A Novel Pump-Controlled Asymmetric Cylinder with Electric Regeneration : Implementation and Evaluation of a Closed Hydraulic System on a Backhoe

The desire to use more energy efficient heavy equipment in the earth-moving industry has rapidly increased due to higher environmental awareness. Studies within electrification and new types of hydraulic circuit architecture has shown great potential regarding energy savings. The advantages of implementing a closed, pump-controlled, hydraulic system for controlling the boom cylinder on the back-hoe of an articulated backhoe loader is evaluated in this thesis. The possibilities of electric energy regeneration is investigated and to what extent energy savings can be expected for the complete hydraulic system during normal operation. In order for pump-controlled systems to even be conceivable alternatives to conventional valve-controlled system, they must be able to achieve the same characteristics and driveability as the original valve-controlled systems. The possibilities of imitating the characteristics of a valve-controlled hydraulic system with hydro-mechanical pressure feedback is also investigated in this thesis. The original characteristic is able to be imitated with the implemented pump-controlled system with simple means by defining the current characteristic as the relationship between the operator input, cylinder load and cylinder flow. The evaluated sectioned hydraulic system demonstrates energy savings of 30% during both a light and a heavy duty cycle. With components more suitable for this type of system and an improved control strategy, energy savings of over 50% compared to the original system is believed to be possible.