Volvo CE electro-hydraulic tech ‘pushes fuel efficiency to new levels’

Volvo Construction Equipment (CE) said its latest tech, developed by its teams in Sweden and South Korea, will help the company get one step closer to realising its goal of net zero emissions by 2040.

The Volvo CE team from Sweden and South Korea worked closely with Finnish company, Norrhydro, to research and develop its Common Pressure Rail Hybrid technology, which was initially an idea that stemmed from academic collaborations. Volvo CE said the innovation has today matured into a real-world solution with ongoing customer trials in the field and is expected to accelerate the introduction of e-mobility across Volvo CE’s larger excavator platform.

The company anticipates the new technology to be available in the excavator market in the near future.

“This innovation enables Volvo CE to offer its customers a truly unique electro-hydraulic solution, pushing fuel efficiency to new levels,” said Volvo Group’s CTO, Lars Stenqvist.

“It’s demonstrating the passion of our engineers to bring forward customer-oriented solutions and systems that will drive the transformation towards net-zero emissions operations. Also, it’s again an example of our strength working in partnerships and achieving amazing results.”

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The innovation centres around reducing energy losses in hydraulics that ultimately leads to reduced emissions and fuel consumption.

In the new system architecture, all the machine's work functions are connected to a hydraulic energy storage via a common pressure rail that consist of two or more pressure lines.

The energy storage, which comprises hydraulic accumulators, enables energy-efficient recovery of kinetic energy and peak power supply. For cylinder-driven functions, so-called ‘smart actuators’ are used to achieve energy-efficient conversion from hydraulic power to a variable force and speed.

The system also allows energy recovery and performance increase of the machine's rotating loads, such as the swing function through the introduction of variable hydraulic machines. Thanks to greatly reduced energy losses and the power contribution from hydraulic accumulators, a smaller power source can be used and the need for cooling is reduced.

With a higher available power, cycle times can be shortened - for example when loading a truck -which contributes to both efficiency increases and cost benefits for the customer, Volvo CE said.

“We are really proud of this recognition, which we share with our collaboration partners”, said Volvo CE Emerging Technologies Research Engineer, Kim Heybroek, who was a member of the winning team.

“The potential in the innovation has been a strong driver for us in the project, making it an exciting journey to be part of, as we see the significant benefits it will offer our customers and help build the world we want to live in.”

The Volvo Technology Award recognises outstanding technical advances that contribute to the enhancement of the Volvo Group’s high-tech competitiveness and technological expertise. Previous recipients have included now-famous innovations such as the Duo-Prop marine drive, the City Filter used to purify trucks and bus exhausts, Volvo’s side airbags (SIPS) and the Electric Site emission free quarry research project.