Hybridization of a Backhoe Loader: Electric Drive System Design

Abstract

Heavy machinery is critical to agriculture, construction, mining, and other sectors of a country’s economy. However, such vehicles consume a high amount of fuel, increasing production costs and the emission of polluting gases into the atmosphere. One of the alternatives to reduce fuel consumption is the electrification of these vehicles, but the definition of an optimal topology for the electrification of heavy vehicles is still under study, and works with electric drive systems projects for these machines are scarce. This paper presents the main characteristics of the design of an electric drive system for the electrification of a backhoe, including the control and simulation of the motor drive system, and presents a prototype bench and experimental tests carried out in the context of the hybridization topology presented. Based in these results, improvements are proposed and discussed with aid of computational simulation.