By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor
I just rolled over 50 years on the speedometer of life this week, and without a doubt, this exact time in history is the craziest I’ve been a part of, and I even include the pandemic. At least during the initial stages of lockdowns and nose swabs, the world was united against a singular foe. But the recent tidal forces are swapping between spring and neap on a level not seen since this Canadian has been walking this green Earth. I mention my nationality to declare I have no skin in the American political game, except perhaps some potential tariffs on the goods my company manufactures.
Blue or red, elephants or donkeys, your alignment matters little for the next few years because we still have to carry on and Git-R-Done. With the policy changes diverting the focus from green energy, the situation has me wondering what a fluid power world would look like where efficiency no longer mattered. I don’t necessarily mean throwing away piston pumps entirely, but that could happen as well. I’m thinking, what if an abundance of energy were combined with apathy towards climate change … what would our industry look like?
First of all, you can forget about emissions controls on internal combustion-motivated machinery, both on-highway and off. We would ditch some or all of the Tier 4 Final equipment, such as sophisticated electronics and Selective Catalytic Reduction, which add cost and complexity. I don’t think we’d want to go back to machinery spewing smoke like diesel drag strip trucks, but the industry would focus on profits and productivity. Manufacturers had to spend so much time splitting hairs over efficiency and weight to downside power units, so I’d expect machines to once again grow in size.
If efficiency was no longer a concern, the possibilities on hydraulic designs could be endless, like this image generated by AI.
For that matter, if a technology doesn’t improve performance or reduce machine cost, it’s going to be swapped out for something simpler and cheaper. If a piston pump costing twenty large can be swapped for something that costs only a few Benjamin Franklins, then what’s the harm in making it a hair larger in displacement to accommodate for the reduced efficiency?
In many cases, a piston pump might still provide the best option, especially in applications where total machine redesign is not possible, such as a 6,000 psi dozer. Such a case would require so many changes to beef up the machine to handle actuators twice the size, but machines (mobile or otherwise) running advanced technology like asynchronous motor-driven pumps with servo-controlled pressure and displacement control would go down like sophisticated dinosaurs.
If efficiency no longer mattered, there still would be no point in going back to pre-Tier 4 machines, as the time and investment to get us here today was too vast to write off as a sunk cost.
In many ways, industrial hydraulics have been more sophisticated than the bulk of mobile machines, so I wouldn’t expect 500-ton injection molding machines to ditch their servovalves. However, you bet that me, you and all the injection molding machine manufacturers are collectively irate over the exponentially increasing price of electric motors. It’s like 2010 came in like, “Oh sure, you can have this 89% efficient motor over here for $199, but that 91% efficient motor is on sale for $FirstBorn, so don’t sleep on it.”
The reality is that we won’t be taking many big steps back over the next four years since the time and investment to get us here today was too vast to write off as a sunk cost. If anything, we’re just moonwalking backwards but in the same direction. So regardless of unknowns as we move towards 2030, always remember that sneakers of progress keep moonwalking.
Filed Under: News
