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Development of environmentally friendly hydraulic excavators
New-era hydraulic excavators deliver environmental soundness and superior work performance
The prevention of global warming is one of the most important issues for the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group. The ZX200-3 hydraulic excavator has raised fuel efficiency, thereby contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
With the aim of manufacturing environmentally friendly excavators, Hitachi Construction Machinery has developed a completely new engine and a high-efficiency hydraulic system. Together they have led to a thirteen percent improvement in fuel efficiency compared with other excavators available today. The new engine suppresses the generation of particulate matter that arises from incomplete combustion by optimizing both the quantity of fuel to be injected as well as the timing of the injection. The engine meets increasingly stringent international emission regulations. It also reduces NOx emissions by re-burning the exhaust gas. Because of speed enhancements to the front end, made possible by Hitachi Construction Machinery's original new hydraulic system, workload capacity has been improved by twelve percent compared with other excavators.
Hydraulic excavator, ZX200-3
Hitachi spent approximately four years developing this new-era excavator that incorporates environmental soundness with high work performance. There is always difficulty in eliminating the gap between theory and actual practice during development. An example of this is noise. By measuring the noise emitted at every part of an actual excavator, we prepared a noise map from which we were able to reduce noise. This was accomplished by repeatedly performing trials and through constant measuring. We also enhance our products based on requests and complaints received in follow-up surveys that are conducted after product delivery to our customers. Our machinery is in operation at worksites all over the world and our engineers and technicians, covered in oil and mud, are continually working towards making improvements.
A personal attachment to the machines we manufacture
This is how we manufacture our products
Hiroyuki Isobe
Manager
Construction Equipment Development Center
Application, New Product&Construction Equipment Division
The ZX200-3 not only offers increased power and work load performance while consuming less fuel, but also produces less noise and has improved comfort and maneuverability. Only through the non-compromising attitude and determination of each member of the development design team were we able to successfully overcome each new challenge we faced. Many Hitachi Construction Machinery engineers, even if they were only involved in a tiny part of the production, boast to their children: "This is the machine I made." Every staff member feels a sense of attachment to the machines they work on. So, if a customer points out a problem with a machine, every employee is eager to make improvements. It is this sense of pride that leads to constant improvements in our machines. That is what production at Hitachi Construction Machinery is all about.
