Electrification crane
Energy - System integration - Mobile control
Replacing the fossil for electric drive.
Background
HSC Cranes went to Bauma in Munich to present, among other things, the SCX800A-3. A special crane of Japanese manufacture, with a strong Oldenzaal touch. In fact, this crane was in RIWO's workshop for the past year. Indeed: the crane was almost completely dismantled. And rebuilt. The result is the same look, but a completely different content. RIWO in fact replaced the original diesel engine with an electric drive.
A feat, which Operational Manager Constantijn Huls is happy to tell more about. "We did this together with HSC Cranes, always staying in close consultation with their engineering in Japan. This allowed us to continue to ensure the quality of the entire machine. Together with Hillcon Piling Equipment from Beilen, we simultaneously did the electrification of the HSCX1500GLS, machine. This created a nice triangular cooperation, where the expertise of all parties came to the surface. Our quality is in the drive, control and ultimately also in the conversion and mechanical conversion. But we don't necessarily have to do everything, enjoy working together."
As is often the case with RIWO , the question came to the Oldenzaal-based company via-via. "Often new customers have been told by existing relations when they have an issue: you have to call RIWO for that. We have a lot of knowledge here. From our role as system integrator, we have traditionally been strong in combining and integrating knowledge. We have a lot of domain knowledge, which we apply to different markets. That is our added value: thinking along in solutions and then developing and implementing it."
HSC Cranes' electric construction crane was developed in Oldenzaal , Hillcon converted a similar machine in Beilen to electric-powered pile driving. "Whereby the piling itself still runs on diesel. That is the next issue we are going to work on, that this can also be done in a more sustainable way. Eventually that machine too will go fully electric, a nice development. But of course we are talking about power outputs of more than 500kW. You won't just get that solved with a battery."
Hitachi / Sumitomo quality
"HSC Cranes comes from the merger of Hitachi Construction Machinery and Sumitomo Heavy Industries. They make large cranes for the building and construction world. Crawler cranes, suitable for rough terrain. The crane we converted here from diesel to electric drive had a basic 10-meter boom. But it can take a boom of about sixty meters."
The cranes are built in Japan, ex-factory with a diesel engine inside. Much of it also stays in Japan, but some is intended for export. "Japan is more conservative. They say: why should we up- or convert an entire production line to electrification now? For the whole electric sales market to Europe and the U.S., they cannot set up a whole line. Moreover, they don't have the knowledge yet, because they know that Europe is leading the way. They do have the technology, but then the knowledge comes mainly from Europe."
"In Europe - and especially in the Netherlands - we are goal- and solution-oriented. We just look at what is needed. We develop and create on that. Then within a year you have such a machine. In Japan they work very hard, but they have less of a drive to electrify, because it's not really necessary for the whole market yet."
Similar performance to diesel
Of course, there were some preconditions. For example, the dimensions of the crane were not allowed to change. In other words, the battery pack, electric motor and the whole construction had to fit into the existing diesel housing. "And we also didn't want any loss of capacity. The crane had to be able to run an 8- to 9-hour shift. So the challenge was first to figure out how much energy you need for that - and then how we got that to fit into the machine. It had to be able to do the same as a diesel machine, of course."
Actually, there were two capacity issues, or rather challenges. "It was really millimeter work. What fits where? And is it still serviceable afterwards? Because you can fill up a machine like that, but there also has to be room for service, maintenance and repair."
According to Huls, HSC Cranes makes over 300 of these cranes a year. "Of these, up to 50 will come to Europe. A very small proportion of these will be electrified - we are now assuming 3 to 5 annually. Although, of course, in time this will become more. We have now done this on a project basis. The ambition is to start working in series. For this we are designing a kit so that we can keep the engineering component low. The manufacturer will probably eventually build them themselves, in which case we will continue to do the aftercare."
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