Heavy equipment actuation systems: Improving performance with advanced system simulation software
With the shift towards electrical, autonomous and connected heavy machinery, more and more control systems are introduced. This adds another level of complexity that impacts the time and cost of development for OEMs who are already under pressure to stay competitive. One of the areas of heavy equipment design that is impacted by complexity is actuation systems.
Actuators are everywhere. They are part of a machine component that achieves physical movements by converting energy, often electrical, air, or hydraulic, into mechanical force. Multidomain system simulation is key for researchers and engineers who face the challenges of improving machine actuation systems dynamics and designing control development for increased operation precision.
Virtual product integration using multidomain system simulation can reduce the number of real prototypes and solve integration problems earlier in the development cycle.
Below are several resources detailing how heavy equipment manufacturers can deploy system simulation software for mechatronic and hydraulic applications.
System simulation for heavy equipment mechatronic systems performance
Case study: Agricultural technology firm reduces time from concept to production
Just four years ago, it was common for this company to have two or three product prototypes when designing a new agricultural machine. Today that has been reduced to one by improving the simulation process.
Read this case study to see how this manufacturer used a customer-centric approach to mechatronic systems product development with the Siemens portfolio of Simcenter, NX and Teamcenter software solutions.
White paper: Enabling system simulation mass deployment
Learn how heavy equipment OEMs can leverage the value of existing models by providing an easy-to-use simulation platform for performing trade-off and optimization studies.
Check out the paper for more detail on easily performing architectures trade-off and optimization within the following sections:
- Forward by CNH Industrial: The simulation of complex systems
- System simulation for heavy equipment: The maturity age
- The simulation factory: Enabling system simulation mass deployment
- Managing the engineering complexity of a tractor with Simcenter System Analyst
System simulation for heavy equipment hydraulic systems performance
Case study: Assembly manufacturer cuts total project costs by 25%
A designer and manufacturer of hydraulic, electronic and mechatronic assemblies was challenged with improving driver safety in their heavy machinery while complying with regulations. Read the customer case study to learn how they used Simcenter engineering software solutions to reduce their development time-frame for hydraulic systems.
White paper: Accelerating hydraulic system design with model-based systems engineering
Get into the details and learn more about how model-based systems engineering (MBSE) supports the design of efficient hydraulic systems to manufacture more complex high-performance and robust products with fewer prototypes.
Dive deep into these sections of the paper to read about several application cases:
- Controllability and NVH characteristics of a vane pump
- Increase of energy efficiency
- Reduction of vibrations
Using Simcenter’s advanced simulation software for actuation systems
Simcenter Amesim is a multi-physics simulation software that helps manufacturers design scalable digital twins for optimal actuation systems performance engineering as well as actuation control calibration. Heavy equipment OEMs can implement a model-based engineering approach to address design optimization, verification and validation of control algorithms. Thanks to a smart use of scalable levels of modeling, the digital twin can support heavy equipment manufacturers with MiL, SiL, and HiL to bring more realistic representation of the system to be controlled.
Simcenter Amesim offers several advantages:
- Reduced development time
- Improved safety and performance
- Cost efficiency
As the heavy equipment industry continues to innovate and automate, tools like Simcenter Amesim will remain at the forefront, enabling smarter and more reliable systems.
Interested in seeing how Simcenter can take your simulation and testing to a new level? Click below and go over this course that covers the basics of hydraulic technology and its usage in hydraulic systems for motion control:
Dive into additional heavy equipment simulation use cases
This blog is part of a series addressing specific challenges with heavy equipment design and how simulation and testing software can help OEMs tackle complexity. Click below to explore additional use cases:
Durability and structural analysis
Heavy equipment electrification
Access additional resources about heavy equipment actuation systems solutions below:
On-demand webinar: Transitioning to model-based engineering across Heavy Equipment organizations
On-demand webinar: Moving forward hydraulic systems technology for heavy equipment
Talk to a Siemens expert today about mechatronic and hydraulic system solutions
