Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Forwarder2020 (Smart Forwarder for sustainable and efficient forest operation and management)

Teaser

Forwarder2020 aims at improving sustainability of wood production and delivery as well as operational forest management and planning by developing five specific innovations for more efficient forwarders (wood extraction and transportation vehicles). Improvement of...

Summary

Forwarder2020 aims at improving sustainability of wood production and delivery as well as operational forest management and planning by developing five specific innovations for more efficient forwarders (wood extraction and transportation vehicles). Improvement of eco-friendliness and operational productivity of the forwarders will have the biggest direct effects to reach a more sustainable forest operation, including soil and climate protection.
Forwarder2020 project has then the following main objectives:
• Minimize damages on forest soils by reducing ground pressure under the machine wheels (avoid deep ruts, soil compression and reduction of growth of fine roots)
• Improve the fuel economy to decrease the need of fuel transport to the operation site and work interruption
• Improve driver’s comfort to diminish impact on the health and increase motivation of the operators
• Improve the timber harvesting on wetlands
• Improve transparency and documentation of the timber production
• Decrease the costs per volume extracted

To achieve this, Forwarder2020 will develop five innovative modules to be integrated into forwarders and focusing on the above mentioned objectives: hydrostatic mechanical transmission, suspended bogie axle with hydropneumatic suspension, hybrid energy saving crane system, triple-bogie rear axle and monitoring system.
The innovative modules will be integrated into two prototypes and tested under real operational conditions in Germany, Scotland, Lithuania and Romania.

Work performed

Market relevance and life-cycle assessment:
Studies implemented by customers and practitioners show that the modules are well matching the market needs. The Life-Cycle Assessment shows a slightly negative impact of the new modules in their trends, because they require higher masses and more material to be built. However, the ratio is still small in perspective of the whole life and utilization of the forwarder. In particular the benefits on the non-material side such as reduced soil impact, improved whole-body vibrations exposure, better terrain accessibility, decreased rutting on skid trails etc. compensate this small negative effect.
Design and construction of Forwarder2020 modules prototypes:
• Suspended bogie axle with hydropneumatic suspension
The suspended axle and the associated hydro-pneumatic suspension were completely designed and dimensioned (specifications, feasibility study, stress calculation, kinematic analyses) and are ready for production. The design of the forwarder front and rear chassis was adapted to allow the integration into a standard machine from HSM.
• Triple bogie axle with 3 driven wheels on each side
The prototype of the triple-bogie has been successfully produced, integrated into the forwarder and is ready to enter into the field test phase. The design was really challenging as this axle, being bigger than a normal axle, has to be interchangeable with this latter. Moreover, an additional challenge was to integrate the necessary additional drive-train into the limited space available. First impressions from the tests in Saxony are that this Module is performing very well and is giving a real benefit in term of soil protection.
• Energy-saving crane with energy recuperation system
To design the necessary hydraulic system for the energy recovery, the whole system was first simulated according to reference cycles based on real working processes. The simulations show a significantly reduced hydraulic power consumption. Forwarder2020 is using a prototype crane from the manufacturer Epsilon, but the whole hydraulic system was designed and produced by the partners. The final integration on the forwarder was successful and the crane system is now ready for the field tests.
• Hydrostatic mechanical transmission
The HVT-R2 from partner DRTS (already in use in other agricultural machines) was adapted to the Forwarder2020 needs and the integration into the forwarder chassis is now finalized at 90%. A specific cooling system has also been designed. The transmission controller software has been developed and finalized.
• Sustainable management decision tool (software and hardware)
A series of specific sensors to be installed on the forwarder have been selected and will provide data about different machine parameters such as transported weight, position, fuel consumption, etc. All data will be stored into a cloud storage and will be analyzed by the iFOS software of the partner BFH which will be run on-board on a windows tablet. The visualization of the data on the tablet will be possible thanks to the adapted GeoMail interface from partner FIG. The integration of both iFOS and GeoMail was successfully implemented and the monitoring system is now ready to be tested.

Integration of the Modules into the forwarder prototypes
All the KPIs and protocols for testing the prototypes have been defined. Only one forwarder prototype was finalized within the period. First tests were implemented in Saxony by the partner FDH end of March-beginning of April 2018. These tests are showing good results, especially for the triple-bogie axle, that will have to be confirmed during the first field demonstration in Scotland by partner CSP. The second prototype integrating modules 1 and 2 should be ready for test in Romania around March 2019.

Final results

The final result of the Forwarder2020 project will be the supply to the market of flexible high-end solutions above the competitors, where the customer can make his choice of equipment and bear no higher costs for the modules not chosen.
Forwarder2020 will then provide the following advantages and have the following impacts:
• Sustainable forest management decisions and operations:
o reduce fuel consumption during driving on long distances by 30% thanks to the new hydrostatic mechanical transmission developed by partner DRTS,
o double recuperation of the potential energy to save 30% of the fuel during loading and unloading of the forwarder thanks to the innovative energy-recuperation crane system developed by partners HSM, KIT, Hydac, Bosch-Rexroth and Roteca
• Lower environmental impact of forest Management and harvesting operations
o Low density of forest roads needed because of high efficiency on long hauling distances thanks to the innovative transmission system.
o Less rutting due to lower dynamic wheel loads (25%), thanks to the suspended axle with hydropneumatic suspension developed by partners HSM, Hydac, KIT and Roteca.
o Reduction of the ground pressure by approx. 50% on wetlands thanks to the triple bogie with three driven-wheels developed by partners HSM and Roteca.
o Better planning, online-control and quality assurance of harvest operations thanks to to the monitoring system developed by partners HSM, FIG and BFH
• Massive reduction of the risk to suffer of the occupational disease of back problems for the operator
o Vehicle suspension of the new forwarder reduce the low frequency vibrations by 70% at the same driving speed off-road thanks to the hydropneumatic suspension.
• Reduced need for truck roads networks; thus reduced negative ecological impact through truck roads:
o The transport of short-wood on the forwarder is more economical and the need for more forest road is minimized
• Sustainable supply of quality wood for the growth of forestry enterprises in the bio-economy and the creation of new jobs in SMEs
o The more attractive job for Forwarder operator due to the vehicle suspension

Website & more info

More info: http://www.forwarder2020-project.eu.