Climate right for heavy machinery with hybrid electric systems
Published on 16 December, 2010
With growing potential for operational and maintenance cost savings as well as a reduction in greenhouse gases, now's the time for Australian industries to give serious consideration to adopting hybrid electric systems for heavy machinery...
That's according to Dr Sanath Alahakoon from CQUniversity, who will chair major symposiums on the potential for these hybrid systems in coming months.
Komatsu's hybrid excavator. A representative from the company will present at the Gladstone event
The symposiums will be presented at CQUniversity Gladstone on February 25 and at CQUniversity Mackay on March 4. Bookings are via the QCPD links at http://pathways.cqu.edu.au/ or lzbconferencecentre@cqu.edu.au or 07 4970 7322. Details are at: http://content.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=11438
Dr Alahakoon said most of the heavy machinery used in resource industries is powered by Internal Combustion (IC) engines using fossil fuels.
"It is well known that an IC engine driven system cannot be run at the operating point of maximum efficiency all the time. This causes an IC engine to emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases during its operation," he said.
"Our symposium aims at introducing the new hybrid electric technology, its benefits and challenges, including presentations mixed with computer simulations and laboratory demonstrations."
It is expected the events will benefit fleet, asset, environmental and maintenance managers as well as engineers, consultants, technicians, academics and researchers.
The key presenters will be senior research engineer Mats Leksell from the department of Electrical Machines and Power Electronics and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and CQUniversity Electrical Engineering lecturer Dr Alahakoon, who gained his PhD in Digital Motion Control from the Swedish institution.
Technical presenters will include Toyota technical specialist Peter Walker from Brisbane, National Business Manager (Excavators) for Komatsu Chris Moroz and reps from other industries in hybrid electric development.
Dr Alahakoon said CQUniversity is collaborating with Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology to launch a new research initiative on the 'Application of Hybrid Electric Systems for Heavy Machinery and Transportation in Resource Industries'.
"The material covered in the symposiums will help participants to discover the potential for innovative energy efficient, low carbon processes within their industries for the future," he said.