The Hydraulic Power Generation and Transmission on Agricultural Tractors: Feasible architectures to reduce dissipation and fuel consumption-Part 2

Increasing interest in reducing pollutant emissions and fuel consumption of off-road vehicles has led to research alternative systems that aim to reduce the power dissipations of the hydraulic circuits. This work presents the advantages of few alternative solutions for a hydraulic high-pressure circuit of a medium-size tractor. The standard high-pressure circuit is a typical multiusers load sensing system that uses a single variable displacement pump to feed: steering, trailer brake, rear remotes, hitch and suspension. The alternative architectures have been simulated and compared in terms of mechanical energy consumption. In particular, the steering has been separated from the circuit, it has been actuated by means of a dedicated pump moved by an electric motor, in this way the priority valve could be removed and losses due the pressure compensators are reduced. A further architecture based on the insertion of the LS signal conditioner was studied. The results show that relevant energy saving can be achieved with the new alternative architectures; the physical prototyping of the most promising solutions will be realized as the next step of the project.