Margins are being squeezed as competition intensifies in the construction equipment market. That's why vehicle manufacturers have turned product development into a finely-tuned process, building on precise and advanced measurements and tests. Volvo Construction Equipment (CE) uses HBK's SoMat eDAQ test system to help it test loader prototypes under extreme conditions. With its proud pedigree in Sweden, Volvo Construction Equipment (CE) is renowned for its engineering expertise and the excellent driving characteristics of its loaders and dumpers. And they're working hard to stay out in front. The large development and testing center near Eskilstuna is an example of how they intend to do this.
To test advanced construction equipment under real-life conditions as part of the product development process, exposing the vehicle to the real rough stuff, for example in a quarry. The test system not only has to cope with extreme conditions – it also has to handle a large number of test parameters while remaining easy to calibrate. And the entire system has to occupy a small footprint in the driver's cab.
Volvo Construction Equipment uses HBK's SoMat eDAQ test system as the basis for its field measurements. This robust system is installed in prototypes of construction equipment and operates out in the field, acquiring data like pressure, strain, temperature, position and acceleration as the vehicle is loaded and unloaded and moved around. Around ten channels are used for testing, but as many as 200 may be needed in some cases.
The SoMat eDAQ used by Volvo CE is a robust, reliable and flexible test system that sits unobtrusively in the driver's cab while loaders are being tested. The system can obtain data from a large number of channels, and the integrated modem means they can be remotely operated in order to analyze the customer's day-to-day driving. Once the large volume of data has been analyzed, the results are used as a basis for developing the fuel-efficient loaders of the future, with improved driving characteristics and greater sustainability.
The field tests carried out by Volvo CE's own test drivers can take anywhere between a couple of minutes to three quarters of an hour. Engineers are interested in acceleration, speed, forward and backward movements, loading and unloading in various combinations. Tests like this can accumulate up to 300 megabytes of data.
Analysis of the measured data starts immediately out in the field, using the Infield software. At this stage, the priority is to check the quality of the data.
"Evaluation software is crucial these days," says Lennart Skogh. "InField is quick and easy. The next step for us and our analysis engineers is to analyze and manipulate the test data, using either GlyphWorks or Matlab to identify patterns, extract statistics and spot differences between different drivers and their behavior. Everything we learn will later be used to improve our machines.
This is where the loaders of the future are tested – covering finished vehicle prototypes as well as individual components in exhaustively monitored rigs in the large test lab. The prototypes are subjected to a range of scenarios either within the test lab – which has the space to reproduce most conditions in controlled circumstances – or out in the real world. The testing department for loaders keeps several hundred people busy, and is based in the test center, occupying thousands of square meters. "We are constantly optimizing our range of nine loaders, and we are increasingly turning to field testing as a way of further refining them. Fuel consumption is receiving an awful lot of attention at the moment. We often evaluate driver behavior as a way of improving our vehicles and making them more fuel efficient," explains Lennart Skogh, test engineer and test driver for Volvo CE in Eskilstuna. He is one of the people organizing the toughest tests in which the vehicle prototypes are subjected to real-world conditions in places like quarries and gravel pits.
As vehicle testing increasingly moves out into the field, it is vital for the measuring equipment to stand its ground. Lennart Skogh and the 20 or so other Volvo CE test engineers use HBK's SoMat eDAQ test system for mobile data acquisition. "We were pioneers when we started using the SoMat 2500 test system back in the 1990s. We now do all our field testing with its replacement, eDAQ. It is actually installed in the loader so it has to be able to handle the rough stuff. We use anything between ten and 200 channels for a single test, obtaining parameters like pressure, strain, temperature, position and acceleration," explains Lennart Skogh.
To prepare for a test, the loader is rigged up with test equipment. The Eskilstuna instrument workshop contains all the equipment the team could possibly need. Along with some eDAQ systems, there are various sensor types, cables, GPS systems and cameras that can all be selected according to the particular test. Because the eDAQ system is usually installed in the driver's cab, it needs to be robust and unobtrusive. "The process of calibrating sensors to the eDAQ is straightforward without compromising on flexibility and versatility. Either the sensor's calibration values can be used, or a known value can be entered – such as minimum and maximum cylinder lengths," says Lennart Skogh. "User input is not always 100% reliable. That's why I particularly like the eDAQ's ability to detect most errors and flag them up in a warning dialog. This makes the system virtually foolproof."
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.