Toward a decarbonized society from factories—the power of evolving energy-saving hydraulic equipment

As the momentum for carbon neutrality increases worldwide, the 2050 Carbon Neutral Declaration announced by the Japanese government in 2020 targets the realization of a decarbonized society by 2050 and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to virtually zero. Industry sectors of manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries emit the second largest amounts of CO₂ emission by power plants. Among those industry sectors, the industrial machinery used in the social infrastructure and factories has a long life cycle and consumes more energy during use than during manufacture; therefore, energy-saving measures are an important social issue.^*1

With regard to environmental measures in the factories of the manufacturing industry, the first step toward saving energy tends to be the low technical hurdles presented by lighting and air conditioning. In order to further promote energy savings, improving production and other facilities is effective as shown in the figure below. Power consumption can be significantly reduced (energy saving) through rotation speed control and stopping or shortening unnecessary operating times. Currently, most electrical power is supplied by fossil fuels, so reducing power consumption leads to reduction in CO₂ emissions that contribute to the realization of carbon neutrality in the industry sector.

Then, what should we do when actually implementing rotation speed control and stopping or shortening unnecessary operating times for hydraulic equipment?

Kawasaki’s ECO SERVO is one of the options that can be expected to have a great effect.

Kawasaki’s ECO SERVO, released in 1999, is an epoch-making system born from the unprecedented idea of controlling the rotation speeds of hydraulic pumps and motors according to actuator operation to reduce wasteful energy. ECO SERVO offers the following advantages.

- Reduction of power consumption by up to 80%

- Significant reduction in noise during operation

- Reduction in the amount of hydraulic oil by downsizing the oil tank (to 1/20)*²

- Space saving due to the above (up to 1/3 of the installation area)^*2

- Facilitation of maintenance

An energy-saving hydraulic package unit is an option to more readily introduce ECO SERVO. The compact integration of a sealed pressurized tank and an oil cooler prevent the entry of foreign matter and allow the stable suction of hydraulic oil.

Furthermore, in August 2021, Kawasaki released ECO SERVO Light and ECO SERVO Avant standardized by function according to customer needs.

What changes will be generated by introducing ECO SERVO?

Surrounded by the magnificent nature of Hokkaido, Dynax Corporation is headquartered in a highly convenient location about 20 minutes by car from the New Chitose Airport. The company introduced ECO SERVO in 2015 and has realized energy savings since that time.

Dynax was founded in 1973 and has grown into a company known both at home and abroad as a specialized manufacturer of drivetrains for automobiles, construction machinery, and agricultural vehicles. In particular, the company built unique technologies for clutch discs and now boasts the number one market share in Japan and is number two in the world (46%). By continuing to meet the diverse needs of world-renowned automobile manufactures and industrial machinery manufacturers, the company is expanding its manufacturing and sales network to China, the United States, Mexico, and Hungary, in addition to Chitose City and Tomakomai City in Japan.

With the desire to contribute to local society, Dynax was one of the first to tackle environmental problems, such as removing asbestos from the friction materials that have been indispensable for the clutch discs of automatic transmission vehicles since the 1980s.

Mr. Kiyoto Goto, General Manager, Equipment Maintenance Department, Manufacturing Headquarters, Dynax, talks about the reason for introducing ECO SERVO as follows: “Conventional hydraulic equipment used a large amount of oil, and there was a lot of waste when changing oil, so we wanted to prevent the inside of the factory from getting dirty from the oil. While reviewing the hydraulic equipment to reduce the amount of oil, we decided to introduce ECO SERVO because it uses far less oil than other products and has the additional effect of reducing electricity costs. It is used in the press process to finish product plate thickness after bonding the friction material to the clutch disc and, at the same time, to finish the flat surface smoothly, which is our core technology. Plate thickness quality is an important process that affects clutch performance. Since we installed many press machines, a high energy-saving effect was obtained by deploying the same equipment to all of them.”

Currently, Dynax introduced seven ECO SERVOs into the Chitose factory, fifteen at the Tomakomai factory, fifteen at the factory in the United States, nine at the factory in Hungary, and two at the factory in China.

Mr. Goto talks about the concrete energy-saving effect of ECO SERVO as follows: “The effect of reducing power consumption was extremely high, and the power consumption by the equipment alone was reduced by 86% compared to conventional hydraulic equipment. The wonderful performance leads to reductions in CO₂ emissions. In general, energy-saving equipment has a high hurdle for introduction due to the high initial cost, but reductions in the costs of electricity can be a great advantage in the long term.

In addition, the Chitose factory used a large amount of oil and replaced it every year, but it is now possible to reduce the amount by about 2,000 L per year with the introduction of ECO SERVO.”

Mr. Yoshihiro Abe, Team Leader, Chitose Equipment Maintenance Team, Equipment Maintenance Department, Manufacturing Headquarters, Dynax, explains as follows: “For conventional hydraulic equipment, the motor was always operating at maximum load, so the problem was that the oil tended to deteriorate because of temperature changes and other reasons. Since ECO SERVO operates only when necessary by controlling rotation speed, the amount of oil circulating is small, and the amount of oil to be put into the tank can also be kept to the minimum in the first place. In addition, the oil deteriorates from contact with oxygen and contamination with dust, but the sealed pressurized tank of the ECO SERVO package unit prevents that deterioration and contamination. ECO SERVO does not stain the equipment with oil, is hard to break, and requires almost no maintenance once adjusted, which is especially helpful for overseas factories where frequent visit is difficult.”

According to Mr. Goto, “The ECO SERVO hydraulic equipment is friendly not only to the global environment and cost but also to workers. As you can see from actual experience, the operating noise is quieter than conventional hydraulic equipment, so that you may doubt that is it really operating. 

Low noise, low heat generation, and improved working environment are important for employees as well.”

Currently, Dynax has set up a carbon neutral committee and is promoting a variety of different efforts. In addition to the development of electrification technology, which is accelerating throughout the automobile industry, Dynax is making progress toward the realization of a decarbonized society by promoting the introduction of cogeneration systems that use the waste heat of exhaust gas when generating electricity with gas and the introduction of biomass power generation into its factories.