Today, intelligent operation of excavators is mainly used to save fuel and improve fuel economy, and to indicate the basic performance of the excavator status. It cannot be operated intelligently like a car. Considering the diversity and complexity of the working environment of the excavator, it may be possible to realize intelligent unmanned operation after data collection in the future. However, at present, excavator manufacturers will focus on developing clean energy and reducing fuel consumption. Here we introduce the possible development trends of excavators in the future.
1. Clean energy technology of electric and hybrid power
The development of electric excavators in cities has been very mature, but due to the limitation of battery technology, the current Mini excavator can maintain a working time of more than 6-8 hours, but there is still a performance gap compared with the same level of fuel excavators. However, 0 pollution emissions and low noise make pure electric excavators still have a large market demand in the city. Hybrid technology has been launched for more than ten years, but due to technical barriers and high post-maintenance costs, the market response is currently cold.
2. Artificial intelligence and automatic systems
In order to further reduce the cost of use, in the future, AI learning will be used to simulate the working environment for fully intelligent construction. This requires powerful AI computing power. It only needs to pre-design the program to enable the excavator equipment to self-identify and perform unmanned work. However, considering that there are many unexpected factors in excavation, more high-risk work can be carried out, such as building demolition and automation of high-risk areas to reduce operator risks. At present, some manufacturers have tried to operate excavators remotely with VR. Considering issues such as data transmission and delay, more remote operations in high-risk industries can be considered over short distances.
3. Modular and multi-functional tools
Today, there are more than a dozen types of tools that can be installed on excavators, and more than 50 types of subdivided tools. However, the use of tools often requires modification and customization of different types of booms and dippers in addition to installation on excavators, and even requires comprehensive modification of excavators. Modular design can complete the modification of excavators through rapid replacement efficiency, but it will greatly change the structure of excavators. This type of upgrade may be far away from us, and the cost of modules will be much higher than that of simply installing tools.
4. Green and environmental protection
The global pollution emission standards for construction machinery will have new requirements every few years. Manufacturers will upgrade excavators every few years, mainly for the adaptive upgrade of engine fuel technology and pollution emissions, but there are always bottlenecks in technology, so in the future, manufacturers may choose new energy. In addition to conventional fuel upgrades, lithium batteries, hydrogen energy and even other environmentally friendly energy may be applied to excavators, but it is necessary to consider the performance requirements of excavators and the factors that need to be considered in the manufacturing cost of excavators. In a short period of time, manufacturers will not make too many changes to the fuel version of excavators. Lithium battery technology excavators will still be used on small excavators in the future.
In addition to the above four points, the future development trend of excavators will still focus on high energy efficiency and low cost development as the core. Collaborative operations and integrated management systems also take into account that many excavator equipment in large-scale projects can simultaneously perform network operations, equipment usage status, maintenance cycles, and work performance and efficiency analysis to improve the excavator. Play an important role in work, but still need to rely on huge data analysis and computing power. Perhaps Ai will be able to make up for this shortcoming in the near future.