Emission Savings & Environmental Impact

A recent cross industry study in the USA estimated the average efficiency of hydraulic systems to be 22% and that for the USA alone this contributed over 300 Million of Tonnes of CO2 a year*.

An internal Domin study of the operation of construction Excavator confirmed these figures showing an overall efficiency of the hydraulic system to be 19 to 25 % (depending on operating duty).

Individual components within hydraulic systems (such as pumps and motors) have long been able to demonstrate power transfer efficiencies of up to 95%.

The challenge for system designers has been in combining high efficiency over a wide duty cycle, compact size and bi-directional energy control. As with electronic control, the obstacles have proved insurmountable when systems are controlled in an analogue or continuously variable basis. Variable control is the industry standard for Fluid Power. However, operating hydraulics in a discrete or ‘digital’ form is not new.

Displacement controlled pumps and motors have proved highly efficient with >90% in most operating conditions. They have gained acceptance in large scale applications such as wind turbine transmission**.

Domin has been able to take the principles of discrete operation and combine these with; their core technology of high-speed control valves, Domin’s emergent technology of compact hydraulic machines, energy storage in gas accumulation and advanced high speed motor control.

The result is ultra-compact digital hydraulic systems based around complex AM manifolds. The key is to be able to both drive and regenerate energy at >90% efficiency at high bandwidth and wide operating power levels.

* In our Excavator study we were able to model a reduction in fuel use to 38% of the current baseline. This is consistent with improving the overall system efficiency to 75-80%. For our example of a 20T Excavator we project an annual fuel saving of £7,800 and an environmental benefit of 41 Tonnes of CO2.

** These savings represent a global reduction in CO2 of over 1 Billion Tonnes per annum. In economic terms this represents a direct fuel cost saving for the users of £190 Billion. Additionally, we have an environmental benefit in CO2 emissions that would be reasonable to consider at £37 /Tonne saving ($50 USD). The societal benefit is therefore well over £200 Billion.