As the world turns to renewable sources of energy, more and more off-highway equipment and heavy-duty trucks are becoming electric. Falk gearboxes will certainly play a large role in this transition, as their reliability is key to torque and overall vehicle longevity.
How will this shift affect heavy-duty vehicle performance? What are the benefits? More importantly, how essential is choosing the right gearbox when it comes to making the switch? Our Falk gearbox suppliers and repair experts provide the information you’re looking for.
The Shift to Electric
As more and more governments and companies are recognizing the importance of limiting carbon emissions, cars and heavy vehicles with internal combustion engines are soon going to become electric. This can impact the tools available for any worksite.
According to Jenny Elfsberg, the Director of Emerging Technologies at Volvo, “We will see downsized machines, specialized ‘one-purpose’ machines, and entirely new approaches, thanks to the electrification.” The myriad types of electric vehicles open opportunities for gearboxes to serve an important role in this new technological revolution.
Electric vehicles also offer the possibility of greater efficiency and a more reliable machine. It’s even possible that they will lead to greater autonomy in the worksite. The shift to electric vehicles comes from “several technologies such as autonomy, artificial intelligence, fast charging, advances in batteries (energy density, charge acceptance rate, and price), high-efficiency electric motors and generators, and combined electrohydraulic actuators,” says Eric Hendrickson, Business Development Manager Vehicle Electrification at Parker Hannifin. He continues, “Taken together, they make it easy to predict that electrification will be a reality in 10 to 15 years.”
10 to 15 years may seem like a short time span to consider, but the impact of electric vehicles is being felt already through the use of diesel/hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles offer the power of an internal combustion engine, but with many of its inefficiencies eliminated though “downsizing the engine, reducing or eliminating idling, reducing fuel consumption, adding an electric-only mode, and incorporating electrohydraulics [which are] are generally the main pathways for improving machine efficiency and productivity.”
The changes in the switch to electric not only affect the worksite, but also spill over to areas such as developing skill in machine operation, in servicing and maintenance skills, as well as how to develop a sustainable business model. This is especially important as the industrial gearbox market continues to escalate and more and more industries rely on high-quality products. The challenges presented by electrification at present include “energy-storage methods, limiting machine consumption of that stored energy, and the ability to quickly generate or replace that energy again.”
However, though there are challenges, it is important to realize that while the initial cost is high, the investment in electric or hybrid vehicles only means big savings in the future as the technology continues to develop.
Choosing the Right Gearbox
In any engineering project, the right combination of motor and Falk gearbox is essential to the overall success of the project. Without the right combination of motor-gearbox, you will find that the machine will not function as well as it should, possibly even burning out the motor, leading to costly repairs.
Torque is the amount of force with which a motor’s output shaft can rotate. The greater the torque the more your machine can push, pull, or move. A gearbox can help amplify the power of an engine to generate more torque through the use of gear reduction.
Gear reduction refers to using gears of a smaller ratio or reduced size with fewer teeth meshes to drive a larger gear with a greater number of teeth. This has an opposite effect on torque, “The rotary machine’s output torque is increased by multiplying the torque by the gear ratio, less some efficiency losses.” Choosing the right motor-gear ratio is important.
This ratio is entirely dependant on what the job is you are trying to achieve. You must determine the end results, “such as how big of a load are you moving and how fast do you want it to move, and then translate these into requirements such as output torque and speed.”
From there you can begin to look at what motors and gears are available to you. When it comes to electric motors, using gear reduction can mean you can take a relatively low amount of power and create big results by simply adjusting the size of the gears. Of course, there is more to it than that, so you should work with an expert to determine exactly what Falk gearbox and motor would work best for your situation.
Posted under Falk Gearboxes on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019