New HUSCO Electro-Hydraulic Cartridge Valves Enhance Digital Controls in Off-Highway Vehicles
Modern off-highway vehicles are becoming smarter than ever, thanks to electronic controls that optimize productivity and efficiency. With manual and pilot controls, equipment performance relies heavily on the skill of the operator. Today’s advanced electric controls aid operators of all skill levels in making the most of a vehicle’s capabilities — plus they allow for data collection, enhanced safety, and open the door to advanced design possibilities.
The biggest concerns for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) driving performance innovation with electronic controls have been proven performance in extreme conditions. HUSCO recently developed the Modular Electro-Hydraulic Cartridge Valve Family to provide OEMs with automotive-quality, high volume product design in a modular product family that holds up to demanding off-highway applications, including implement, powertrain, and transmission controls.
Electronics in the Trenches
To give construction, landscape, agriculture, and recreation equipment users a competitive edge in efficiency and reliability, off-highway vehicle OEMs strive to build equipment that consistently performs in even the most difficult applications. Electronic controls have the potential to increase machine productivity, provide faster, tools for more efficient operation, and reduce dependence on highly-experienced operators.
Electronic controls on off-highway equipment can track data, alert operators to maintenance issues, provide reminders of preventive maintenance needs, give immediate operator feedback, allow for different operator performance modes, and improve performance through better precision and reaction time. There’s even the potential for autonomous operation if electronic controls are connected to a more sophisticated system incorporating networking, software algorithms, and sensors.
HUSCO’s unique background makes it well suited to design superior electro-hydraulic cartridge valves for off-highway vehicles. We have more than 12 years of experience producing proportional electro-hydraulic cartridge valves used in off-highway equipment, and more than 20 years of experience designing EH cartridges for the automotive industry with millions of valves working in the field.
We’ve combined our cross-industry expertise and our first-hand knowledge of machine applications in the field to make a real difference in a wide range of control system operations, including powertrain, work function, and automation.
Rugged Reliability
Off-highway vehicles work in harsh environments, so their electronic controls need to be ready for every abuse. As electronically controlled vehicles have expanded in the market, OEMs have struggled to find electro-hydraulic cartridge valves with the reliability, performance and quality that matches or exceeds their needs.
The HUSCO modular electro-hydraulic cartridge family has an innovative armature bearing design — developed for extremely high duty cycle automotive applications — that reduces sensitivity to contaminants in harsh environments. This prevents failures and expensive unplanned downtime. A high specification molding for the coil and connector also helps to achieve best-in-class environmental ratings.
Performance Defined
A vehicle’s electronic controls must be comfortable, easy to learn, intuitive, and foolproof. Since a lot of construction equipment is often rented, digital controls help reduce the learning curve for operators who are inexperienced or working with unfamiliar vehicles.
High fidelity was a top goal of HUSCO engineers in the development of our electro-hydraulic cartridge valves. They are built with consistent, high precision performance in mind. It’s this commitment to performance excellence that enables OEMs to apply the electro-hydraulic cartridges for higher machine-level control actuating spools on main control valves, transmission controls, on-off valves for various low flow function applications, and more.
Off-highway vehicle OEMs need a trusted source for enabling advanced electronic controls. HUSCO’s high-quality electro-hydraulic cartridges provide a lifetime of performance and durability, giving OEMs peace of mind that their off-highway machines are the best on the market.
