Variable Flow Open Center Delivers Constant Efficiency

In the residential excavation field, time is money. For Ken Williams of Williams Loader Services Inc. the time savings that he gained from adding a PowerGrip multipurpose bucket to his CAT 314 was immense. When using the PowerGrip in conjunction with his existing PowerTilt Tilting Coupler, Williams is able to complete certain jobs, such as loading trucks, up to 30 percent more quickly than with a conventional bucket/thumb combination. The PowerTilt/PowerGrip combo in addition to the four other PowerTiIt attachments that Williams uses on his fleet of backhoes has maximized his productivity and improved his bottom line.

Life before PowerGrip 

Prior to using the PowerTilt/ PowerGrip combo, Ken Williams used a hydraulic thumb for clearing lots and found it to be challenging at best. When loading trucks with the thumb, Williams would have to swing around the material at only one angle to the truck, and when he was clearing and loading six foot saplings, he always had to rely on a chain saw to rip them apart, costing him extra man-hours swapping between the excavator and the chain saw at the job sites. With the PowerTilt/PowerGrip combo, Williams never has to leave his machine. The unique design allows him to angle the material into the truck in any direction and rip apart six-foot saplings with ease.

The PowerGrip with its unmatched, hand-like manipulation and dexterity is also unique in that it can be used to pick up and stack brittle stone without breaking it; a task that Williams Loader Services does frequently. When Williams added the PowerGrip to their existing CAT backhoe, it also opened up the opportunity to add utility work to their services. In working on water and sewer lines, Williams found that “When getting into rocky material; you can scoop up a bucket of rocks, then open up the bucket three to four inches to separate the smaller material. You can never do this effectively with a standard bucket.”

  Flexible performance and durability by design

Parker's integral designs are based on research, engineering and innovation, providing the most efficient solutions for work site versatility. PowerTiIt is available for equipment up to 75,000 pounds in eight sizes with standard rotation of up to 180 degrees. Each model is designed for a specific class of machinery and individually customized to fit the carrier. In addition, PowerTiIt is specifically engineered to work with a variety of other attachments, greatly enhancing your machine's versatility. Wide buckets, brushcutters, narrow buckets, hydraulic hammers, rippers and mowers, are just a few of the attachments that are compatible with the PowerTiIt.

PowerGrip buckets are available for equipment up to 20 tons, in three sizes, with bucket width ranges from 24 to 48 inches in the trenching profiles and 48 or 60 inches in the ditching profiles. PowerGrip has been engineered with the flexibility to function as a trenching, ditching, grading or clamshell bucket and can also be used for gripping and loading. PowerGrip’s adaptability allows it to be a true multi-purpose tool that can change from one job to another without the need to change tools.

  Diversity of tasks performed with PowerTilt/PowerGrip combo

Williams uses their four PowerTilts and one PowerGrip on his entire fleet of backhoe loaders to perform a wide range of tasks throughout the residential excavation process, ranging from clearing lots, digging basements, tight grading, cutting a swale and picking up soapstone to ripping trees apart, separating materials and loading dump trucks. Because there is no need to remove the PowerGrip bucket, Williams can switch easily from working on his excavating jobs to doing his water and sewer utility work; an important labor and time-saving feature.  For his excavation business, Williams uses a grading bucket with PowerTiIt attachment 100 percent of the time, as well as a PowerGrip multi-purpose bucket in combination with a PowerTilt attachment on their CAT314.

“I don't take the PowerTilts or PowerTilt/ PowerGrip combo off the machines, even though they wouldn’t be hard to remove. I personally use the machine with the PowerGrip 50 percent of the time; the other 50 percent of the time my operators use it. Currently we have over 3,000 hours logged onto the PowerGrip. I would never buy another hydraulic thumb. The weight savings and overall versatility of PowerGrip puts it so far ahead of a thumb. I can clear lots, dig basements, cut a swale, rip trees apart, separate materials, and even pick up brittle soapstone without breaking it.”

Ken Williams, Williams Loader Service, Inc

The rotary actuator technology

PowerGrip and PowerTilt use Parker’s innovative Helac sliding-spline operating technology to convert linear piston motion into powerful shaft rotation. Each actuator is composed of a housing and two moving parts — the central shaft and piston. As hydraulic pressure is applied, the piston is displaced axially, while the helical gearing on the piston outer diameter and housing’s ring gear cause the simultaneous rotation of the piston. PowerGrip and PowerTilt’s end caps, seals and bearings all work in tandem to keep debris and other contaminants out of the inner workings of the actuator, prolonging product life and reducing required maintenance.

To learn more about our construction attachments, including PowerGrip and PowerTilt, visit http://solutions.parker.com/powertilt

 

This article was contributed by Jessica Howisey, marketing communications manager and Daniel Morgado, applications engineer, Helac Business Unit, Cylinder Division.

 

 

 

 

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As we embark on an era where technology has seemingly evolved every aspect of our lives, the agriculture industry as well is undergoing an evolution. 

New technologies, including drones, robots, GPS, artificial intelligence, big data, IoT technologies and more, are helping farmers use “precision agriculture.” This is farming that optimizes the use of land, uses fewer resources, creates less waste and helps ensure we meet the world’s food demand. 

 

Download our white paper Off-Road Trends: Driving Cleaner, More Efficient and Connected Machinery, and learn what influences the advances in mobile heavy machinery.

 

 

 

 

 

What is precision agriculture? 

The precision agriculture trend is said to have begun in the 1980s when GPS technology was first made available to the U.S. public. Smart farming tools were developed to help farmers more effectively apply fertilizers and pesticides. By 2015, according to a survey by Purdue University and CropLife magazine, nearly 90% of U.S. farmers were using GPS for chemical applications. In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission announced it would focus on supporting the development of precision ag technologies and committed $1 billion to the effort. 

Today, precision agriculture encompasses a variety of technologies and farm management applications, including: 

• Robots that use vision, guidance and machine learning technology to handle tasks such as identifying and spraying individual weeds. The ability to target an individual weed frees farmers from having to spray entire fields, greatly decreasing their use of pesticides. 

• Drones that can monitor fields in real-time, gathering a variety of data for farmers to analyze and improve their practices. Advanced drones can selectively apply pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. 

• Satellite imagery and Geographic Information Survey (GIS) mapping to help farmers monitor fields, detect threats and gather a variety of data for analysis. 

• Software that helps farmers make more informed, data-driven decisions regarding field conditions and needs, weather implications, record keeping and more.  

Other precision agriculture applications leverage smart farming machinery; machines using either machine-to-machine communications or artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize farming practices. These technologies and applications include: 

• Irrigation systems using smart controllers and sensors to deliver water only where it’s needed and only in the amount needed. 

• GPS-guided autosteer systems for tractors, combines, sprayers and other large equipment. These systems can help keep crop rows straight and prevent overlaps. 

• Satellite-guided, precision seeders and fertilizer systems. These can be accurate to an inch or less, helping maximize yield. 

• Sensors integrated into farm equipment that can help monitor data such as seed counts, nutrient levels and fertilizer flow. 
   

Challenges to the adoption of precision agriculture 

The benefits of using precision agriculture to help feed a growing population seem clear. And while precision agriculture is likely to grow — the market has an expected CAGR of 12.7% between 2020 and 2025, according to Markets and Markets — the technology does present some challenges.  

One challenge is related to big data in agriculture, and to making sure farmers have the tools they need to make maximum use of the information returned to them. This might be another job for AI. Quoted in Inside Unmanned Systems, 

“Using AI and deep learning makes it possible to harvest the data and make sense of it. The data is more manageable when algorithms automatically search and sift through it, pulling out the analytics growers need most.” 
Jeff Williams of Empire Unmanned

Another challenge, cited in the same article, is that of speed. Farmers need tools to process sensor-collected data by themselves, without having it send it off for processing. This speed allows farmers to use big data to make more actionable, meaningful decisions. 

 

A new era of smart farming 

Perhaps no other human activity has been as important throughout our history as farming. It will continue to be critical as our global population swells to nearly 10 billion people by 2050. 

Precision agriculture is poised to help farmers step up to the daunting challenge of meeting this growing population’s food demand. Employing a variety of technologies, including GPS, satellite imagery, drones, big data and AI, precision agriculture gives farmers much more sophisticated control of their farm management practices, helping them improve yields while reducing their use of resources and production of waste.  

 

To learn more about the trend of precision agriculture and how Parker plays a key role, read our Off-Road Trends White Paper. 

 

This article was contributed by the Hydraulic Team

 

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Sowing the Seeds and Harvesting Innovation in Agriculture

Difficulty and danger have always been inherent in the mining profession. Miners typically face risks ranging from flying debris to mine collapse, to vehicular incidents.

But as mining operations move toward the future, many offer a new vision. It’s one of partially and fully autonomous mining equipment, programmed to handle some of those difficult and dangerous tasks traditionally handled by people.

Mining automation is a key component of many companies’ digital transformation strategies. It promises improvements to safety, productivity, and reduced labor costs. In a 2020 survey of global mining leaders, 75% said they view this kind of technological disruption as more of an opportunity than a threat, while 36% identified innovation and technological transformation as one of their company’s top two growth strategies.

The former CEO of Australian mining firm BHP, Andrew Mackenzie, has stated that automation could save the industry billions.

 

Download our white paper Off-Road Trends: Driving Cleaner, More Efficient and Connected Machinery, and learn what influences the advances in mobile heavy machinery.

      Use of autonomous vehicles in mining is expanding

The use of automated equipment in mines is still small. One estimate stated that less than 3% of current mobile mining equipment is autonomous. However, it’s expanding rapidly. Multiple OEMs now offer autonomous equipment, such as hauling trucks, load/haul/dump (LHD) machines, and drillers. According to an article published in Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration in July 2020:

• As of February 2020, 459 autonomous trucks were accounted for and active in mines around the world.

• Caterpillar® has provided more than 239 autonomous trucks to mining operations in several countries globally, including the United States.

• Komatsu® has distributed 141 autonomous trucks to mines in several countries, including the U.S. At one mine in Chile, the use of these trucks over 10 years has significantly reduced the frequency of collision, while raising productivity and tire performance.

• The industry expected a 32% growth in the use of automated vehicles in 2019-2020, and higher rates are expected for future years.

Other key emerging technologies include:

• Auto-tunable robotic loading (ARTL) technology, which uses non-visual sensors to allow an LHD to judge the size and configuration of a rock pile and adjust for excavation. This technology promises to help automated LHDs better operate in low light/dusty conditions.

• Automated power crushers that provide greater crush down capacity between primary and secondary crushers.

• Automated, electric light rail systems. These may combine features from conveyors, trucks, and heavy rail in a single system for hauling bulk materials out of a mine.

 

Challenges to widespread adoption of automated mining equipment

Despite the great promise for automated equipment to transform mine operational efficiency, productivity, and safety, challenges do remain.

As pointed out in a 2018 report by McKinsey & Co., investing in technology is only one piece of the puzzle. Mines also need to adapt management and operational systems to realize automation’s potential, while shifting company culture to being one that embraces a more agile organization that can get value from the technology.

 

The future of mining automation

Mining has traditionally been difficult and often dangerous work. But new technologies are poised to remove some of the most challenging mining tasks from human hands, creating jobsites that are safer and more productive. Leading OEMs now offer automated mining equipment, including trucks, LHD machines, and drillers. While industrywide adoption has been somewhat slow, it’s difficult to imagine a future of mining without these technologies — and others such as artificial intelligence — playing a key role.

 

To learn more about the trends in mining automaton and how Parker plays a key role, read our Off-Road Trends: Driving Cleaner, More Efficient and Connected Machinery White Paper. 

 

This article was contributed by the Hydraulics Team

 

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