More revolution than evolution…
Naturalist Charles Darwin first came up with the idea – contentious even today – that species evolved slowly over millions of years, and that only the fittest survived.
Although the shape of the machine below is recognisably prehistoric, the total package is more space-age hybrid, incorporating the latest research and inventing some of its own.
Hungry to dig
‘Productive, smart and hungry to dig’ is the way Lorenzo Terreno, Vice President Product Portfolio and Advanced Engineering, Volvo CE, describes the futuristic SfinX excavator. While still recognisable as an excavator, it represents a design where almost every component has been radically altered.
Engine – but no diesel
The engine is no longer diesel but a small fuel cell, which produces electric energy – but emits only heat and water vapour. This frees up space in the superstructure and allows the engine to perform as an ‘active counterweight’, which moves in and out to compensate for the forces on the boom.
Power pack: Fluid thinking or electric ideas?
The use of electric power is not restricted to the engine: hydraulics are largely replaced in the SfinX excavator, removing the need for piping fluid around the machine, and reducing the need for hydraulic rams. Instead, electric motors drive the four tracks and the main boom.
Boom boon
The boom features a lattice design that is light in weight and allows the operator to see ‘through’ it, thus reducing the blind spots caused by solid booms.
Independent thinking
The four tracks allow the excavator to keep a much higher contact area with the ground than is possible with traditional twin tracks, and each one has independent suspension, can brake, turn and accelerate – allowing greater comfort, maneuverability and control.
Drive-by-wire
Another area where aerospace is developing new technologies of interest to the SfinX team is ‘fly-by-wire’. This is where there is no physical link (solid cables, mechanical links or hydraulic piping) between the driver controls and the components they operate. Instead commands are sent ‘wirelessly’ to sensors on the components or via electric wires. In construction machinery this would enable the eradication of hydraulic or mechanical controls. These systems, like on aircraft, would have multiple ‘redundancy’ on critical systems, such as brakes and steering, whereby a back-up system would ensure constant performance and enhance safety.
Material evidence
As shown in SfinX, metal will increasingly be replaced as a component material by plastics and/or composites. This is because they are resistant to the environment and can be relatively easily repaired. Plastics are lower cost, can be painted to a higher specification and – in line with Volvo’s core values – environmentally friendly plastics are becoming available.
Force field
The juncture between the undercarriage and superstructure would eschew the current arrangement of a large roller bearing. Instead, the SfinX excavator hovers on an electro-magnetic field. Thus there would be zero friction and better control of the speed and torque turning of the superstructure
Operator environment
Perhaps, most interestingly, the cab can be moved up and/or outwards to allow a good view of the work area – or be left on the floor entirely. (For working in dangerous locations or even under water.) “The cab being the operator’s workplace, we put no limits to our imagination,” says Lorenzo Terreno. “New concepts are continuously under investigation and put to the extreme, the cab could come down to the ground in the morning to greet the operator!”
The cab on the SfinX excavator is cantilevered to improve all round visibility. But it can also tilt the cab, move it away from the machine to improve visibility (as some waste handling machines already do) – or be left on the ground entirely. This latter attribute is for the remote control of the machine, such as where the operator cannot safely work on the machine (such as close to high radioactivity or if the machine is working underwater).
Is this how the future will look?
Of course, not all glances into the future have proven correct. Even if SfinX is not exactly how excavators will look in the 2020s, if only a small number of its ideas come to fruition, then the project will have proven to be a success. The SfinX concept is a statement of Volvo’s intention to be at the forefront of technological development.
As Lorenzo Terreno maintains: “Sfinx is our concept lab. That’s where we test ideas. We don’t know how much of what we have imagined will end up in future machines, but what we do know is that we need to stimulate our vision of the future to develop genuinely new concepts!”
[Contributed by Volvo CE]
