Danfoss

With the ever increasing demand in reducing emissions, increasing efficiency and productivity, markets today have never seen such an increase in technological products. Telematics, Autonomy and the electrification of machines are just such areas of which Group HES has sold and supported products into customer applications.

Telematics

Danfoss offers a range of telematic products giving different levels of access to the machine depending on whether you are a machine operator, owner, service technician or fleet manager.

This access is gained via the Danfoss Connect portal and individual login. The ability to connect with their machine can provide increased productivity, by monitoring the machine’s activity and reduce down time in case of a breakdown by quickly diagnosing the issue before sending someone out to repair. Viewing and recording sensor activity on the machine can provide addition data to allow preventative maintenance and data gathering for future years comparison. Such an example is on an agricultural sprayer where the pressures of reducing fuel or chemical costs are ever more prevalent. Telematics can also provide Geo Tracking. Geo Tracking is the ability to find the exact position of a machine and in having a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal a fleet manager has the option to Geo Track a machine and plan better routes and redirect operators to different locations if required. To fully utilise the benefits of the GNSS you can create a virtual geographical boundary around an area by means of the GNSS giving the software the ability to send a trigger response when the machine enters or leaves the defined area. This is called Geo Fencing and is often used in autonomous applications.

Autonomy

Whilst Autonomy has the perception to being vehicles that perform all functions without an operator, it is important to understand that autonomy can be split into a number of different levels. Such as operators that have systems on the vehicle the reduce the work load on the operator can be considered as the basic level of autonomy. A vehicle that performs key functions, but with an operator that can take over if needed is somewhere in the middle and a machine that has no operator and no local supervision is the highest level. Electronic valves, electronics and sensors form the heart of the autonomous application and can perform precision tasks faster and be more reliable, improve productivity and increase safety. Autonomy gives machines the capability to path or row follow, identify features, turns rows, obstacle detection to name a few. This could be applied to various agricultural, construction, airport and other such markets where the use of autonomy could be of benefit. An example of autonomy in use is a grape sprayer which has a very repeatable function. These have been developed to understand/ compute the positioning in the field, row following, end of row turns and obstacle detection, freeing up the requirement for an operator. Group HES has been involved and supplied technical knowledge on a large increase in autonomous projects over the last number of years as it is very much part of the future.

Electrification/Hybridisation

As we have all seen on the news, television documentaries, global leader conferences and protests the climate is one of the highest areas in which global change must happen. The Danfoss Editron product is a market leader in electrification/hybridisation of applications. With efficiencies of 96% being quoted the Danfoss Editron Products have the highest efficiency products on the market. Fuel reduction, reduced emissions, increased productivity and noise reductions are the main benefits and depending on the application can reward the end user with sub 1year payback. The products range from 30kW to 4MW in marine motor applications and upto 10MW in the oil/gas market. Many case studies have already been conducted on Electric buses, transport and passenger ferries and construction demonstrating its flexibility in providing an environmental and economic solution to climate change.