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Kjell-Arne Engberg is the man behind EdiLog, the new electric-hybrid propelled loghandler. In one of his companies, Engbergs Transportsystem, loghandlers are one of the machine types operated on behalf of SCA in Timrå, Sweden. Kjell-Arne has seen the gap between modern technology and the technology used in loghandlers grow year by year. Eventually he decided he was going to make things happen in the loghandler industry to close the technology gap. The result was EdiLog, the worlds first electric-hybrid loghandler.
The first step for Kjell-Arne was to find a technology partner with knowledge and experience from electric hybrid drivetrains for heavy machinery. After a successful launch of the Huddig backhoe loader, Tigon, where Elforest was responsible for the development of the electric transmission and the battery system, Kjell-Arne found Elforest. As a first step, a pre-study of the loghandlers, currently used by Engbergs Transportsystem, was ordered.
Elforest installed their own Elforest Logger logging equipment in the machines. The logger records all data transmitted on the various CAN-busses of the machine control system. The data collected in this case where, among others, power, consumption and speed data from the diesel engine as well as hydraulic valve control currents, pressure and positions for the different moving parts of the machine. The data gathered was later the basis for a detailed report where energy losses in the drivetrain as well as in the hydraulic system where presented.
Elforest could also, based on its long experience from electric hybrid drivetrains in heavy machinery, present a selection of components that would suite for the extreme type of machine that a loghandler really is. Based on Elforest pre-study, Kjell-Arne chose to move on to the next step, retrofitting a modern electric-hybrid drivetrain to an existing loghandler.
Elforst, which over the years have worked very close to the Swedish Energy Agency, was able to help write applications for research funding grants. The funding was granted and the prototype project was thereby possible to start.
The engineers from Elforest designed a complete electric transmission for installation in a existing loghandler, see picture below. The project was based on the result from the pre-study. After designing and building the new drivetrain, Elforest engineers finally made the installation on site in Timrå. After a shorter period of finetuning the drivetrain, the machine was handed back to be used in the daily work.
In the prototype, as was previously done in the conventional loghandlers, an Elforest Logger was installed. This made it possible to store and later analyze the energy flow, power levels, etc. for the prototype. In the evaluation, the new data was compared to the data collected earlier. The analysis confirmed what the pre-study had predicted, the prototype project was a success!
Kjell-Arne Engberg buys the commercial rights for the Finnish manufacturer of loghandlers, Mantsinen. Elforest is given the assignment to continue the development of the diesel-electric drivetrain made for the prototype as well as the complete control system for the rest of the machine. Purchasing, CAD-design, etc. are some other areas that Elforest is assigned to.
Elforest provides its Elforest Logger for detailed logging of all subsystems of the loghandler. Analysis and troubleshooting is thereby possible to do live, over the Internet. All CAN-bus data is streamed and displayed on the workstation of the engineer with only a couple of seconds delay. The tool used for visualizing and doing computations on the signals is CANLogPlot, also a utility developed by Elforest Technologies. Furthermore, all data collected is sent to a server where it is stored for later analysis. Big-data analysis can then be used to find subtle trends to foresee component breakdowns before the occur.