It is well known that in sport, as in life, teamwork increases the chances of successfully achieving a shared goal. When the parties teaming up are two great Emilia-Romagna-based companies, each a leader in their own field, the results can exceed all expectations.
That’s exactly what has happened to Walvoil and Dieci, whose outstanding partnership was recently recognised in the Technical Innovation Contest at this year’s EIMA trade show, where the companies scooped both of the prestigious awards on offer, thanks to the innovative ALS (ADAPTIVE LOAD SENSING) project.
Don’t miss the ALS PRESENTATION:
EIMA DIGITAL PREVIEW | 11 November | 3:00pm
Agorà virtual space (room 3)
Free registration on the Eima web portal
The EIMA Contest
For every EIMA event held since 1986, FederUnacoma has sponsored a competition to reward and promote innovative products presented by manufacturers in the sector at the service of agriculture and gardening, which are increasingly more avant-garde in terms of their quality manufacture, safety and environmental sustainability. In view of the special circumstances created by the health emergency, the technical innovations will be presented at the EIMA DIGITAL PREVIEW 2020 which will take place on 11-15 November. The products will be exhibited during EIMA in February, and all the awards will be presented during the “physical” event.
The awards
Walvoil and Dieci have scooped both the prestigious Technical Innovation 2020-21 award (which recognises machines and devices that have features of ABSOLUTE INNOVATION) and the Blue Award 2020-21 (dedicated to solutions that stand out for their environmental aspects) for having developed ADAPTIVE LOAD SENSING (ALS), a system that minimises energy waste in the hydraulic system of telescopic handlers, considerably improving the vehicle’s efficiency and consequently achieving a reduction in wear and fuel consumption.
The partnership
Walvoil, a historic brand in Emilia-Romagna’s hydraulic industry and now part of the Interpump Group, brings together the experience of the Hydrocontrol and Galtech brands and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of hydraulic, electronic and mechatronic products.
Since 1982 Dieci has been considered a major international player in the design and construction of telescopic elevators and boasts a range of 110 models aimed at the agriculture, construction and heavy industry sectors.
The collaboration between the two companies is driven by continuous innovation and the constant search for new solutions to meet market demands. This shared ethos led the firms to pool their efforts into developing ADAPTIVE LOAD SENSING.
ALS
The development of the ALS system takes advantage of the TASC “Smart and Clean Agricultural Tractors” Project, a pervasive project involving the main university research laboratories, including in the Emilia-Romagna region, and which was conceived with the aim of minimising the environmental impact of agricultural mechanisation.
The solution developed by the synergistic Walvoil–Dieci partnership stemmed from an important consideration: hydraulic systems are an essential part of the most modern and widely used agricultural machinery, particularly telescopic handlers, which have become irreplaceable equipment for most companies. In these systems, to ensure simultaneous control of movements, the hydraulic pump generates a higher pressure than is really needed, a set value called the Stand-by pressure differential, which before now had been tolerated as a lesser evil, but which also constitutes a considerable loss of energy that limits the vehicle’s overall performance and unnecessarily increases wear and fuel consumption, thereby reducing efficiency and impacting the environment.
In response to this problem, Walvoil devised ADAPTIVE LOAD SENSING, a system capable of modulating the Stand-by pressure differential value depending on the vehicle’s actual work needs, automatically changing it only when and by the exact amount required.
In partnership with Dieci, the ALS system was successfully tested on an AGRI PLUS 42.7 GD telehandler, one of the flagship vehicles in the Dieci range for Agriculture.
ALS consists of a directional control valve, an electronic joystick and an electronic control unit, with customisable modular software developed by Walvoil. The control unit collates information from the operator’s actions on the machine’s controls and sensors, and acts on the load sensing device, adapting the hydraulic pressure differential to the maximum efficiency value required by the vehicle. Furthermore, the differential pressure value can be selected at will by means of two function buttons on the joystick: the Precision Function, which increases movement sensitivity and precision, and the Boost Function, which increases the pressure value to achieve faster movement without having to install pumps with a higher flow rate.
The result: higher productivity, control and safety, less energy waste
During tests on the Agri Plus, the Walvoil-Dieci technical team detected a decrease in energy loss of 28% during boom operations and up to 45% during vehicle manoeuvres, with a noticeable performance improvement at various travel speeds.
The tests also highlighted further benefits, first and foremost in terms of safety: by acting directly on the hydraulic signal, ALS avoids the functional complexity associated with the digital signal. Furthermore, in the event of faults, the original operation is automatically restored, avoiding vehicle downtime.
Also in terms of stability: control of the pressure value enables the vehicle’s stability to be improved, resulting in greater comfort during use.
And finally, in terms of modernisation: the ALS kit comprises only a small number of components, which can be easily installed even on older telehandlers, extending their operating life and improving their performance.
More energy efficiency, more productivity, greater control, customisation potential, greater safety and stability, and the possibility of modernising older vehicles: all these benefits can be obtained from the ADAPTIVE LOAD SENSING system, yet further proof of what can be achieved by the alliance of two outstanding companies, a partnership also validated by the prestigious awards obtained at EIMA 2020.
