative synthetic material boasting heatconductive properties comparable to aluminum. This
allows the LEDs to be put into operation at their full
capacity, even at high ambient temperatures. Should
even higher temperatures prevail in the work light,
thermal sensors kick in to reduce the input current so
that the LEDs can continue operating at the optimal
temperature. As a result, Thermo Pro series lights are
able to boast a service life of up to 60,000 hours.
Inspected in accordance with Hella’s No. 67101
standard, the work lights undergo tough testing
procedures to meet the requirements of the equally
harsh daily working conditions. Pendulum impact
tests, ball drop tests, vibration tests up to 40g, and
even immersion and high-pressure cleaning tests
present no problem or danger for this robust synthetic
housing. The Thermo Pro series meets all the
requirements of the IP6K9K/6K8 protection class,
which means they are completely resistant to water,
dust, immersion and high-pressure cleaning.
Although the Thermo Pro series has the same
properties as those found in other kinds of housing, it
stands out by virtue of its substantially lighter weight
and enhanced vibration behavior. When exposed to
strong vibration, heavy LED work lights often tend to
work loose and tilt downward, so the work light has
to be readjusted and screwed tightly back on again –
such corrective work results in downtime, which also
costs money. But products in the plastic series weigh
up to 60% less than comparable work lights made
from aluminum. The force exerted on the mounting
elements is therefore considerably less and the selected
mounting position does not have to be readjusted.
Work lights are exposed to rain, flying stones,
branches and all manner of other external influences
on a daily basis, so it is especially important that the
housing is protected from all such hazards. Severe
rock and grit damage, in combination with water and
salt, is very detrimental to the surface of a work light
and can destroy its powder coating. As soon as such a
surface is damaged, water can infiltrate the coating
and the housing begins to corrode – and corrosion
sounds the death knell on every kind of LED work light.
The housing is then no
longer hermetically sealed:
water easily penetrates the
work light, damaging the
electronic components and,
in turn, the work light itself.
But even under particularly
exacting conditions, Hella’s
Thermo Pro series scores big
points – the synthetic housing
material stops corrosion in its
tracks and a long service life
is guaranteed.
Compact design
The first work light launched
with this new and extremely
promising technology will be
the Q90 LED. This work light
is a new addition to the Hella
family and is already making
a great impact with its compact construction and its
good light performance. Its square plastic housing
has a very flat design and a light-emitting surface of
90x90mm. Cooling fins, located on the rear side of
the housing, ensure that all necessary heat dissipation
is directed outward away from the LEDs. This, in turn,
guarantees that the temperature of the LEDs remains
optimal and no damage can occur.
Fitted with four high-performance LEDs, the Q90
LED generates a light output of 1,200 measured
lumens while consuming just 25W. In comparison,
halogen work lights with an H3 bulb usually generate
lower light values but have a considerably higher
energy consumption (1,150 lm, requiring 55W). As
well as better energy efficiency, Hella LED work lights
also deliver higher, and consequently more pleasant,
color temperatures. The LEDs used in this model
generate 6,500K, creating illumination very similar to
that of natural daylight – a situation that greatly
enhances working conditions. This helps to distinguish
colors more easily in the dark, facilitating the human
eye’s sensory perception task.
The light beams are homogeneously diffused into
the working area by means of an aluminized highgloss reflector, creating pleasant illumination. The
Q90 LED work light will be available in a selection of
illumination variations. The close-range illumination
lends itself particularly well to work carried out with
wider machinery. The driver is able to see all details
located around the vehicle; this then enables him to
steer faultlessly and exactly as required and, as a
result, working efficiency is considerably increased.
The Q90 LED will also be available as long-range
illumination. This variation is equipped with a clear
lens designed for illumination stretching into the
distance. By combining these two illumination
variations, it is possible to achieve a working area that
is well-lit-up in its entirety.
In the near future, Hella will also be launching
more exciting products in the Thermo Pro range.
Different kinds of constructional designs and various
light outputs are among the features that can be
expected to illuminate the future! iVT
Michael Sobotka is product manager at Hella
71
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
L S HARRIS
Trending now
MARK ANKERS, VP OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AT CURTIS INSTRUMENTS,
SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT THE INDUSTRY, FORKLIFT TECHNOLOGY
AND THE CHALLENGES OF MATERIAL HANDLING TODAY
Mark Ankers, VP of product management for
Curtis Instruments, directs the worldwide
product development and marketing of its motor
control systems and instrumentation for industrial
electric vehicles. His career began in the UK with the
installation and commissioning of industrial process
control systems, and has gone on to encompass the
full spectrum of applications engineering, technical
sales and product marketing for the European, Asian
and US industrial electric vehicle markets. In a recent
interview at the Curtis world headquarters in New
York, he shared his insights…
Mark, you travel the world serving the
materials handling/EV industry. What overall
trends have you observed?
The global OEMs are all about productivity. To
differentiate themselves further from their smaller
competitors, they are not just selling a truck; they
want to provide the customer with a complete turnkey warehousing solution, where the truck is fully
integrated with the customer’s business systems.
And the smaller, regional OEMs?
The quality of trucks is improving globally. In China
and Korea, for example, OEMs typically do not want
to be early adopters of new technology – they want
proven, reliable components that do exactly what’s
needed for the lowest possible price.
Here, the productivity improvement is often the
initial step-up from manual labor to powered
materials handling – for instance, the Chinese Class III
OEMs have had huge success recently by offering
very small powered pallet trucks as an upgrade over
manual pallet trucks.
Japan is a unique market and domestically its trucks
are subtly different. While the basic functionality is
similar, you’ll often find components in use that you
won’t see on trucks anywhere else in the world.
Any other factors in the push toward higher
productivity at lower cost?
The truck operators are part of the equation – human
error becomes a major issue. So there’s a trend toward
autonomous or semi-autonomous guided trucks that
can pick the right pallet off the shelves with less, or
even zero, driver involvement.
72
This was a strong trend at recent trade shows; it’s
what the tech leaders are showcasing. One of the US
OEMs has a new remote ‘smart glove’ for low-level
order picking. The operator is off the truck and he’s
picking goods; as he walks down the aisle he can tap
the glove to remotely move the truck along the aisle.
So again, the basic truck hasn’t really changed
all that much, but the new technology enables higher
productivity to be achieved.
How have all these advances affected safety
standards?
The reliance on software in almost every aspect of
industrial truck functionality started ringing alarm
bells a few years back. This resulted in EN ISO 138491, a far better tool for determining the safety of a
software-based control system than the previous
standard. Curtis was one of the first companies to
recognize the advantages of EN13849 and I’ve been
personally championing it for some time. I believe the
intent of the standard is what’s important: to minimize
risk of injury or death to those working on or around
industrial vehicles. With our latest ‘E’ family of
controllers, Curtis has fully embraced the intent.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
right decision. For those cases, outsourcing to proven
specialists in the technology will be a better solution.
Today’s industrial electric vehicle systems are all about smart components,
smart systems and smart networking
Because it’s all about productivity, how can
suppliers serving the truck OEMs help create
new efficiencies?
Material handling vehicles are a mature product in a
highly competitive market. Everyone is looking to
lower costs to protect their margins, and this directly
impacts component/integrated system suppliers. The
challenge is simple – for every new product, such as a
controller or instrument, the market expects it will do
more for the same price, or accomplish the same
functionality for a lower price. So for a new product to
be a real winner, it has to do more for less.
The most effective way to achieve this is to
integrate the function of other electronic components
into the controller, eliminating the need for other
‘black boxes’. At Curtis, we accomplish this with VCL
– our Vehicle Control Language.
What are the capabilities of VCL in the mission
to eliminate components?
VCL is a proprietary, highly programmable vehicle
application software layer that resides in our AC
motor controllers. It enables the industrial truck
manufacturers to create ‘virtual’ vehicle managers
inside our AC motor controllers. The motor controller
is also the CAN system master. VCL is a big advantage
in simplifying development when creating smart
components and systems.
Eliminating other black boxes, such as a dedicated
vehicle manager, is a huge win. It reduces the number
of components and simplifies the wiring harness. This
corresponds to lower manufacturing cost, simplified
service and maintenance, and lower operating costs
over the vehicle’s lifetime, so it offers a steady stream
of cost and productivity benefits.
How has wireless networking and cloud
computing impacted the material handling/
EV industry?
There is nothing more unproductive than a brokendown truck. Adding vehicle telemetry and remote
diagnostics which advise when specific preventive
maintenance tasks should be carried out makes
breakdowns less likely. With lift-trucks operating in
warehouse environments that are fully networked, it’s
now easy to dial up a truck and interrogate it remotely
over the internet.
There’s another interesting aspect here: the OEMs
have ‘cloud’ access to this same information. The
ability to collect and analyze this data is hugely
valuable to the truck designers, who get to see exactly
how the vehicles are used day in, day out. Once they
have real data on how customers actually use their
trucks, they can start optimizing them for the next
generation. They can identify how to make cost
savings, or performance and reliability improvements
by right-sizing every component on the vehicle, and
so make tomorrow’s trucks even better.
Forklift drive systems are complicated. So
can OEMs with a vertical business model
realistically develop this expertise?
Vertical integration is a sound principle as long as you
commit to a long-term strategy, can commit to the
huge investments required, and are sure that the
economies of scale will remain in your favor. For a
highly complex product such as a controller or
inverter, even the biggest truck OEMs can’t practically
develop fully optimized solutions for each and every
vehicle in their range – there will always be lower
volume, niche trucks for which ‘buy, not make’ is the
What changes do you see ahead for industrial
electric vehicle system technology?
It’s all about smart components, smart systems and
smart networking. The cost of equipping vehicles so
they can exchange data with local networks and the
cloud is dropping all the time.
The industry has been talking about improved
battery chemistries for years. I believe we’re still a
long way from any mass migration away from lead
acid, but there’s a lot of work currently being done
around the various types of lithium batteries. It’s
going to be very interesting to see what effect the
automotive EV/hybrid market is going to have here.
It’s a similar story for motor technology. AC
induction is entrenched. For low-speed industrial
truck applications, nothing can match its ruggedness
and torque-speed characteristics at the price, and that
won’t change soon. However, PMACs – synchronous
AC motors with permanent magnet rotors – have
been around for a while. They offer several benefits,
albeit for a premium price: a smaller physical size for
a given kilowatt rating, lower rotor temperature and
higher efficiencies over most of the speed range. Axial
flux PMAC motors also offer a very different formfactor and are ideal if stack length is a problem.
What about motor speed controllers, one of
your special interests?
The obvious advance is microprocessors. It’s amazing
how much capability you can get for a few dollars.
Controllers such as Curtis’s AC models can now run
faster control loops using higher-resolution data, for
tighter control of voltage, current and torque, which
allows motors to run more efficiently. It also makes
more microprocessor power available for use via VCL,
to provide the extra ‘vehicle manager’ functionality.
It’s astonishing how many applications we do these
days where our controllers are the ‘CAN Master’,
managing all the interfacing between multiple CAN
devices from several different vendors.
Even basic electronic components are still evolving.
Improvements offered by the latest MOSFETs and
advances in the chemistry for something as basic as
an electrolytic capacitor have had a remarkable effect
on how much power our motor controllers can
provide for a given size – we keep making them
smaller, but more powerful than ever.
The net effect of this continual component
improvement is that, ultimately, we are very capable
indeed of doing far more for less. iVT
L S Harris is a business and technology writer located in
the New York City area: [email protected]
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73
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
PETER ABBES
Make a connection
ONLY THE BEST HYDRAULIC COUPLINGS WILL DO TO ENSURE RELIABLE
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN A WIDE ARRAY OF COMPONENTS AND
INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS IN SCHEUERLE’S NON-CASSETTE CARRIER
The Non-Cassette Carrier from Scheuerle is the
only vehicle of its kind on the market for the
palletless transportation of huge packages of metal
sheets. It can move payloads of up to 250 metric tons,
equivalent to the weight of up to 10 jumbo jets.
Reliable power transmission between the individual
elements is guaranteed with the use of components
from ContiTech Fluid Technology.
With 24 steered axles, 48 wheels and a length of
around 25m, the Non-Cassette Carrier is extremely
impressive in appearance. But even more impressive
is the vehicle’s versatility in use: it not only moves
stacks of steel plate for in-house operations without
requiring any pallets, but can additionally be used in
combination with a freight ship.
The design is based on a robust ladder frame that
is combined with the proven, hydraulically assisted
pendulum axles and 14 integrated lifting forks. In
Hydraulic couplings from ContiTech
ensure reliable power transmission
between the individual vehicle elements
order to be able to accommodate the required
payload of 250 metric tons – even if this does not
extend over the entire length of the vehicle – each
individual fork has been designed to handle a load of
30 metric tons. When it comes to connecting the
various vehicle elements, Scheuerle puts its trust in
ContiTech’s reliable hydraulic couplings.
Scheuerle transporters are a byword worldwide for
leading-edge technology and special product quality.
Reliability in daily operations, with a high level of
robustness and a long lifetime, make the vehicles an
important part of modern logistics processes – thanks,
not least, to ContiTech Fluid Technology’s connecting
systems, which supply external components with oil
and make it possible for the vehicle bodies to function
as supertransporters.
Scheuerle has fitted ContiTech couplings in its
special-purpose vehicles for many years in a
proven collaboration: “Further evidence that
our products satisfy the most demanding
requirements,” emphasizes Achim Liecker,
sales manager industrial vehicles at
ContiTech Fluid Technology.
The Non-Cassette Carrier is powered by
a six-cylinder MAN diesel engine delivering
338bkW. This, too, contains numerous hoses
and lines from ContiTech: the resonator for
the compressed-air line which dampens noise
74
generation; hoses for the hot and cold sides of the
turbocharger; the air intake for the turbo; the
crankcase ventilation system; and cooling water lines.
Comprehensive materials expertise
ContiTech Fluid Technology’s expertise lies in the
development and manufacture of high-performance
hose assemblies for industrial applications – including
exhaust gas scrubbing, air-conditioning and fuel
supply solutions. The company is committed to
producing solutions that deliver high performance
while also being environmentally friendly. It boasts
comprehensive materials expertise in the field of
media transport, enabling innovative combinations of
materials that ensure greater safety and flexibility in
industrial applications. These innovations include an
electrically conductive fuel hose and a multiapplication oil line, which is both dimensionally stable
and flexible.
These flexible yet dimensionally stable oil lines are
approved for operating pressures up to 80 bar and are
already being used successfully in forklifts. They are
suitable both as low-pressure hydraulic lines and for
numerous other applications involving the movement
of oil. They consist of a PA pipe with a strength
member and, although preformed, they provide
considerably more flexibility than the PA pipes used
up until now. This enables them to dampen system
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
“Thanks to our extensive materials and processrelated expertise, we are a development partner and
OEM for customized complete solutions for fuels
– comprising hoses, pipes, fittings and quick
connectors, which carry media such as gasoline,
diesel, hydrogen and liquid gas to supply fuel to the
engine,” says Liecker.
The company uses both elastomers and plastics for
these, combined with materials such as textile, steel
and aluminum. Therefore, pre-formed polyamide oil
and fuel lines, for example, are a lightweight and
inexpensive solution wherever flexibility and media
resistance are the key requirements. In addition,
ContiTech offers flame-resistant fuel hoses, which are
approved for railway applications.
vibrations that could cause cracks in the material as
well as noise nuisance. They are also more flexible
during fitting.
Electrically conductive fuel lines have been used for
quite some time as original equipment in the
automotive sector. Now this application – not least
because of appropriate regulations in the USA – is
becoming increasingly attractive for industrial trucks.
The conductive inner lining is made of FPM
(fluorocarbon rubber) to prevent static build-up at
high throughflow rates which – in the worst-case
scenario – could result in sparking and spontaneous
ignition of the vehicle. The high flow rates are a result
of the increasing trend in industry toward downsizing,
which therefore means that the available installation
space is becoming ever smaller, with a consequential
reduction in line diameters.
ContiTech’s highly flexible fuel lines are suitable for
gasoline, diesel and biodiesel, and can withstand
operating temperatures from -40° to +150°C. The
TOP: In addition to its SCR lines,
which have sold in the millions,
ContiTech now also offers an
enhanced second generation
of lines featuring heated quick
connectors
RIGHT: MAN also puts its trust
in ContiTech’s reliable fluid
technology
FAR LEFT: ContiTech’s
electrically conductive fuel
hose prevents static build-up
at high throughflow rates
outer lining is resistant to radiant heat up to 150°C,
and, briefly, even 175°C.
Extremely heavy-duty fuel lines
ContiTech Fluid Technology has also developed
extremely heavy-duty engine-mounted fuel lines
specifically for modern high-performance engines.
These new engines have enabled both fuel
consumption and emissions to be greatly reduced.
The design of the components means that they will
continue to be unreservedly usable in the future, even
in conjunction with future measures to cut emissions.
The new lines are pressure-resistant to 35 bar and
withstand operating temperatures up to 180°C. This
has been achieved through using a new, extremely
temperature-resistant rubber compound and special
mesh, which can cope with such high operating
pressures. The stainless steel braid that is also available
means that further improvements in heat dissipation
are possible, too.
Heated connectors and optimal air-con
Selective catalytic reduction, or SCR, technology
converts harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx) into water
vapor and nitrogen with the aid of a urea solution
(AdBlue). ContiTech has achieved a pioneering role in
the introduction of this forward-looking technology
with its heated EPDM-based hose assembly module
that was specially developed for the SCR process.
The second generation has, among other things,
heated quick connectors with optimized contacts
that guarantee complete defrosting of the medium,
including within the connector area. ContiTech has
developed heated hose assemblies made of plastics
especially for SCR systems with retractive suction. The
company also develops and manufactures hoses and
hose assemblies for conveying air in diesel particulate
filter systems. These form the interface between the
DPF and the control unit.
The company’s Eco AC refrigerant circulation
system enables air-conditioning systems in industrial
and commercial vehicles to be greatly improved. This
extends from improving the performance of the airconditioning system, to cutting consumption as a
result of lower pressure losses, and on to design
improvements. The use of the internal heat exchanger
(IHE) developed by ContiTech in itself promises some
5% greater efficiency. In addition to this lineintegrated solution, the company has also developed
a compact, inexpensive alternative to the IHE in the
form of the Conti Eco Compact XR.
ContiTech Fluid Technology has brought together
its product lines for carrying all media flows in
construction machinery, other industrial applications
and commercial vehicles, into a single, effective
Commercial & Industrial Vehicles segment. As a
result, customers can purchase all the components
worldwide from a single source. iVT
Peter Abbes is head of communications at ContiTech
Fluid Technology
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75
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
CHRISTIAN BISCHOF
Shift work
AS IF CVT WASN’T A BIG ENOUGH CHANGE, THE MANUAL GEARBOX IS
EVOLVING AGAIN. SHIFT IN MOTION (SIM) IS AN INNOVATIVE PROPULSION
SYSTEM FOR INDUSTRIAL VEHICLES MAKING FREQUENT
CHANGEOVERS BETWEEN ROAD AND FIELD USE
High tractive efforts in working mode and high
maximum velocities in transport or transfer
mode are the attributes that OEMs and operators
alike expect from the drivetrains of today’s industrial
vehicles. These requirements can be met through a
wide array of traditional technological concepts,
ranging from simple manual transmissions (shifted at
standstill), powershift or highly complex powersplit
CVT transmissions. Each of these concepts comes
with specific advantages – but also with inherent
system disadvantages, as well as cost differences
when compared with the other solutions.
As a specialist in hydraulic and electric drive systems,
Linde Hydraulics is committed to this challenge for
optimal solutions, following the trend towards higher
performance while bearing in mind reduced energy
consumption, emissions, installation space and costs.
One result of the intensive and consistently marketorientated development work at Linde Hydraulics is
the Shift in Motion (SIM) traction drive system. The
technology combines the cost and space advantages
of a manual gearbox with the advantages of
hydrostatic drives, including electrohydraulic control
logic to a multistage drivetrain that can shift gears in
motion, similar to a powershift transmission. SIM is
essentially a continuous variable hydrostatic rotating
drive, consisting of a pump and a motor, mounted on
a standard manual transmission. The system is
additionally equipped with a hydraulic shift actuator.
With SIM, the electrohydraulically synchronized
gear change is both noise- and jerk-free. The actual
switching operation inside the standstill manual
transmission is initiated through an actuator that is
also controlled electrohydraulically. Synchronization
shifting logic is controlled by an electronic driving
control and is monitored at all times. Optionally, it
can be set up with a manual drive mode selection as
well as an automatic or fixed gear preselect mode.
SIM is especially suitable for vehicles that often
change between working and transport modes,
regularly requiring high tractive efforts and high
maximum velocities, such as harvesting, municipal and
forestry machinery. Due to the considerably enhanced
conversion range of the drive system, various driving
strategies in terms of performance and ergonomics,
energy consumption, rotating speed and noise level
can be realized. In contrast to traditional drive systems
HPV variable-displacement pump with E2 control
with a comparable range of functions, the cost and
space advantages of manual transmissions apply.
Minimal effort
In order to minimize an OEM’s implementation effort,
SIM was designed as a propulsion system that can be
installed on customary standstill manual transmissions
without design changes: the OEM selects a gearbox
of its choice, and Linde Hydraulics supplies the
essential SIM components and aligns them with
application specifics and customer preferences
accordingly. These are – in addition to the highpressure pumps and motors of HPV-02 and HMV-02
series – the SIM control valve for the transmission
actuator as well as the electronic drive control.
Linde Hydraulics has already supplied OEMs of
various application types with SIM for testing
purposes. The feedback has been totally positive:
manufacturers have praised the increasing freedom of
design when it comes to varying vehicle layouts. The
test drivers, on the other hand, have particularly
valued the driving performance and comfort, as well
as the low noise emissions during synchronization. iVT
Gear-shifter control valve
Christian Bischof is director of marketing and corporate
communications at Linde Hydraulics
76
10 m
• Analog and digital outputs
• Protection class IP67/IP69K
6m
• Redundant version available
POSITAPE® Tape Extension Position Sensors
The most reliable way to measure LINEAR POSITION
ASM Sensors, Inc. − www.asmsensors.com − [email protected] − Tel. 1-888-ASM-USA-1
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
MORGAN MOTTA
Position of power
Nov 12-16
Bologna, Italy
Hall 20, Stand B13
WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE AND LOW MAINTENANCE, THE VP SERIES OF
DRIVESHAFTS FOR PROFESSIONAL APPLICATIONS IS SET TO INCREASE
PRODUCTIVITY, IMPROVE SAFETY AND REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Comer Industries revealed its professional
range of VP series driveshafts for agricultural
applications recently, featuring high safety performance
as a result of their new EC type-approved accident
prevention protection, ease of maintenance and long
greasing intervals (Figure 1). This product line was
created to meet the demands of high-performance,
intensive use that are typical of the contractor sector.
Nine product sizes are available in the standard
version (covering the power range from 21-221kW)
and four sizes in the CVJ constant velocity version
(from 21-122kW).
The VP professional range of driveshafts will be on
show at the Eima exhibition in Bologna, Italy, in a
display that will specifically focus on CVJ models
dedicated to round balers.
FIGURE 1: Comer Industries VP7-CVJ driveshaft
further simplified with optional devices, such as
automatic collar and free rotation coupling.
The CVJ constant-velocity VP series
Solutions for improved performance
A key feature of the VP driveshafts line is their easy
and low maintenance. The reduction in maintenance
is due to innovative protection, supporting ring nuts,
higher-performance bearings and new cross bodies
with high load capacity grease tanks.
The VP series features cold-drawn tubes with a
Nitox treatment that both increases resistance and
diminishes axial force during operation. For greater
reduction of the axial thrust in extension, models
VP7-CVJ and VP9-CVJ also feature a Rilsan coating.
“Maintenance is facilitated thanks to the alignment
of the greasing points: lubrication can be performed
without disassembling the driveshaft from the PTO, as
the grease nipple is assembled on the bearing cup for
better access,” says Luciano Olivieri, director sales agri
at Comer Industries. Maintenance intervals have also
been extended and, depending on the use conditions,
can reach up to 250 hours.
“We have a new lube system for the lubrication of
the telescopic tubes,” he adds. “Lubrication is easier
due to the grease nipple located externally near the
bellow.” (Figure 2.)
FIGURE 3: Thermographic test on a driveshaft at
Comer Industries’ Mechatronics Research Center
New polyurethane seals for telescopic profiles
ensure better cleaning and reduced leakage of
lubricants, while a tube protection support helps
reduce vibrations, particularly in the case of driveshafts
with high extension level and elevated speed rotation.
The guard-locking system with a single chain
guarantees a quick and safe solution for installation of
the driveshaft on the machine; additionally, the guard
offers the possibility of moving the bellows backward,
thereby facilitating the assembly on the PTO of the
tractor. The assembly of the driveshaft to the tractor is
FIGURE 2: New lube system via grease nipple outside the bellow
“The version with VP7-CVJ constant velocity joint has
a new guard that allows the PTO to operate as far as
80° working angles, without interfering with the
tractor’s master shield,” Olivieri explains. “The new
constant-velocity joint system, thanks to its special
floating plates, improves the sealing of the lubricating
grease, thereby reducing maintenance intervals.”
As well as driveshafts, Comer Industries provides
safety devices, such as automatic torque limiters,
clutches and the easy-connecting system with PTO.
These are designed and manufactured according to
quality procedures in compliance with international
standards. Moreover, all of its driveshafts protect the
operator from any hazards associated with agricultural
machine applications, and provide complete
protection with counter-cones and extended guards.
Enhanced performances were proved by the tests
carried out at its Mechatronics Research Center,
located at the company HQ in Reggiolo, Reggio
Emilia, Italy (Figure 3). This is a state-of-the-art
laboratory for applied research and innovation, where
product lines are developed, tested and approved.
The public research institute IRSTEA (formerly known
as Cemagref) also tested and approved the VP series
according to procedures established by UNI EN 5674
and EN 12965. All driveshaft products are compliant
with the 206/42/EC Machinery Directive. iVT
Morgan Motta is agri sales support manager at Comer
Industries, where he has worked since 1999
79
Smart control, efficient
visualisation and integrated
diagnostics of vehicle data
Display: Technology: TN, ASTN/FSTN and colour TFT | Readability:
Excellent even under sunlight | Resolution: From standard to high
Emission control features: Compliant to Tier 4 and other emission
standards
Communication: CANopen, SAE J1939
I/O configuration: Flexible to custom requirements
Casing: Different standard sizes
Front fascia design: Custom in colour, form, design
Designed for: Rough and hard environmental applications
Experience
real quality.
What is real quality?
For us it means bespoke design without any
compromise, precision manufacturing, and service
for life. Quality at KNOTT is an investment for the
future. Talk to us about your brake requirements.
Phone +49-8056-906-0
We make your brake
www.knott.de
BAUSER GMBH & CO. KG
Julius-Bauser-Straße 40 | 72186 Empfingen | Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 74 85 - 18 1 - 0 | Fax: +49 (0) 74 85 - 18 1 - 16
E-Mail: [email protected] | Web: www.bauser-control.de
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
DANILO PERSICI
Ideas in motion
Nov 12-16
Bologna, Italy
Hall 20, Stand B17
BY ENABLING GREATER INDEPENDENCE THAN BELT- OR PTO-DRIVEN
MODELS, HYDRAULICALLY DRIVEN PUMPS ENSURE MORE FLEXIBLE
AND PRODUCTIVE OPERATION OF OFF-HIGHWAY EQUIPMENT
The demands of earthmoving and agricultural
machinery operators have led OEMs to
produce a wide range of accessories suitable for
machines equipped with hydraulic systems. These
accessories are essential to enable more flexible and
productive use of mini excavators, excavators, skid
loaders, wheeled loaders, backhoe loaders and cranes.
The use of hydraulic motors in these applications
has many advantages: the location of the pump is not
linked to the PTO or the engine driveshaft as it can be
mounted in a variety of locations that best suit the
application requirements. The performance is only
dependent on the supply of hydraulic oil to the motor
and is not necessarily tied to the engine speed. A
hydraulic-driven pump can produce higher pressures
than PTO or belt-driven pumps, and it can also hold
constant pressure at varying engine speeds on closedcenter hydraulic systems. On a hydraulically driven
pump, there are no belts to align or break, while
separate pump and hydraulic motor shafts simplify
repair and replacement.
These components exploit the hydraulic system of
the machine to which the components are connected
– consequently all hydraulic components should be
extremely reliable across all operating conditions and
possibly also resistant to mishandling by the operator.
To satisfy the tough demands of the agricultural and
construction equipment markets, Marzocchi Pompe
has therefore developed a number of specific products.
A typical gear motor application: bush cutter with T-system gear motor
hydraulic circuit. The short pumps may accept
different configurations of flanges, shafts, and inlet
and outlet ports. Also available are common inlet
versions where only one port feeds two or more
stages of the pump. ALPC and GHPC pumps are
available with displacements from 1.4-87cc/rev.
ALPC and GHPC pumps
Pumps and motors
Multiple pumps with reduced axial dimensions have
been designed to enable easier integration in the
engine compartment of small agricultural machinery.
They are available in two configurations: the ALPC
with flange and aluminum cover; and the GHPC with
cast iron flange and cover.
These new pumps feature reduced axial dimensions
of more than 40% compared with standard modular
multiple pumps. The connections between the stages
are obtained by internal grooved couplings so as to
minimize the axial dimensions, while ensuring high
torque transmission.
These particular models of multiple pumps can be
supplied in either two-stage or three-stage versions; a
number of stages greater than three is still available
following verification of the operating cycle of the
T-system pumps are special models that can also work
with radial and axial forces applied to the motor shaft,
thereby making possible the transmission of motion
by means of pulleys, belts, chains, sprockets, or the
direct fitting of large and heavy fans.
The use of the bearing support is essential for these
applications because it supports external stresses,
leaving the internal bushings free to move, following
the movement of the gear without other constraints.
The shaft is supported by a double-row angular
contact ball-bearing that can withstand heavy radial
and axial loads. The bearing is permanently lubricated
by the oil hydraulic circuit, thereby ensuring optimal
lubrication and a good heat exchange. The compact
design means it is ideal for use in conditions where
space-saving solutions are needed.
T-system is available in all versions of group 2 and 3
AL and GH pumps and motors in displacements
between 4.5-87cc/rev. All these products can be
equipped with integrated valves; cavitation valves,
relief or electroproportional valves can be integrated
in the cover. The use of cavitation valves prevents, in
the transient condition of circuit, the motor reversing
in the direction of rotation, and offers protection in
the event of it not being mounted correctly.
Relief or electroproportional valves are useful to
control the rotation speed or to limit the available
shaft torque. It is also possible to equip the hydraulic
motor of a system with radial sealing at the shaft that
can bear internal overpressures or high shaft rotation
without damage. This is particularly useful in singledirection hydraulic motors when, in certain conditions
of use, high overpressures will be generated at the
motor output. With bidirectional motors, the area
adjacent to the seal ring of the drive shaft will be
maintained at atmospheric pressure by the drainage
circuit. iVT
Ing. Danilo Persici leads test, FEA and CFD analysis in
Marzocchi Pompe’s R&D department
81
BULLETIN BOARD
Ultimate protection in tough agricultural environments
KAB Seating specializes in
the design and manufacture
of suspension seating for
on- and off-highway applications,
including construction, agriculture,
material handling, marine and truck
and bus. Its 40 years of expertise in
seating have led the company to
build up an unrivalled knowledge of
its customer base, understanding
customer and market needs, to
greatly improve driver safety,
comfort and seat ergonomics.
KAB offers a comprehensive range
of seats suitable for a wide range of
agricultural vehicles, from small
tractors up to large harvesters. The
Invictus Dynamic Ride Control [DRC]
is its new advanced engineering
solution for ultimate protection in
tough agricultural environments.
The advanced DRC damper
measures changes in vibration and
self-adjusts every 15 milliseconds,
effectively protecting the human
body from higher vibration frequencies.
The system features a semi-active
suspension that induces a reduction
in vibration by up to 40%. This also
protects against excessive jolts caused
by intensive farming activities.
The company has also announced
the enhancement of its GSX range for
New possibilities in ergonomic design
Human Solutions
targeted significant
increases in functionality
and performance with the latest
generation of its proven Ramsis
technology, and the company has
certainly achieved its objectives: the
Ramsis NextGen provides a quantum
leap in terms of the ergonomic design
of industrial vehicles.
This is hardly surprising, given that
the system core, user interface and
infrastructure have all been completely
redeveloped from the ground up.
Program operation is therefore now
much simpler, team collaboration is
supported by a separate module, and
the manikin has been completely
revamped and expanded to include
an international pool of test persons.
The modular structure of system
core, BodyBuilder and project and
ergonomics analyses simplifies the
upgrading process and the integration
of individual field studies.
Automation and role allocation
also increase analysis performance
82
and efficiency and this has a real
impact on visual analysis, which is,
of course, of major importance in
the world of heavy machinery design.
There is one particular innovation,
however, that will capture the interest
of industrial vehicle manufacturers –
the simulation of entering and
exiting the vehicle with Ramsis has
been brilliantly enhanced and now
offers many new ways of optimizing
safety at the early virtual model stage.
This is a very important safety
factor, as vehicle entry and exit are
the second most common cause of
construction machinery accidents.
Ramsis Next Generation for
industrial vehicles is available now –
and it will be hugely appreciated by
Ramsis beginners and experienced
users alike.
READER INQUIRY SERVICE
To learn more about this advertiser,
visit: www.ukipme.com/info/ivm
Quote Ref: 511
the bus and truck market. The range
has been developed with easy-to-use
features and adjustments that help
maintain comfort over long periods.
It offers a premium solution for
drivers of a variety of on- and offhighway vehicles including trucks,
buses, cranes, harbor trucks, road
sweepers and utility vehicles.
The range offers new enhanced
features, and will benefit from the
addition of two new models, with
specifications to suit all users, from
Base through to Deluxe. Additional
improvements include installing a red
seat belt as standard throughout the
range, to offer better visibility and
help look after driver safety.
One of the new models is the
GSX Partner seat, which flips up as a
space-saving solution and is offered in
trims that will complement the basic/
standard and premium versions of
the GSX 3000. Restyled stylish fabric
and leather trims offer a greater choice
for every level of specification.
The KAB Seating range will be
previewed at the IAA Commercial
Vehicles Show in Hanover, Germany,
(September 25 to October 2) in Hall
11, stand I08; SIMA 2015, February
22-26; and Intermat 2015, April 2025.
Quote Ref: 510
BULLETIN BOARD ERGONOMICS
Steering committee
The flexible approach
Designed for OEMs
demanding lightweight
and high-performance
steering equipment, Moxi 10 is
the brand-new aluminum steering
column from AMA’s Pertex Division.
Featuring an exclusive aluminum
steering housing fixed on a steel
tubing structure, it enables any offhighway vehicle operator to adjust
it to their own standard of comfort,
by acting on its wide range of
possibilities regarding length, tilting
and angle adjustments. Both tilting
and telescopic devices can be
constantly locked and released via
a single hand lever or via cable for
the driver’s maximum comfort and
safety.
J R Merritt Controls’
ultra-rugged Pro-6
joystick provides precise
proportional control for AC/DC
variable speed drives and
electrohydraulic valves.
This single-axis joystick features
a smooth, field-adjustable friction
brake with positive center detent
for applications where speed must
remain constant under continuous
shock and vibration.
The unit is designed for a
mechanical operating life of 20
million cycles and offers universal
mounting capability and various
electronic amplifiers to accommodate
control requirements.
The rugged 10mm-diameter
handle shaft allows for a large
variety of optional handle
configurations, including triggers,
rocker switches, push buttons and
thumbwheels. The Pro-6 is suitable
for use on scissor lifts, aerial work
platforms, bucket trucks, cranes,
Hall 18, B8
Due to the possibility of its
integration in the dashboard and/or
traditionally fixed to the cabin floor,
it can be equipped in a wide range
of agricultural, material handling
and construction vehicles that are
manufactured all over the world.
AMA Pertex division is part of
AMA group, one of the world’s
leading suppliers of OEM customers,
with 13 different lines of products
manufactured in its 25 production
plants and benefiting from the hard
work of 880 employees.
Quote Ref: 512
The right tools for the job
Product development
tailored to the user’s needs
is the key to user-oriented
HMI design and successful products.
Therefore close cooperation between
industrial truck manufacturers and
the component system supplier
allows this goal to be reached.
As a specialist for development
and production of controls, Frei has
therefore set up a new HMI toolbox.
This kit includes a precisely defined
set of components, assemblies and
principles: various mechanics with
Hall sensor technology inside to
realize analog functions, buttons
and switches, and the corresponding
hardware and software (with CANInterface) to complete the kit.
All of the kit modules are designed
for harsh ambient conditions using
non-contact Hall-effect sensors. The
sensors and the evaluation electronics
remain entirely separate from the
moving mechanical parts and are
therefore optimally protected
against environmental influences.
The symbols on the control
elements are created by laser
inscription, resulting in excellent
abrasion-resistance properties.
All of these ingredients are
essential for customized designs.
Truck manufacturers can easily
create their unique, ergonomically
optimized design by using proven
and tested technology. Time saving
is another major benefit of this
innovative concept.
Pictured below is the HMI of
the new multifunctional armrest
designed exclusively for Mitsubishi
Nichiyu, incorporating technology
from Frei’s new HMI designer kit.
Quote Ref: 514
agricultural, mining and
forestry equipment.
The company offers a
large selection of proportional
outputs for the Pro-6,
including potentiometer,
PWM, CANbus and Halleffect. The Pro-6H Halleffect joystick is
designed with the
same heavy-duty
mechanical
construction as
the Pro-6, but
enhanced with the
improved lifecycle
provided by a noncontacting Halleffect proportional
output device. Hall-effect
output meets or exceeds CE
EMC requirements.
Quote Ref: 513
Multi-use device offers flexibility
Otto engineers utilized
an optimized product
development process
to develop the company’s
new CAN-driven operator
control module and meet
customer requirements for
a forestry tractor
application. This control
module includes indicator
lights, a custom backlit keypad,
and Hall-effect switches such as a
JHM joystick, an HTL toggle and a
U2 rocker.
The module’s plug-and-play
CAN environment ensures that all
messaging, error handling and
prioritization hierarchy is specified,
guaranteeing that the unit will work
as soon as it is plugged into the
network.
With Otto’s rapid product
development infrastructure in place,
the engineers are able to work on
the components and interfaces
while the machine shop provides
rapid prototypes of the customer’s
conceptual product. This 3D
printing capability provides
production-grade thermoplastic
models from CAD designs that are
accurate and repeatable, allowing
the user to refine the ergonomics
Hall 15, A3-A7
and design requirements and
produce multiple prototypes before
spending valuable time and money
on standard tooling.
Otto’s Operator Control Module
is a great example of a multi-use
device with joystick and keypad
functionality combined into one
active assembly using a variety of
controls.
Jampel will be showcasing Otto
control products at EIMA.
Quote Ref: 515
83
BULLETIN BOARD ERGONOMICS
Minimum input, maximum results
Just a few simple steps are
needed to launch into a
new instrument cluster
project with Bauser. The first thing
to decide is the number of digital and
analog inputs; then how they will be
connected (using a low switch or high
switch), followed by the thresholds of
these inputs, and the CAN protocol,
which is then implemented into the
cluster’s hardware and software.
The instrument cluster can be
controlled by up to 26 pins, fulfilling
the demanding requirements of a
customer’s project. CAN uses two of
the pins (for CAN high and CAN low),
and the remaining pins are used
for digital and analog inputs, FET
outputs, and for the instrument
cluster’s power supply. The cluster
can be housed in a standardized PCB
casing, which, if necessary, can be
modified. It is, however, possible
for Bauser’s design team to create
customized casings entirely to
customer specifications, whereby
any components not required can
be discounted from the PCB.
Even after production, changes
due to future vehicle modifications
can be made with a PC
configuration tool. With such a tool,
consisting of a hardware adaptor to
communicate between display
instrument, PC and software tool,
OEMs, users and service technicians
have an easy-to-operate solution at
their disposal. It is therefore
straightforward to re-parameterize
various analog inputs, upgrade
firmware, set a clock, or update
service interval values.
Quote Ref: 516
Clear control
Machines are becoming
more complex, so it is all
the more important to
deliver clear, precise information
about the machine’s functionalities
in an appropriate manner.
Moba therefore created the
single-unit HMImc with a 3.5in color
display and 320x240 pixel resolution.
It is CoDeSys programmable and
offers smart applications – i.e. it can
be adapted according to customer
demands and only the features
needed are shown, to avoid the
display of cumbersome data.
The HMImc mainly works with
graphics and standardized symbols
according to ISO 7000 that can be
interpreted intuitively. This allows a
fast interpretation of the information
and also makes it usable worldwide.
The HMImc works with a simple,
structured menu and indicators,
which, with the clear color structure,
guide the operator through the menu.
To illustrate the processes being
carried out, animated symbols allow
them to be pictured vividly. The cycle
times, depending on the application,
lie in the millisecond range so they
allow real-time visualization. Due to
the high graphical performance, the
animation flow can be realized fluently.
84
Additional
to the graphics, all values are
visualized numerically.
An additional encoder on the side
of the robust HMI allows operators
to switch between different menu
items and to switch between pages
quickly. Three additional LED lights
over the three freely programmable
key buttons enable the highlighting
of special features.
CANbus communication and the
real-time operating system offer high
performance and all data is shown
in real time on the display. Also the
boot time is very fast.
It is also important that a display
is built to survive harsh conditions –
so Moba’s HMImc is temperatureand moisture-resistant, and offers
outstanding readability in sunlight.
It can also be combined with other
HMImc components, for example
with keyboard or joystick modules.
Quote Ref: 518
Hall 18, B10
Making machines smart
An ‘intelligent HMI’ is not
the same solution in a
wheeled excavator as in a
production drill rig in the quarry. But
diverse applications have one thing
in common – the intelligence is all
about software.
The maximatecc solution is to
offer a palette of software frameworks
and tool chains, supporting different
levels of system complexity and
different approaches to software
design. The company has integrated
these different software solutions in
the LinX Software Suite, which is a
common platform for all its display
products. The platform is based on
open standards and OEMs can choose
a range of programming tools: the
QuiC configuration tool which
requires no programming skills,
CoDeSys for users who prefer PLC
programming, and Qt and C/C++
for more advanced programming.
Through this approach, OEMs and
system developers have the right
tools to develop intelligent HMIs
efficiently with high quality.
The UX (user experience) Designer
module of the LinX Software Suite
contains smart graphical components
and style sheets – smart in the sense
that they are highly and easily
adaptable and that they, by design,
ensure a high standard in terms of
usability and interaction design.
The maximatecc display portfolio
has two product lines: the CCpilot
Xtreme line is designed for advanced
HMI applications in the toughest
environments, and the CCpilot
Vision line is designed for in-cab
HMI functions in standard vehicle
applications. The latest addition is
the CCpilot VC, a 5in color display
with optional touchscreen. The VC
has a truly multifunctional capability
– it can be used as instrumentation
display, control system GUI, video
monitor, service tool, and more.
This is a major benefit in spacesensitive cabs where it can replace
multiple smaller displays. With all
HMI functions in one device, OEMs
can create a more efficient, intuitive
user interface. The CCpilot VC comes
with the LinX Software Suite, meaning
that the road is open to implement
a truly intelligent HMI solution.
Quote Ref: 517
Make a difference
Time-to-market is
speeding up for OEMs
who choose a DP700
Series PLUS+1 industrial vehicle
display. Being designed for swift
customization, the series gives
machines a competitive difference,
with much less effort required from
development engineers.
Danfoss has focused on making
the interactive, 7in display screens
easy to read and sufficiently robust
to survive even the toughest work
environments. Operators can count
on the real-time performance data
to help them take machines to the
highest level of productivity. The
displays boast:
• Access to data in-cab or open
usage;
• Fluid navigation;
• Enhanced viewability;
• Display of data in real time;
• A rugged build that will last in
extreme environments.
The displays are available with
a variety of options, including a
projective capacitive touchscreen
that works through the elements –
and even through an operator’s
gloves.
Quote Ref: 519
BULLETIN BOARD
Components make EIMA presence felt
Connected couplings
Part of the EIMA
International
agricultural mechanization
exposition being held November
12-16 in the Bologna Trade Fair
center, EIMA Components is looking
forward to a record-breaking event.
The specialized salon has already
reached an all-time high, with more
than 800 manufacturing companies
now signed up and confirmed as
participants, and a number of others
on a waiting list.
The 2012 exposition attracted
760 manufacturers, and data that
has now been released by the Events
Office of FederUnacoma, the Italian
Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers
Federation, which is responsible for
the organization of EIMA International,
indicates a significant increase for
the 2014 edition. This year’s salon
will feature an exposition area of
more than 40,000m², 13% larger
than the space allocated in 2012.
Components will take over Pavilions
15, 18, 18bis and 20, and areas in
Pavilions 21, 22, 26 and 29 will be
used for the display of a huge range
of mechanical parts, spare parts,
accessories and electronic devices.
In all, 353 merchandise categories
will be presented by manufacturers
from all over the world.
One of the countries with the
largest representations, Italy will sit
alongside those enjoying strong
industrial traditions, including
Germany, France, the USA and the
UK. The salon will also bring together
newly industrialized countries such
Faster has introduced
the new FFHP series of
couplings. Available in
sizes 04 and 06, they have been
developed to offer the best
connection solution to hydraulic
equipment such as rescue tools,
hydraulic tools and jacks, power
packs and industrial equipment.
Featuring a maximum working
pressure of 72MPa (10,440psi), this
push-to-connect system also offers
easy disconnection – merely by
rotating and pulling back the female
sleeve. An automatic safety sleeve
helps prevent self- or accidental
disconnections.
With a high burst resistance of
over 200MPa (29,000psi), and
polyurethane and NBR seals, their
longevity is further assured with the
addition of a Mate1000 zinc-nickel
coating treatment. Interchangeable
with similar products present on the
as China, India and Turkey, all
aiming to expand their footprints on
international markets, by supplying
the manufacturing industries as
well as producing spare parts and
accessories directly for end-users.
Massimo Goldoni, president of
FederUnacoma, says, “Out of a total
of 1,800 exhibiting industries taking
part in EIMA International, this means
we will have nearly 800 in the
components sector alone and this is
an indication of how important and
vital this mechanical engineering
sector is and how farsighted it was
to raise the profile of components
by dedicating a specialized salon to
them within the great Bologna
exposition.”
Marco Acerbi, responsible for
the organization of FederUnacoma
events, agreed, saying, “Moreover,
components are a fundamental
factor for innovation in the
mechanical engineering sector.
“The success of EIMA Components
confirms the way in which this
review is truly oriented towards
innovation, and is trained on the
great numbers of professional
operators interested in everything
that can improve the performance,
reliability and safety of machinery
and equipment used for farming
and all activities for the maintenance
of rural lands.”
Quote Ref: 520
market, the available threads include
NPT as standard, with other threads
provided on request.
Available sizes cover:
• FFHP04: size 04 (1/4in);
• FFHP06: size 06 (3/8in).
Quote Ref: 521
All work and no play
Vehicle designers want all
the benefits of contactless
rotary sensing (no wear
and tear) without suffering the
expense of over-engineered
solutions. They want high accuracy
plus stable performance over a long
lifetime, despite environmental
extremes. Contactless Hall-effect
specialist Piher Sensors & Controls
has now launched two solutions
that play to this requirement.
Piher’s novel PST-360 ‘throughshaft’ sensor effectively wraps around
any shaft sensing directly at source.
One slimline 9mm package contains
two non-contacting components – a
full circle magnet and an electronics
module. The application-patented
design can be fitted anywhere on a
shaft, giving engineers the flexibility
to be creative. It is easy to assemble,
so production line costs are lower
than those of other sensor solutions.
No maintenance is needed over
the product’s life. This contactless,
through-shaft sensor delivers the same
level of 360° precision and stability
over >50 million rotational cycles,
despite extremes of vibration, shock,
temperature and contamination.
Current applications include the
sensing of front loader movement in
some axes, sensing steering angle in
ride-on scrubbers and forklifts, and
sensing when an aircraft’s nose-wheel
is in position on a tow tractor cradle.
A second solution creates immunity
to radial and axial play on mobile
shafts where misalignment usually
results in poor performance and
labor-intensive maintenance
programs. An arc magnet (when
360° rotation angle is unnecessary)
is attached to rotating parts of kit,
such as boom loaders and skid-steer
buckets, and the electronics module
to the chassis (or vice versa). Again,
over 50 million cycles, stable
electrical output and the specified
linearity are maintained between
both sensor packages, despite radial
and axial play of ±1 to ±1.5mm (and
upward), respectively.
All Piher sensors are low-profile,
yet extremely rugged, and can be
custom-engineered to fit existing
mechanical assemblies.
Quote Ref: 522
85
BULLETIN BOARD
Rust-resistant cartridge valves
Products with a long
service life are especially
valued in times of
economic uncertainty. That’s why
HydraForce has added a corrosionresistant coating to more than 200
of its standard hydraulic cartridge
valves. The proprietary zinc-nickel
plating has been tested to ASTM
B117 standard, which requires
products to pass 1,000 hours of
salt-spray testing without showing
signs of red rust or corrosion.
Products that last that long in
solid salt spray will last even longer
out in the field, helping to extend
the service life of hydraulically
operated construction, agricultural
and other mobile off-highway
equipment.
Better yet, the corrosion-resistant
coating is available at no additional
Easy to clean flat-face couplers
Hall N4, 701
charge on selected models from
HydraForce’s range of solenoid,
electro-proportional, directional,
flow and pressure-control hydraulic
cartridge valves.
The complete list of valves can be
found on the company’s website.
Quote Ref: 523
What’s the angle?
In the mobile automation
sector, it is increasingly
important to measure tilts
so as to prevent machinery tipping
over, and to detect the angle of
booms and swivel arms.
Siko is therefore expanding its
inclinometer product range with
the IK360L, incorporating built-in
electronic evaluation. The IK360L
is constructed identically to the
existing IK360 inclinometer: a black,
glass-fiber reinforced PBT housing,
and installation made simple with
a three-point assembly method.
IP67, IP68 and IP69K allow
extended immersion of the sensor in
water and cleaning, even with a highpressure steam jet. The tilt or angular
position is detected on an absolute
basis, meaning that no recalibration
of the actual position is required when
the supply voltage is interrupted.
inside the circuit. Minimal fluid
spillage occurs during disconnection,
with minimal air inclusion during
connection. Linear flow reduces
internal turbulence and pressure
drop, maintaining circuit efficiency
in the entire system.
The AX series has a modular
design for external thread
configuration (DIN type thread, ED
thread for manifold); the female has
a higher operating pressure in the
disconnected position than the FL
series. The FL series also enables a
compact design in the case of
internal port configuration.
Quote Ref: 524
Economy drive
Like the IK360, the IK360L is
available as a single-axis version (0360°) or dual-axis version (±80°).
System accuracy is ±0.5° (-10° to
+40°C°), making this economical
inclinometer perfect for low-cost
applications. All other
supplementary functions, such as
the ability to program the unit via
the RS232+I, RS232+U (0-10V) or
CANopen interfaces, as well as the
teach-in functions for direct on-site
zero-point setting or change in
rotation direction, are available in
the IK360L. Other features include a
resolution of 0.01°; response time of
10ms (without filter); programmable
parameters (resolution, preset,
software filter) and a teach-in
function that covers limiting of the
measurement range, zero-point
setting and change of direction.
Quote Ref: 525
86
The Stucchi product
range not only includes
carbon steel quick
couplings with a zinc plating
treatment, but also stainless steel
solutions for a variety of applications.
For applications requiring the
highest corrosion resistance, Stucchi
offers FL and AX series flat-face
quick couplers: interchangeable to
ISO16028, these are manufactured
in AISI 316 stainless steel and are
available with Viton seals. Seals in
nitrile, EPDM or other compounds
are available on request.
FL and AX coupling series are
Stucchi’s solution for connecting
hydraulic lines in environments with
corrosive atmospheres. Typical
applications include cooling lines for
industrial plants or molding machines,
hydraulic machines and plants for
the steel mill industry, maritime
machinery, snow removal, salt
spreaders and street sweepers.
With their flat face, FL and AX
couplings are easy to clean, which
reduces the risk of contamination
A product of the JV
between Dana Holding
Corporation and Bosch
Rexroth, the R2 hydromechanical
variable transmission (HVT) features
a modular design that is adaptable
for a variety of material handling
applications with net input power
from 135-195kW, including reach
stackers, empty container handlers,
heavy forklifts, and RoRo tractors.
The HVT R2 is available for
prototypes, and production is
expected to begin next year,
depending on OEM adoption.
As fuel prices rise and emissions
regulations become more stringent,
HVTs reduce fuel consumption
notably by decreasing engine speeds
throughout the duty cycle and at idle,
where speeds can be dropped to as
low as 600rpm. Application analysis
shows the possibility of further savings
without compromising performance
through engine downsizing.
Field tests on working vehicles
have shown fuel savings of up to
35% over traditional transmission
designs, and further savings made
possible by optimization with
equipment subsystems.
HVTs enable sensitive, precise
vehicle positioning with a stepless
drive that offers improved acceleration
while maintaining tractive effort. They
optimize the operating point of the
engine by decoupling engine speed
from drive speed, and maintenance
costs are reduced via hydrostatic
braking and wear-free directional
reversing without clutches.
The HVT R2 is a modular platform
that delivers a suite of configuration
options and software controls, such as
direct or remote mounting, flexibility
in shift control and drive strategy
parameters, and the deployment of
up to three PTO pumps.
Quote Ref: 526
a constant flow of solutions
mber
Nove
s e et
a
you N 1
D
A
P
231
8
25 - 2
CONNECT UNDER PRESSURE SERIES
stucchi.it
d
Stan
VEP-HD
APM
MULTI GR
JRM-201406-iVT Qtr page_JRM iVT ad 5/21/14 3:59 PM Page 1
Stucchi_ADV_IVT International Quarterly Magazine_183x115.indd 1
Precision-Engineered
Control Solutions
to meet your crane, on-and
off-highway application needs
• 1-, 2-, 3- & 4-axis joysticks
• Custom grips for your requirements
• Full range of hall-effect joysticks,
from finger-operated to heavy industrial
• Standard and custom operator
armchair systems, rotating and
fixed models
• Output options:
voltage, current
and PWM amplifiers,
can-bus, profi-bus,
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• Proportional
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®
Stratford, CT, USA • [email protected]
www.jrmerritt.com • Int'l +1 203-381-0100
02/09/14 17:07
Index to advertisers
AMA SpA
56
Intermat Paris
ASM GmbH
78
J.R. Merritt Controls Inc
87
Automotive Interiors Expo 2015
58
KAB Seating Ltd
69
Bauser GmbH & Co KG
80
Knott GmbH
80
Bondioli & Pavesi SpA
14
Linde Hydraulics GmbH & Co KG
37
CBM SpA (Mita Oleodinamica)
48
Marzocchi Pompe SpA
17
Cobo SpA
69
maximatecc
54
Comer Industries SpA
70
MOTOMETER GmbH
48
MTS Sensor Technologie
GmbH & Co KG
43
ContiTech AG
3
Curtis Instruments Inc
Dana Corporation
61
Inside Front Cover
Inside Back Cover
Murphy by Enovation Controls
8
Nimco Controls AB
77
Otto Controls
34
Safim SpA
25
Siko GmbH
40
70
SNDC
77
Gebruder Frei GmbH & Co
56
SPAL Automotive Srl
20
Grammer AG
34
Stucchi SpA
87
Hella Fahrzeugteile Austria GmbH
46
Superior Tire & Rubber Corp
78
Human Solutions GmbH
40
Volvo Penta AB
Hydraforce, Inc
31
Wachendorff Elektronik GmbH & Co KG 54
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd
11
Webasto Thermo & Comfort SE
iVT International Online
Reader Inquiry Service
51
elobau GmbH & Co KG
28
Faster SpA
22
FederUnacoma
surl/EIMA
Outside Back Cover
Flexxaire Inc
6
46
87
THE INSIDER
THE SITE
DUMPER
DRIVERS
WERE NOT
RELISHING
THE PROSPECT
OF WORKING
WITHOUT ANY
PROTECTION
AGAINST THE
WEATHER
88
One of the criteria for locating
my office in the center of town
was its proximity to all the major
pubs. I frequently hold ‘meetings’
in my favorite establishment, but
on this occasion I was drinking with
Toby, a friend who runs a contracting
business out of one of the neighboring
depots. He was complaining about
business, as he always does. “And to
top it all,” he went on, “my dumper
drivers are revolting!” Well, I had
met some of his staff and one in
particular was possibly the ugliest
man I had ever met.
“Perhaps you could offer them
cheap loans to get plastic surgery,”
I offered helpfully. “What the devil
are you talking about?” he snapped.
“Well, it would help improve their
self-image; that’s very important
these days,” I stumbled.
“They’re revolting – as in a revolt,
a revolution,” he said. I could see his
problem immediately – you can’t
have your workforce tearing down
flags and building barricades and
storming buildings. It would all be
so counterproductive.
“Well, just sack them,” I said (I’d
recently finished reading Margaret
Thatcher’s autobiography so this
seemed entirely reasonable). But it
turns out the problem is a disparity
issue. With the British winter on its
way, the site dumper drivers were not
relishing the prospect of working
without any protection against the
weather. They had cited the fact that
all the other vehicles in Toby’s stable
were fitted with cabs, whereas the
site dumpers had nothing more
than a rollover protection bar.
And, I guess it is true that with
certain machinery we somehow make
the decision that a cab is not really
appropriate. The site dumper, for
instance, has developed from the
universal need to move soil and
aggregate around a construction site.
Early machines were little more than
powered wheelbarrows – and as you
wouldn’t put a cab over a guy pushing
a wheelbarrow, why should it be
needed on a site dumper?
Thing is, such thinking was fine
50 years ago when the average driver
Illustration: Julie Welby
IN THESE DAYS OF GREATER EQUALITY FOR ALL COLORS AND CREEDS,
SITE DUMPER DRIVERS STILL SUFFER FROM YEARS OF INGRAINED
PREJUDICE. HOW LONG MUST THEY REMAIN SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS?
was just happy that he no longer
had to push the wheelbarrow. These
days, though, site dumpers can range
right up to 6 tons in capacity, and are
formidable machines in their own
right. Their drivers may never have
pushed a wheelbarrow – and yet still
those site dumpers rarely have cabins.
The same usually applies for small
machinery: big roller, big cabin; small
roller, no cabin. The problem is not
just confined to the industrial sector
either – it is market dependent. A
harvester of any denomination to
be sold in Europe, for instance, will
always be fitted with a cabin. Yet in
Asia, cabins on harvesters – and even
tractors for that matter – don’t exist.
Like Toby, many contractors who
own equipment – be it for their own
use or as a hirer – do not seriously
consider the human element when
sourcing equipment. The old sales
adage of ‘walking in the customer’s
shoes’ needs to be applied to our
thinking when we come to design
the environment the driver will have
to work in if we are going to be able
to attract quality drivers to put the
machines to the use for which they
were intended.
Quality drivers? All sounds a bit
patronizing doesn’t it? But to get the
best out of modern machinery, we
need drivers who fully understand
a machine’s capability to work and
how its advanced management
systems can be applied, and who
will ensure that if something goes
wrong, the machine is not driven
until it is scrap. So, yes, I do think
quality is a term we can use.
It therefore makes total sense to
control the environment in which
they operate. The problem is that in
sectors where vehicles traditionally
do not have cabs, the cost of the cab
has been absent from the machine
price for so long that the shock of
introducing it makes customers shy
away. But be it on a building site in
Dundee or a rice field near Chennai,
a comfortable driver will be more
productive, as well as able to work
longer shifts than a guy freezing in
the rain or melting in the heat.
Unfortunately, there has also
been a move toward ergonomically
perfect luxury cabins, which has
influenced the expectations not only
of the customers, but also those of
producers. A high-end harvester cab,
for example, could well damage your
bank balance to the tune of €15,000
(US$20,000) which is a huge chunk
of money to anyone. Question is, do
we really need that luxury? Okay,
it’s great to have a really plush cab
boasting enough space to hold a
good-sized pop concert, but all the
guy in Chennai wants is a box to
hold an air-con system. The Scottish
guy just wants a heater.
Cabs were once simple items –
and with our modern construction
techniques, it should be easy to come
up with something cheap and more or
less universal – even if it is just for the
sake of Toby’s revolting drivers. iVT
Comments: [email protected]
BUILDING
THE FUTURE
TOGETHER
PROMOSALONS UK - Mathilde WILKES
2nd Floor Northside House, Mount Pleasant
EN49EB, Barnet
02082163106 - [email protected]
www.intermatconstruction.com
BLOG
#intermatparis
Design: madmac - © Lev Kropotov
E X P E R T I S E - I N N O VAT I O N - N E T W O R K I N G
EIMA INTERNATIONAL
2014
INTERNATIONAL
AGRICULTURAL
AND GARDENING
MACHINERY
EXHIBITION
www.eima.it
Bologna
12-16 November 2014
FederUnacoma Surl - Italia - 00159 Roma - Via Venafro, 5
Tel. (+39) 06.432.981 - Fax (+39) 06.4076.370
[email protected] - www.federunacoma.it
Organized by FEDERUNACOMA Surl in collaboration with BolognaFiere Spa

IVT Magazine

Transcription

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