Creating a Machine that Exceeds Expectations
With how quickly technology advances these days, manufacturers must know when and how to adopt newer, innovative technology into their machines. When customers began asking for better controls in the front loader concrete mixers, Terex Advance knew it was time for an upgrade—and fast. What started as a project to improve controls turned into a future-proof machine that exceeded customer expectations, thanks to the strong partnership between Evolution Motion Solutions and Bosch Rexroth. In this episode of Evolution in Controls, special guests Rod Walker, Director of Engineering at Advance, and Mike Croy, Mobile Market Manager at Evolution, join host Tim Wilson to discuss how this concrete mixer transformation was possible and why it was so successful.
Challenge
Front-loading and placing concrete are the functions of Advance’s concrete mixers, so the operating controls need to be reliable, efficient, repeatable, and intuitive. The predecessor controls solution wasn’t meeting customer expectations, and it was clear it wouldn’t get there. A new direction was needed, with new controls and new software.
Mike had previously worked with Advance on a smaller project and heard rumblings that the larger concrete mixers were also having an issue. He stepped in, knowing that Evolution’s engineering expertise and Bosch Rexroth’s experience with mobile equipment were exactly what Advance needed to solve this challenge.
Solution
Mike began by really learning how the front-loading concrete mixer worked, understanding how the predecessor controls functioned, and where exactly it needed improvement. During this process, several proposals were made as different problems and challenges arose. The final proposal offered more advanced controls that not only solved the current challenges but also prevented future issues by preemptively integrating this level of control technology.
The final solution was a variable-displacement pump and a variable-bent-axis motor, together forming a hydrostatic drum drive with custom min and max settings specific to Advance’s concrete mixers. Because this was new hardware for these trucks, appropriate software had to be developed to achieve the desired control. This is where Bosch Rexroth came in. With their deep experience in mobile machinery, they were able to develop software very specific to these hydrostatic drives.
The Rexroth drive software, FADI, allowed simulations of the proposed solution. Drawing on real data from all Rexroth products, they compared the solution’s performance and easily demonstrated success. Only one simulation attempt was needed for this, though minor tweaks were made to the model. Mike explains that FADI removes a lot of guesswork, reducing the time needed to finalize the solution.
Why This Partnership Worked
This partnership with Advance clearly demonstrates Evolution as an engineering partner. Advance’s own engineers already knew how they wanted the barrel to perform and how the user interface should be developed. By partnering with Evolution, they were able to focus on their specialty and what they already knew, while relying on Mike and Rexroth to focus on theirs: the hydraulic controls. By dividing the work among the experts, it only took a year to achieve the desired results, from the initial conversations to the final prototype.
The partnership and solution were such a success that when Mike needed to employ a concrete mixer for work at his home, he purposefully sought the new Advance trucks and interviewed the workers on the truck’s performance. The operators clearly expressed how much they enjoyed the improvements compared to what they were using previously.
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