A schematic of the hybrid system, based on the Ergopower
transmission, that ZF plans to
launch at bauma in 2010.
BY ROBERTA PRANDI Over the last few years, there has been no shortage of new hybrid technologies unveiled to the
industry. Meanwhile, the Off-Road
Driveline Technology and Axle Systems
Division of ZF has bided its time.
That will end next spring, when the
company uses bauma 2010 to launch its
own production-ready off-highway hybrid technology, based on its Ergopower
automatic transmission, to the heavy-duty markets.
Hermann Beck, vice president of the
Construction Machinery Systems group
of ZF in Passau, said that ZF will also
show a new continuous variable transmission (CVT) for construction machinery at bauma.
“Fuel reduction, productivity increase
and emissions compensation are the
key issues the market has to deal with in
the future,” Beck said. “ZF sees several
steps on the path to hybrid.
“The first one is the harmonization of
existing components, realized with the
ZF Efficiency Package. Secondly comes
CVT technology and the hybridization of
the approved Ergopower transmission.
And the third step will be to present
hybrid solutions, based on the CVT, to
ZF TAKES LONGER ROAD
TO HYBRID TECHNOLOGY
composite the best of hydrodynamic and
hydrostatic technologies,” he added.
Beck said that the hybrid transmissions
will not only manage the drivetrain system, optimizing the utilization of a combustion engine and electrical motor, but
will also deal with the vehicle’s ancillaries.
At bauma, the new CVT transmission
will also be presented in an OEM’s construction vehicle, but ZF does not want to
reveal too many details at this point.
Beck will say, however, that the new system has shown potential for fuel savings
of up to 20%.
What is also certain is that ZF Off-Road is fully exploiting the numerous
synergies with its mother company ZF
Friedrichshafen, which is already offering hybrid technology in its automotive
business, particularly in the city bus and
light truck markets.
Beck pointed out how the company
has an investment plan of ; 40 to ; 50
million in the next three years for hybrid
technology, a figure that would be unthinkable for the limited production numbers from the off-highway market.
Further synergies will come from the
announced cooperation between ZF
Friedrichshafen and Continental in the
field of hybrids, where ZF will be the sys-
tem supplier and system integrator and
Continental will supply the lithium-ion (
Li-ion) battery accumulators.
Continental is already using Li-ion batteries for passenger cars in volume production and will further develop the battery technology together with ZF.
Contrary to the less powerful motors
required by passenger cars, the one for
commercial vehicles will have an output
of 60 k W and be used mainly in light distribution trucks. For city bus applications
the two companies envision the use of
two motors for a total accumulation
capacity of 120 k W.
ZF also believes the municipal vehicle
market will benefit from these hybrid systems, as the use of an electric PTO will
enable a power-on-demand concept,
with fuel being used only when the PTO
is in operation.
For commercial vehicles ZF offers
both serial hybrid technology, integrated
for example in city bus axles, as well as
parallel hybrids, where a combustion
engine and electric motor can be actuated in parallel by the transmission and
disconnected by a clutch when needed.
ZF and Continental expect to reach
volume production with the common
hybrid project in 2011, and according to
their plans, the output of hybrid systems
will reach a five-digit number. ;
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