Electrical drive solutions for mobile machines

Electrical drive solutions for mobile machines

Peter Fischbach has spent many years working in factory automation. Currently, he is focused on the drive systems in mobile machines. There are certain discussions that he no longer needs to engage in. He will elaborate on this for us.

How does electric drive technology in the factory differ from applications in mobile machinery?

It's always about controlling the motor, the right torque and providing the right speed. We need all of that in mobile machines too. There are hardly any differences in terms of control technology, but environmental influences present us with new challenges. We have to live with heat, dust, moisture and vibration. Our systems have to withstand 50 g shock and we also have to take chemical influences into account. Our team has therefore developed new packaging for the drive system. For the inverter, the heart of the system, we have developed a housing that has no open areas and at the same time cools highly efficiently and dissipates losses. I am certain that the scalability and robustness of the systems are unrivalled on the market.

In factory automation, systems are often designed to be too large. Is this also a challenge for mobile machines?

I have worked in factory automation for 30 years and yes, over-dimensioning is a big problem there. We don't have to have discussions with the vehicle manufacturers. We have found a solution. Our drive systems can handle overloads, which means we can access 2.5 times the power for 60 seconds. That is a selling point. The construction volume remains small and cost-effective.

What role does the software play?

A very important one. Because the software is what our customers are most enthusiastic about. They come with their physical requirements and key figures and we use the software to develop a drive system for them. We want to achieve even greater efficiency in hydraulics and "power on demand" and thus optimize power management.

Peter Fischbach explains in the podcast interview how the hardware is optimized and what communication in the machine looks like.