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Eaton Helps Improve User Safety in New Steep Slope Harvester

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Eaton Helps Improve User Safety in New Steep Slope Harvester Success Story: Market Served Trinder Engineering Ltd. Forestry Eaton helps improve user safety in new Steep Slope Harvester Segment: Background as traction control and engine Forestry “This harvester is the With a specialty in serving and hydraulic oil levels. Trinder Location: first of its kind in New forestry customers in New knew that attaching a winch Nelson, New Zealand Zealand. Forest owners Zealand, Trinder Engineering cable to the machine would Ltd., with support from Eaton’s provide the needed traction Challenge: to counterbalance the steep Design a hydraulic system for tree in New Zealand are hydraulics distributor Fluid Power incline, but safety concerns harvesting machinery that helps Solutions Ltd., manufactures improve lumberjack safety on steep stipulating that a winch- heavy machinery to help still lingered. If a cable broke, it terrains where traditional assisted machine be lumberjacks efficiently harvest would be dangerous for workers harvesting machines are unusable trees. When working on varied and the harvester would need to due to instability. used on slopes over a terrain, lumberjacks face stay in place. Solution: treacherous conditions where For forestry companies, keeping A complete control solution package certain angle.” falling trees can potentially workers safe is paramount, to ensure precise control of machine cause injury or death. On flat which means the new machine Mike Grooby on uneven terrain. ground, forest owners typically had major obstacles to Senior Sales Engineer, Eaton Results: rely on harvesting machines to overcome – functioning safely A logic control solution using Eaton’s reduce the risk to lumberjacks. on extreme angles with heavier Pro-FX™ portfolio aided in the On steep hills, however, construction and different development of a one-of-a-kind traditional harvesting machines boom geometry. For the Trinder machine that is expected to become are not suitable due to their lack team, the new machine had to an industry standard for safety. of stability, lending itself to include complex logic control Contact Information: unsafe working conditions. and sensors for self-monitoring Mike Grooby to ensure the machine stayed in Eaton Hydraulics Challenges place regardless of conditions. [email protected] To enhance lumberjack safety, The harvesting machine’s Trinder set out to design and hydraulics needed a redesign build a new harvesting machine to manage the winch system, that could maneuver steep as well as to handle the sharp slopes and overcome the issues angles of the boom, which holds created by sharp angles, such the felling head – key to the cutting operation. ©2013 Eaton, All Rights Reserved, Document No. E-ELCL-AA001-E, November 2013 Capping off Trinder’s challenges, “There were two big challenges the machine was a totally new with this design,” said Gary concept, so the design team had Allen, Technical Sales & Service, no comparison for their creation. Fluid Power Solutions Ltd. “First, we wanted the winch to be Solution controlled automatically, allowing the operator to concentrate on Trinder invented and built a driving the felling machine." new harvester by disassembling and rebuilding “The second challenge was the flat ground harvester with achieving a high standard of heavier construction. safety, giving the operator the confidence to operate the Working with distributor Fluid machine on the steepest of Power Solutions Ltd., Eaton slopes with differing ground delivered a complete control conditions. Thanks to the solution package and helped system’s technology, we can Trinder’s programmer overcome now safely operate a complex Steep Slope Harvester circuit design issues. In addition hydraulic system with a high to a 7 inch Moeller color touch level of confidence,” said Allen. “This harvester is the first of its screen, Eaton recommended With Eaton’s control solution, kind in New Zealand,” said Mike three controllers, as well as the winch and tracks work in Grooby, senior sales engineer in directional control valves, hoses unison with the operator having Eaton’s hydraulics business. and fittings and slip-in and screw- the ability to change modes for “Forest owners in New Zealand in cartridge valves for hydraulic different terrain and are already stipulating that a control—all of which ensure manoeuvres via three buttons winch-assisted machine will be precise control even under the on one of his joysticks. used on slopes over a certain toughest of conditions. angle. This is likely to become an There is also a blade on the Trinder also benefited from industry-wide standard. machine which doubles as a Ultimately, the benefit for the Eaton’s global resources to safety device and is forestry market is that they can ensure it received products on automatically driven into the operate more safely and harvest time, meeting design deadlines. ground to provide stability in more efficiently.” case of a power failure. Results Though it will take years to fully The new machine features the determine how the new Trinder delivered a first-of-its-kind option of using the boom to harvester is helping reduce machine to the market, the Steep stabilize the machine. The forestry accidents, its use has Slope Tree Harvester (branded software program embeds the already helped minimize the ClimbMAX). The harvester gives monitoring of all electrical number of lumberjacks who forestry companies the ability to hardware components to have to work on steep slopes, safely operate in terrain that was ensure that everything is increasing safety by reducing difficult or unreachable previously. working correctly. the potential for accidents. Eaton Eaton Eaton Hydraulics Group USA Hydraulics Group Europe Hydraulics Group Asia Pacific 14615 Lone Oak Road Route de la Longeraie 7 Eaton Building Eden Prairie, MN 55344 1110 Morges No.7 Lane 280 Linhong Road USA Switzerland Changning District, Tel: 952-937-9800 Tel: +41 (0) 21 811 4600 Shanghai 200335 Fax: 952-294-7722 Fax: +41 (0) 21 811 4601 China www.eaton.com/hydraulics Tel: (+86 21) 5200 0099 Fax: (+86 21) 2230 7240 © 2013 Eaton All Rights Reserved November 2013.
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