Pressure intensifiers ensure high-volume, reliable fastening in solar field installations.
Contributed by Victoria Lower, Marketing Manager, IC-Fluid Power Inc.
In one utility-scale solar field, there are hundreds of rows of panel frames stretching across miles of open land, each frame held together by dozens of fasteners. On a single project, one machine may need to secure more than a million fasteners. For years, the only solutions were either inadequate battery-powered tools or manual labor, neither of which could keep pace with the repetition, speed, or size of the job.
Crews repeat the same fastening motion thousands of times per day. Standard battery-powered tooling wasn’t designed for this kind of work. On larger solar projects, tools must keep up without slowing crews down, losing power, or requiring constant replacement.
That’s the problem that Mark Spilker set out to solve.
From solar fields to power packs
Before becoming Hydraulic Power Plus, Spilker’s company operated as Solar Foundations, installing pile-driven foundations for expansive solar projects. While working in those fields, Spilker saw firsthand where existing hydraulic tooling and power systems were underperforming. In 2017, he launched Hydraulic Power Plus’ first hydraulic power pack, a device capable of running two high-pressure tools simultaneously, all day long.
With that launch, Hydraulic Power Plus was born, developing and selling tools and power equipment for an industry in which the company had spent years working. In 2018, Mark began prototyping the hydraulic guns that fasten lock bolts and structural blind rivets. After multiple design revisions and field tests, both the guns and the power packs reached a point where they were ready for production. Mark has continued to build on that foundation ever since, with product improvement motivated by the desire to provide the best possible experience for his customers.
High pressure power packs for high volume jobs
Hydraulic Power Plus has built its product line around the demands of high-volume fastening work. The hydraulic power packs are the company’s flagship product. These units are built to provide portable, high-output hydraulic power in applications where battery-powered tools struggle.
Industrial-scale solar fields require thousands of fasteners during installation. Using hydraulic power packs allows for quicker, more repeatable fastener installation.
Battery-powered tools can be useful for smaller jobs, but on larger solar fields, they can be slower, bulkier, more expensive and have limited battery life. The hydraulic power packs, by contrast, are portable and powered by diesel or gas, so they run all day long and are capable of up to 10,000 psi. They can be mounted on the backs of buggies for better mobility and deliver quick bursts of high pressure wherever the job demands.
Inside each power pack are two ScanWill MP-F pressure intensifiers. These units are an important part of the power pack’s functionality, allowing the main system to operate at a lower pressure while the intensifiers generate the higher pressure needed during the swaging cycle.
This means the power pack can deliver the force required for permanent fastening without building the entire machine around a more expensive, higher-pressure pump.
Applications beyond solar
Solar remains the primary application for Hydraulic Power Plus’ equipment due to the scale of utility-scale solar construction. Crews need to install large volumes of fasteners quickly, and the tools must provide enough force for the fastener to last a lifetime. However, the same needs exist in a number of different industries.
Semi-truck frame assembly, rail components and similar industrial applications all demand consistent pull force, fast cycle times, and continuous operation. In indoor environments, electric hydraulic power packs can provide the required hydraulic force without exhaust emissions or loud operational noise.
The iterative engineering cycle
Mark Spilker’s approach to product development centers on continuous improvement. Each product is refined based on field performance, customer feedback and the real conditions crews face on the job. Where some manufacturers accept tool failure as a normal part of the sales cycle, Hydraulic Power Plus takes the opposite approach, constantly finding ways to extend service life and improve performance. “I care a lot about the reliability and longevity of the products,” Spilker says.
Hydraulic power plus has designed and built custom Hydraulic Power Packs to help with the swaging of millions of fasteners installed in solar panel fields. scanwill pressure intensifiers enable the high-pressure required of this operation.
That mindset shows up in the small details. Inside the hydraulic guns, the puller and anvil are high-wear components. Rather than just accepting this wear, Mark has focused on improving the materials and the design to extend their service life. He also engineered a mechanical stop inside the tool to prevent the puller from breaking if a fastener is driven beyond specification, addressing one of the most common failure points in this field application.
The same mindset applies to the power packs and the pressure intensification method. Early versions of the equipment presented a difficult engineering problem. During the swaging cycle, when the fastener is permanently deformed and set, the system experienced a sudden hydraulic shock that traveled back through the system, stressing seals and internal components.
For Hydraulic Power Plus, solving that issue was not just about making the machine work through one cycle. It was about making the tools and power packs reliable enough to withstand thousands of fastening cycles per day in exposed outdoor environments.
This led Mark to evaluate the pressure intensification method inside the power pack and, ultimately, work with IC-Fluid Power and ScanWill on a more reliable solution. IC-Fluid Power distributes ScanWill products and other specialized international hydraulic components to the North American market. Its established relationship with ScanWill was key to making a solution possible.
Rather than simply supplying the components, IC-Fluid Power treated Mark’s problem as an engineering project from the start. Mark worked with IC-Fluid Power’s local team and ScanWill’s engineers in Denmark to review the system requirements, troubleshoot the pressure shock challenge, and determine the right configuration for Hydraulic Power Plus’ power packs.
the power packs use model mp-f pressure intensifiers from ScanWill.
The collaboration included a trip to ScanWill’s facility in Denmark to work through the details of potential solutions in person, coordinated by the president of IC-Fluid Power. After working through the application parameters with IC-Fluid Power and ScanWill’s engineers, Mark’s assessment was simple. “It mathematically works,” Mark said. “It’s just a good fit.”
Why pressure intensifiers and why ScanWill
Every Hydraulic Power Plus power pack runs two custom-built ScanWill MP-F pressure intensifiers, each with a 2:1 intensification ratio. These models feature a flange mount, designed to simplify installation, service and removal. The main reason, however, for using ScanWill intensifiers comes down to system function.
The hydraulic circuit typically operates at 2,400 psi, which is enough to power the system and support most of its functions. The swaging operation, however, requires 4,800 psi. A pressure intensifier bridges that gap.
Close Up of MP-F Pressure Intensifier on a Hydraulic Power Pack
Instead of requiring the entire hydraulic system to run at a higher pressure, the intensifier boosts pressure locally, only when and where it is needed. Running the full system at 4,800 psi would require a significantly more expensive high-pressure pump and heavy-duty plumbing throughout.
The reciprocating piston design is what makes the ScanWill pressure intensifier fit so well in the power packs. This internal mechanism allows for uninterrupted flow during pressure buildup, keeping the system stable through the high-pressure demand of each cycle.
The result is an intensifier that has performed across thousands of swaging cycles per day in exposed outdoor environments and continues to support Hydraulic Power Plus’ growing fleet of power packs in the field.
IC-Fluid Power
icfluid.com
Hydraulic Power Plus
hydraulicpowerplus.com
Filed Under: Components, Related Technologies
