Magnetics Business & Technology - July/August 2022 - 8

FEATURE ARTICLE
Carraro Advances Electrification of Agricultural & Construction Machinery
Traditional lines of equipment by Carraro of Italy are field tractors but it also makes sophisticated transmissions and powertrains for off-road
OEMs worldwide. Now the company has built a full range of electrified propulsion components powered by permanent-magnet motors.
Devoted to thoughtful and innovative engineering, agricultural
and construction equipment manufacturer Carraro Group of Italy
is bringing advancements in electrified mobility to workfields. It
has developed a sophisticated cadre of hybrid and fully electric
propulsion systems for powering off-road equipment without
compromise compared to traditional internal combustion engine
systems. The new machines use permanent-magnet synchronous
motors in tandem, or instead.
" Carraro considers vehicle electrification as a significant opportunity
to limit emissions without reducing productivity and
efficiency, " explains Giacomo Fiocchi, ePower Systems Director
of the venerable company. Established 90 years ago in rural Italy
as a manufacturer of machinery for seeding agricultural fields,
today it makes its own brand of specialized tractors while also
providing sophisticated power systems for many of the world's
leading manufacturers of agricultural, construction and material
handling equipment.
To support its electrification, transition the company has founded
a dedicated division, e-Power Systems, focused on the development
of e-mobility variations as well as associated digital and
electronic products and services, which integrates and completes
the existing product offering. Fiocchi shared with Magnetics
Magazine recently his company's path to product development
for the transition, and provided details of the process, using its
telescopic handlers as an example.
8 Magnetics Business & Technology * July/August 2022
" The ePower electrification process defines five macro-phases in
order to minimize designing and material costs then emphasizing
virtual activities, " he notes. " The process starts with three simulation
steps: vehicle mission definition, components and architecture
identification and performance simulation. Only in the last
two phases are real objects realized to complete the components
bench tuning and testing and the last step: vehicle testing. "
All data coming from the vehicle are acquired to have a clear
definition of all the working cycles and system performances.
After this, the simulation tool developed from ePower can create
the digital twin where the most important parameters (eg. tractive
effort, fuel consumption) are mapped. The real electric process
can now start based on the ePower library where all the key
components are already built and available for any simulation
loop. The library allows ePower engineers to tune all the major
parameters in order to obtain different results according to level
of customization.
" The telescopic handler is one the most interesting vehicles
for the electrification process due to its size and duty cycle, "
explains Fiocchi. " It's also becoming very attractive thanks to the
wide range of applications from agriculture to construction equipment. "
The ePower engineering team developed two different
solutions suitable for hybrid and full-electric architectures on the
same telescopic handler platform.
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Magnetics Business & Technology - July/August 2022

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