NorrDigi revolutionary Energy Saver

Project Information

Norrdigi

Grant agreement ID: 830085

DOI

10.3030/830085

Project closed

EC signature date 31 October 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 31 March 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 3 133 625,00

EU contribution

€ 2 193 537,00

Coordinated by

NORRHYDRO OY
Finland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Norrdigi (NorrDigi revolutionary Energy Saver)

Reporting period: 2019-10-01 to 2021-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Traditional hydraulic systems are very inefficient, leading to large amount of waste, in the form of heat and emissions. The NorrDigiTM system is revolutionary in the way it uses, recuperates, shares and stores energy. The system is very flow conservative, which leads to lower flow requirements, which in turn leads to reduced pump requirements. By recuperating, sharing and storing energy, the prime mover, such as a diesel engine or electric motor, can be sized for mean power rather than peak power. By generating less heat, less cooling power is needed. All this play a large role in reducing the energy consumption and emissions. Reduced fuel consumption also has a great financial impact. For many machines in the target markets, the fuel consumption can be equal or greater than the total operator wages or the depreciation. The objectives are to commercialize the technology on a broader scale and gain adoption on suitable equipment, such as construction and material handling equipment.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During this project, the focus has been on reducing the size, weight and cost of the NorrDigiTM solution to make it more commercially feasible. For example, the number of valves used initially was 22 for every cylinder. The project goal is to reach as close to 8 as possible, as this is the minimum number from a control perspective. A reduced number of valves is desirable from reliability, cost and physical size perspectives as well. The project continues with valve supplier, whose products appear to be more stable in dynamic operation.
The results so far have reduced the number of valves to less than half, the physical size of the manifolds to half and reduced the total cost by more than 50% for purchased components

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The NorrDigiTM system has proved 45-60% fuel efficiency improvements in side-by-side tests, in the first phase on an excavator application. At the same time, a 5-12% productivity increase was accomplished. In the current phase, we’re striving for another 10-15% fuel efficiency improvement, which is the new state of the art, 3-4 times better than anything available! The impact on society is cleaner air, because the machines are only using half the amount of fuel, the machines can be made smaller, using less material. The reduced fuel consumption means improved profitability and productivity, which in part is contributed by the fewer fuel stops.

Norrdigi Demo product at Exhibition