Motion and control technology specialist Parker Hannifin announced last month that its RunWise hydraulic hybrid drive transmission meets the fuel-economy standards that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed in mid-June.

The new standards call for large diesel-powered vehicles, such as refuse trucks manufactured from 2021 to 2027 to use 16% to 24% less fuel, depending on their size.

Parker’s RunWise hydraulic transmission represents a premier, alternative technology that is surpassing the EPA’s emissions requirements by reducing fuel consumption and emissions for more than 30 cities across the US, where the technology is being used.

“RunWise is a proven, cost-reducing transmission for refuse vehicles on the commercial market, [which] is providing significant returns for customers. The proposed standards are very encouraging and underscore the combined efforts of industry and government regulators to improve the environment and conserve the planet’s natural resources,” says Parker hybrid drive systems GM Shane Terblanche.

More than 200 diesel fuel refuse haulers in the US equipped with the RunWise hydraulic transmission have, on average, reduced fuel consumption by 43%, compared with conventional diesel fuel refuse haulers. The reduction is nearly double the proposed EPA requirements.

Additionally, the California Air Resources Board has also certified the RunWise transmission, paired with engine manufacturer Cummins’ 2015 engine model, as a validated technology to help improve fuel economy and efficiency in California refuse fleets by up to 50%.

“Since introducing the 18 RunWise-equipped refuse trucks into our fleet two years ago, we have experienced tremendous savings on fuel consumption of 47% and estimate paring pollutants by more than 5 300 t over a ten-year span. The technology continues to play an important role in achieving our Green Works Orlando goal to upgrade our entire fleet with sustainable green technology,” says Orlando city fleet manager Daryl Greenlee.

The Intellinder Actuation Sensor

In July, Parker launched its new smart cylinder for the power gener- ation market, featuring its ‘absolute position’ Intellinder actuation sensor.

Intellinder is a combination of a unique positional barcode pattern, etched on the cylinder’s piston rod, and a highly engineered optic reader. With resolution of up to 0.03 mm, speeds of up to 1 m/s, integral health monitoring, and the ease to incorporate true redundancy, Intellinder provides hydroelectric dam actuation engineers with an alternative to standard position monitoring.

By integrating a highly engineered sensor directly into the hydraulic, pneumatic or electromechanical actuator, the Intellinder eliminates the time and cost associated with gun drilling, as well as unprotected external sensors with complex links.

Installation of the Intellinder is plug-and-play. “The Intellinder sensor brings a unique competitive advantage to all of Parker’s cylin-ders,” says Parker industrial cylinder advanced motion products manager Bruce Besch.

He explains that standard positioning technologies rely on magnetostrictive sensors, variable resistance sensors and laser gauges. “They have limitations including short strokes, dead zones, calibration needs, water ingression, temperature-range restrictions, interference from contaminants, electrical noise and time-consuming removal and repair. These problems all add to inefficiencies of power generation operations, like those in hydroelectric dams, which increase operational cost. Parker’s Intellinder-enabled cylinders eliminate these issues and streamline operations,” says Besch.

The Intellinder sensor signals absolute positioning, rather than the position relative to the starting location of the rod. A position-identifying barcode pattern is etched directly onto standard rods, with no alterations required to the cylinder’s piston, head or cap.

The optic reader is bolted to the cylinder head and the position is communicated continually and directly to the controller. Position reporting occurs on powering up the equipment and does not require calibration. The design allows for full use of even double-rod cylinder applications, enabling customers to use both rod ends.

Intellinder feedback devices use serial bus connectivity, so multiple Intellinder cylinders can be networked together and relayed back to the host controller using a single cable. True redundancy is achieved by simply adding multiple, noncontacting reader sensors to the cylinder. Cables of up to 90 m from the farthest cylinder to the output module can be used. Analogue output modules are protected to IP67 and do not need to be mounted in enclosures.
Intellinder-enabled cylinders include hyd- raulic, pneumatic and electromechanical designs that are rugged and engineered to sustain performance in harsh-environment power generation actuation applications, including hydroelectric plants and dams, gas turbines, wind turbine rotors and solar panel tracking.

The Sentinel Purifier
Parker Hannifin launched a new portable purifier, in July, for applications in power generation environments called the Sentinel.

Developed by the company’s hydraulic filter division, the Sentinel product is the only purifier on the market with an automatic monitoring system, the company states.

The compact and mobile Sentinel system, which is also the smallest purifier in Parker’s range, is ideally suited for oil and hydraulic fluid reservoir systems of up to about 3 785 ℓ and, despite being made from 316 stainless steel, is 75% smaller and lighter than traditional full-sized purification systems – the system measures 114 cm × 50 cm × 69 cm and weighs 200 kg.

Serving three main functions, removing water, degassing and removing solid particles, the Sentinel system is highly efficient and uses a third less energy than larger units.

“Power generation is our largest market for Sentinel, as it is one of the only industries that never changes its oil unless absolutely necessary, typically adding new oil only as their reservoirs become low. This means the industry depends on filtration and purifier systems to keep the oil clean to improve operating con-ditions for transformers, electrohydraulic con- trol drives and turbines, thereby reducing high operating costs and profit losses through reduced downtime,” says Parker hydraulic fuel systems Sentinel product manager Garry Moore.

Sentinel features Parker’s IQAN MD3 elec-tronic interface and platform controller, which enables the operator to customise set points for various applications within a facility, includ- ing sample rates, moisture high/low limits, temperature, vacuum purge cycle, auto conden-sate drain and energy-conserving features.

In addition to setting custom parameters, the operator can choose from three modes of operation – standard, Sentinel and sample modes. Standard mode allows for less power consumption by drawing the fluid through the unit in a unique cyclic method. Sentinel mode is similar to standard mode, except that it draws fluid from the reservoir and tests it at the water saturation point, allowing for systems to hibernate between sampling points.

Sample mode tests the fluid in batches to test overall moisture level and temperature averages. Once the parameters and operating mode are set by the user, including timing settings of one hour to 720 hours, Sentinel operates unattended and automatically for the duration of the set time.

About Parker Hannifin

With sales of about $13-billion in the 2015 fiscal year, Parker Hannifin is the world’s leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a variety of mobile, industrial and aerospace markets.

The company employs about 55 000 people in 50 countries worldwide. It has increased its yearly dividends paid to shareholders for 59 consecutive fiscal years, which is among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.