Walvoil, Mesturini and Bangalore’s FPTS
Walvoil: expertise at workshops Walvoil in Bangalore. Following its participation in Aachen, the Interpump Group company also play its part to the Fluid Power Society of India annual conference held in Bangalore, the Indian subcontinent Sylicon Valley. Following some excerpts from the conversation with Davide Mesturini, Research and Development Manager at Walvoil (on the left in […]
Walvoil: expertise at workshops
Walvoil in Bangalore. Following its participation in Aachen, the Interpump Group company also play its part to the Fluid Power Society of India annual conference held in Bangalore, the Indian subcontinent Sylicon Valley.
Following some excerpts from the conversation with Davide Mesturini, Research and Development Manager at Walvoil (on the left in the picture).
Walvoil at FTPS. Mesturini says
«We often think of ‘disruptive’ innovation, reason that led me to rock the boat of FPTS 2018 audience. In the last 20 years, especially in the academic field, oleo-dynamic components future challenges are listed but have still remained largely unchanged.
More than 15 years ago oleo-dynamic distributors with high electronic integration and truly disruptive innovative contents were presented on the market. However, they have not achieved persuasive commercial successes because the market hardly incorporated these innovations. Off-highway always looks to the automotive industry, but costs sensitivity, limited volumes and regional specificities, strongly influenced its evolution».
«I talked about ‘wise innovation’, to highlight the need to understand what market is actually able to accept, how to measure the technical innovation and customize solutions tailored to specific needs. I highlighted this danger in reference to the risk of technicians to pursue objectives of maximizing performance at the cost of excessive sophistication. Technologies and know-how availability makes possible large evolutionary steps, but the real challenge lies in knowing how to adapt innovation proposals to market contexts. To give you an example, rental market spread partly influences machines evolution, often putting the economic logic behind the performance. The ‘wise innovation‘ meets the challenge of adding innovation, optimization from the point of view of efficiency and energy savings, respecting costs levels, simplicity and reliability sustainable by the market».
What about FPTS?
«This congress is a Fluid Power Society of India at the Pes University organization, involving the Indian academic and industrial world; an event highly local-oriented. The issue, “Latest trends in Fluid Power Technology“, was attended by about 150 companies. Talking about innovation as Walvoil we have brought to the table four main issues, on which we have been concentrating for years: energy efficiency, reliability, connectivity and customization. For each theme I brought a couple of case studies:
As for efficiency, intended as the possibility of energy recovery and storage, we recently carried out a study together with Imamoter, Ferrara’s Cnr, on an innovative system for the control of the pump and the dragging loads. A compensator control the descent through a compensation into the discharge orifice and sends the oil back into the circuit. Actuator movements take place through dragging load regeneration and recovery. Our test department has experimentally tested the circuit solution, previously optimized during simulation: a physical sample has been assembled on a Front Loader to highlight the system regeneration ability, thus recovering energy during movements with driving loads. Together with the University of Parma we have instead faced the optimization of the oleo-dynamic circuit of mini-excavators, concentrating on the recovery of energy from the rotation of the turret and the lowering of the excavator arm. The fuel savings recorded are in the order of 15 percent».
