Mobile vs. Industrial Fluid Power: Comparing Application Technology Needs

Fluid power, the collective term for hydraulics and pneumatics, is utilized to transmit power in several types of applications which are commonly categorized as either mobile or industrial. Although there are some similarities in technology requirements for mobile and industrial applications, there are also several differences.

Performance Objectives are the Same for Mobile and Industrial Machinery

Jenkins said maintenance is important for many mobile machinery owners because uptime is critical to their business, particularly for those in the agriculture industry. Farmers may only have a window of a couple of weeks to get into a field to plant or harvest their crops. If their machines go down during that time and cannot be repaired quickly, it can negatively impact their income for the year.

On the industrial side, Jensen said there is an expectation at this point that machines are equipped with sensors and other technology to monitor for potential maintenance issues so they can be addressed before a machine goes down. This provides the opportunity to schedule repairs instead of scrambling to fix a problem only when a machine goes down.

While electrification was indicated as the number one priority for mobile applications, Jenkins said that is not necessarily the case from CNH’s perspective. But he also noted that there are two sides to electrification — one of which involves decarbonizing the prime mover of a machine, such as replacing an engine with batteries, while the other relates to greater integration of electronic components like sensors, often referred to as electronification.

The latter is an area in which many OEMs, including CNH, and fluid power companies are working to increase connectivity, precision and control, and other performance aspects. In the years to come, some machine systems are likely to become more electrified to meet various performance requirements as well as aid efforts to automate systems and machines.

Anant Jain of Danfoss Power Solutions pointed to steering and braking systems as an example during the panel discussion. Many of these systems are transitioning to by-wire technology, meaning they are electronically controlled which helps achieve various performance improvements such as safety and control. However, he noted this does not mean hydraulics are being eliminated but instead becoming more electrified to further enhance their performance.

Read the article “Why Steering and Drive Systems are Transitioning to By-Wire Technology” to learn more about the transition to by-wire technologies.  

Decarbonizing a machine’s prime mover is also an area of electrification CNH and others are working in but remain on a case-by-case basis as not all industries or applications are suited to being electrified. Large, high-horsepower machines, for instance, continue to be difficult to electrify because of their power requirements. In these cases, hybridization or use of some electrified systems is the better option to achieve the benefits of electrification such as reduced energy use.

Electrification was listed as a lower priority for industrial applications, though still important from a technology strategy standpoint. Jensen said in this space there are initiatives to replace pneumatics with electric actuation, often to achieve efficiency and control improvements. But the bigger trend he sees is the use of electronic controls with pneumatic systems to improve control performance, which is a more critical factor for many industrial machinery customers. He said the switch to electric actuators is typically only made if very precise control or acceleration and deceleration is required.

Instead, safety is the most important technology strategy for industrial machinery manufacturers. Jensen said machine safety has become a higher priority for many in recent years partly due to European and other markets requiring machinery to meet certain standards to ensure the safety of those working around the machines. If a company has a global footprint, then it will want to have a consistent design in terms of safety to ensure it can sell machinery in all parts of the world which has led to safety becoming a higher design priority.  

In addition, rising concerns about food safety have helped make safety a higher priority as well. Recalls of various food products have increased over the past few years, placing a greater emphasis on the need to produce food in a safe manner — and therefore design machines and systems that enable this to be achieved. Jensen also noted that recent changes in food safety laws around the world have helped increase the emphasis on safety for many machine builders.

Understanding these differences in technology priorities for mobile and industrial is critical to ensuring fluid power solutions are capable of meeting each application’s specific performance and industry requirements. In addition, it can help inform future development efforts for hydraulics and pneumatics companies so their technologies continue to remain relevant and beneficial to customers.