Trucks which once had hundreds of electrical circuits now have thousands – and Eaton is at the forefront of developing electronic components suitable for OEM and aftermarket solutions.
Eaton is possibly best known in Australia for its driveline products, yet Eaton is a $24 billion company producing solutions across many industries as diverse as building construction and aerospace. Best described as an intelligent power management company, Eaton provides components capable of managing electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more reliably, efficiently, safely and sustainably.
A Canadian by birth, Mike Meleck has been with Eaton for 15 years, currently based in Chaska, Minnesota where he has a key role in the development of Eaton’s burgeoning eMobility offerings, particularly in the area of low voltage componentry. Mike’s background is as an aerospace engineer and he has built helicopters, worked for Boeing and for Rolls Royce jet engines.
Traditionally, commercial and construction vehicles have operated with a 12- or 24-volt electrical system, but with fuel economy regulations tightening and new power consuming components being added to vehicles, the need for more electrical power is driving the move towards 48-volt systems. There is also an ever-increasing need for electrical products which are robust enough for the applications they are used in. Eaton produces a range of products suitable for power conversion, power distribution and control, and circuit protection.
“Many of our products have their roots in military applications, which made them robust enough for use in construction and agriculture,” said Mike. “These products have paralleled very well into the trucking and passenger bus industries.”
Products like robust DC to DC convertors are now commonly seen in the commercial vehicle market.
“They have multiple ways of taking the voltage and converting it to something that’s going to benefit the customer, such as having 28-volts where they need batteries charged at a little higher level,” said Mike. “For example, to charge a lift gate battery, you’d have a difficult time trying to charge that battery with a 24-volt input when you actually need 28-volts. Booster convertors can take input voltage across a range of 19-volts to 32-volts and then turn it into a steady state 28-volt.”
As a result of the military background where components are designed to operate below the vehicle’s fording line, many of the Eaton components are IP68 rated which means they are submersible in up to two metres of water.
“The competition have air vents for cooling, yet we use a heat sink in what is literally a sealed box,” explained Mike. “It could be 60-80 degrees Celsius close to an engine and with no air flow whatsoever, but we can still operate in those types of environments. Or it could be mounted on the outside of a chassis and gets hit by a pressure washer, still with no effect on the components.”
The effect of voltage drops across the lengths of trailer sets is a well-known challenge in Australia with its long multiple trailer combinations. This is exacerbated because the Australian transport equipment market is quite unique in using equipment from all over the world, with 12-volt electrical systems being the standard in US-sourced equipment, 24 volts in Europe and a mixture out of Japan.
“With multiple trailers, 24 volts can be workable but by the time you get to the second trailer, then it’s down to 20 volts or lower due to voltage drop. To operate multiple trailer lights and braking systems you need a higher voltage to start with or a means to boost the voltage down the line,” said Mike.
Invertors capable of changing the truck’s DC voltage to 240-volts AC can be seen as an important factor in driver retention by making trucks safer and more liveable through enabling the use of the now common entertainment systems and microwave ovens, and also CPAP machines used to counter drivers’ sleep apnoea conditions for those drivers using sleeping cabs.
Basic electrical distribution modules along with analogue switches which are hard wired have been the industry standard for many years, but modern technology using CAN (Controller Area Network) permutations is able to reduce the amount of wiring that’s actually on the vehicles.
Eaton’s next generation high-voltage intelligent FLEX power distribution unit (PDU) monitors and manages all power distributed to power electronics and provides central protection for the electrical system for commercial vehicles. As the near future will see a move to 48-volt electrical systems and higher, Eaton provides OEMs with technologies that meet their needs. Eaton is also involved in the development of full and hybrid vehicle electrification.
Additionally, Eaton provides solutions for the remote wireless operation of transport and construction equipment such as concrete mixers and cranes including the remote operation of skid-steer loaders (bobcats) in dangerous situations, using bi-directional technology which receives the operational instructions and also transmits information. This requires a dedicated approach to protecting against radio interference, whether incidental or deliberate.
“Safety is a big part of all our vehicle controls and anything to do with control of the vehicle,” said Mike. “Functional safety measures in our products ensure reliable and safety critical operation.”