Caterpillar has introduced the outcomes of its prototype demonstration venture for a battery-powered area elevator with Flory Industries, a specialist within the manufacturing of nut-harvesting tools.
Accomplished through the fall harvest season within the Central Valley area of California, the sphere take a look at efficiently confirmed how a 600-volt battery-powered powertrain can ship the efficiency, reliability and sturdiness at present supplied on this utility by a traditional 74-horsepower diesel engine whereas decreasing upkeep and working with zero tailpipe emissions.
Supported by Holt of California, the native Cat seller, the prototype was examined over seven weeks within the almond and walnut orchards in California, with one website being Heinrich Farms, a 1,200-acre crop farm based mostly in Modesto. Right here, the unit operated a complete 10-hour workday on a single cost, loading 422,000 lbs of nuts into trailers all through the take a look at.
To beat the constraints of being off-grid, Heinrich Farms absolutely recharged the electrified area elevator in a single day throughout non-working hours utilizing the Cat XES60 Compact ESS cellular battery vitality storage system, which gives as much as 56.8kWh of capability.
“The electrified area elevator from Flory was dependable and unloaded our harvest as quick as standard tools powered by diesel engines whereas producing far much less noise,” says Jerad Heinrich, orchard supervisor for Heinrich Farms. “It lasted a complete day of labor with out stopping for a recharge, and we’re keen to make use of it once more for our subsequent harvest because the expertise continues to progress.”
The venture was the primary presentation of a prototype machine by a third-party OEM utilizing Caterpillar’s battery-powered answer. Based mostly on the optimistic outcomes of the demonstration, Flory plans to supply pilot items to pick out prospects later this yr, with full manufacturing anticipated in 2026.
“The elevator is an ideal utility for electrified machines because it sits idle for many of the workday,” says Tyler Hupp, product growth supervisor for Flory Industries. “This collaboration was a possibility to point out our dedication to delivering superior applied sciences to our prospects that enhance efficiency sustainably.”
Subject elevators are utilized for harvesting all tree nut crops, which embrace almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamias and pistachios. Used for transferring nuts into trailers or stockpiles, area elevators can course of anyplace from 50,000 as much as 250,000 lbs. of nuts every single day through the fall harvest season.
Usually, area elevators powered by diesel engines spend about 80% of their responsibility cycles at low idle in between hundreds, which accounts for about 45% of their complete gasoline consumption. These lengthy intervals of non-productive operation interspersed with the necessity for instantaneous energy make the elevator a great goal for electrification.
By changing the standard engine with an electrified powertrain, the brand new system can get rid of as much as 126 lbs. of carbon emissions per machine within the area day by day whereas eliminating diesel gasoline buy, transport and storage prices and decreasing ambient noise for close by employees.
With the assist of the XES60, the sphere elevator was in a position to work off-grid through the day and be charged in a single day.
Caterpillar supported the venture by evaluating system necessities, optimizing system architectures, managing system controls growth, calibration, and verification and performing last system validation.
Engineers built-in the batteries with inverters, motors, digital controls, digital companies and different crucial applied sciences in a power-dense answer that addresses frequent consumer considerations whereas demonstrating the quite a few advantages.
The electrified powertrain featured Caterpillar’s new prototype battery, which makes use of lithium-ion expertise and contains a modular design to spice up efficiency whereas minimizing packaging. Caterpillar is growing a spread of batteries for the off-highway business.
Holt of California utilized its particular information of Flory’s tools structure and responsibility cycles to offer day-to-day engineering, integration and testing assist.
Flory engineers coordinated the demonstration venture from the Flory Industries’ headquarters and growth centre in Salida, California, with assist from Caterpillar and Holt of California’s groups positioned within the Sacramento space. Flory has specified Cat diesel engines for powered tools all through its fleet of agricultural tools since 2002. The corporate at present makes use of US EPA Tier 4 Closing Cat engines for self-propelled harvesters, shuttle vehicles, elevators and brush shredders.
The battery-powered elevator is designed to be configured with Cat Join, enabling tools house owners and Cat sellers to remotely monitor efficiency throughout operation and charging cycles. This intelligence can then be leveraged to enhance productiveness by optimizing in-use and on-charge processes.
“We’ve gained invaluable insights from working with Flory to use our information of electrification and high-voltage techniques to the difficult environments of working California farms,” says Steve Ferguson, senior vp of Caterpillar Industrial Energy Programs. “This venture demonstrated how Caterpillar is efficiently aligning with fellow innovators to develop applied sciences that maximize the efficiency and reliability of electrified machines at real-world worksites. Caterpillar can present prospects with entry to the total ecosystem of parts to insights and the charging infrastructure.”
