Electric Breaker Development

The construction machinery market is moving towards zero-emission vehicles, but their poor efficiency results in high energy consumption and limited runtime. Improving this efficiency is paramount to improving operating times and reducing the total cost of ownership. As well as the efficiency of the base machine, the efficiency of any attachments (the optional tools that are mounted to the base machine) must also be considered. The most common type of excavator attachment is a hydraulic breaker, used to break rocks and concrete. 

Conventional breakers are hydraulically actuated, sourcing power from the main hydraulic system. A hydraulic breaker utilises the full rated power of the engine (or electric motor), and conventional models are only 60% efficient at best. In a real world operation of a breaker equipped electric excavator, the battery life can be reduced by as much as 75%. 

In 2022/23 Scottish Enterprise commissioned a study to investigate the feasibility of developing an entirely new, directly electrified hydraulic breaker.  

In a short 6 month study, Orion Research used our rapid product development approach to take the idea from an initial concept to a tested bench prototype.

This included magnetic FEA, electronic and software development of a high bandwidth driver, as well as mechanical hardware. The results are very promising, and we would love to discuss the project with you if you are interested in hearing more.