Electric agricultural machines are a real alternative to diesel-powered vehicles. With their dynamic and powerful driving behavior, electric vehicles master the usual tasks with flying colors and they do this with long operating durations, flexible charging options and minimum noise pollution.
Baumüller’s engineering company designs and implements innovative drive concepts for mobile machines and implements them comprehensively, i.e. from battery management and the control system to the user-friendly user interface. Baumüller equips both main drives and auxiliary drives, e.g. the hydraulic system in the bucket of a wheel loader, with its components and offers the option of integrating the BAUDIS IoT diagnostic and remote maintenance tool in addition to the electric drive system. In this way, necessary service measures can be planned in advance in a targeted way and operating times and loads can be optimally monitored and evaluated. This saves costs and enhances efficiency.
Intelligent drive solutions for agricultural machines
The powerMELA drive concept, which Baumüller developed especially for mobile use in collaboration with Sensor-Technik Wiedemann GmbH, meets all the requirements for e-mobility thanks to its high power density, its compact and robust construction and its recovery capabilities. It consists of a combination of a permanent magnet synchronous reluctance motor, assisted by embedded magnets and an integrated four-quadrant converter. The compact design is firstly due to the integration of the converter, and secondly the compact construction of the electric motor. The drive’s innovative cooling concept enables an extremely high power density. The drive system thus requires minimum installation space and only weighs around 300 kg for the highest power category, including the motor, converter and transmission. The power density is thereby double that for motors using standard water cooling. With a degree of protection up to IP6k9k and a permissible temperature range from – 40 °C to 85 °C, the drive is especially robust. The motor design is also characterized by a broad speed control range, due to its excellent field weakening capacity.
The motor is available in the 50 kW to 140 kW nominal power classes. Alongside direct use in vehicles, the powerMELA is also ideal for other applications, such as for trailers. In the higher power categories, a choice can be made between internal and external electronics. The drive can be used as a motor or a generator. Thanks to the extensive decoupling of the operating modes, it is possible to store excess energy, which improves the system’s energy efficiency as well as offering greater flexibility when designing innovative drive concepts.
The powerMELA duo 280 is the latest drive package. The summation gearbox is designed for commercial vehicles with a power of 160 to 280 kW. It consists of two identical powerMELA C140 synchronous machines, a summation gearbox with speed and temperature sensors and a control unit.
Easy to integrate into existing vehicles and easy to swap with a combustion engine, the drive package is the perfect retrofit solution.
Smart innovations for efficient drives
The powerMELA drive concept with internally toothed shaft is an absolute innovation. This interface version does not require any other costly transmission elements, such as couplings or pump supports. This cuts down on costs and optimizes the installation space. For the powerMELA drive system, this is offered for power ratings of 50 – 140 kW.
One of the major challenges for drive technology is the peak power required, for example, when starting up heavy commercial vehicles or moving heavy work loads and occurring at peak times. In such cases, enormous maximum torques are required to generate the required power and, if necessary, to maintain it. This is why Baumüller’s latest solution combines the powerMELA drive concept with an internally toothed shaft and a hydraulic pump. Peak power can also be achieved by adding a smaller motor to the hydraulic pump, making it more cost-effective.
The hydraulic pump provides a further advantage. In addition to providing support for the drive, it can also be used for steering and working hydraulics. This ensures that the high power for starting, high speeds and movement of high work loads are implemented efficiently.
