New Holland’s Electro-Hydraulic Self-Levelling system for telehandler tool carriers has been awarded an EIMA Innovation Award in the run up to the 2022 edition of the event.
To keep an attachment such as a bucket or pallet forks parallel to the ground when lifting and lowering the boom, current telehandlers most commonly use a system based on hydraulic compensation between a tilt cylinder and a compensation cylinder, the motions of which are governed by the lift cylinder. When the boom is lifting or lowering, oil flows from the compensation cylinder to the tilt cylinder to keep the attachment horizontal and parallel to the ground, and the load secure.
However, the oil flow quantity exchanged between the tilt and compensation cylinders is constant and independent from the attachment used. This means that when trying to keep the pallet forks parallel to the ground, the deviation angle may be only +/- three degrees, but with a bucket it may potentially be up to +/-12 degrees.
In order to achieve the maximum accuracy and efficiency in the levelling system, New Holland engineers have developed a solution that eliminates the compensation cylinder and incorporates two angle sensors, one at the rear of the boom to monitor the boom angle relative to the machine, and one at the front of the boom, on the tool carrier, to monitor its angle in relation to the boom. These two sensors provide real-time position information to an ECU. The machine’s software is then able to instantly calculate the exact oil flow quantity that needs to be delivered to the tilt cylinder, based on the position of the boom and the orientation of the tool carrier, in a closed loop. This ensures that, whether the telehandler is working with pallet forks or a bucket, optimal self-levelling accuracy is assured.
“This solution offers significant benefits for users, introducing a strong improvement in efficiency of the operations with the machine,” New Holland Agriculture’s head of tractyyors and telehandlers, Oscar Baroncelli, said. “Not only does it ensure limited losses of material due to the perfect levelling, but with no compensation cylinder the requirement/time and maintenance is reduced, and the machine is easier to operate, as the operator does not need to make any additional input to the joystick to supplement the automatic self-levelling.”
