Electric actuators push hydraulics out of off-highway equipment

Electric actuators eliminate pumps, hoses and valves, and make vehicles smaller, lighter, and quieter. Engineers designing off-highway vehicles are always under pressure to reduce fuel consumption by making vehicles lighter and more efficient. They also have to avoid environmentally damaging leaks and spills, and, most significantly, reduce installation and maintenance costs with simpler systems. One way to accomplish all three is to replace hydraulic systems with electric actuators. There are still situations that demand hydraulics, such as when loads exceed 2,000 lb or when moving loads with short strokes at 100% duty cycle. But for most off-road applications, electric systems eliminate bulky, heavy hydraulic power packs in favor of the existing battery power, replace cumbersome and dangerous hoses with wires, and use actuators that are usually smaller, lighter, and faster than hydraulic cylinders with the same force and stroke. Moreover, electric actuators run quieter than noisy hydraulic power supplies. It takes only three steps to determine the size of an actuator for an application: measure the load, determine the duty cycle, and specify stroke and retracted length. The first