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Caterpillar’s 797 mining truck. |
Sometimes, the creative ideas and technology needed for designing a company’s product derive from the least likely of places — areas outside of the company’s own realm of expertise.
As an example, engineers at Xerox, Rochester, NY, never imagined that Caterpillar engineers would be working on product design challenges that were in any way similar to
Xerox’s challenges. Xerox makes copiers. Caterpillar, Peoria, IL, makes earth-moving equipment. What could they possibly have in common? The answer, it turns out, is rocks.
Caterpillar’s largest mining truck, the 797, hauls a hefty 360 tons of rocks and dirt in its bed per load. As an aid in development, the company’s engineers developed their own software to simulate the trucks many subsystems — hydraulics, electrical, electronics, mechanical, thermodynamic, etc. — into a single model. From the physics-based software, called Dynasty, (currently available for licensing), Caterpillar developed a software program called Rocks 3D that is used for simulating how approximately 10,000 rocks in the bed of the 797 would dynamically behave as the truck traversed an obstacle course. The very same software is now helping Xerox engineers determine how the thousands of very small rocks that constitute dry ink behaves when they leave a toner cartridge and move to paper.
Parallel developments
“Originally, we got together with Caterpillar engineers to share ideas about best practices for technology licensing,” says Mike Butler, Xerox’s licensing executive. “We were very surprised when we looked at our portfolios of technologies and found out that the nature of engineering problems on which we both worked was sometimes in the same space.”
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The Xerox WorkCentre Pro 90 B/W multifunction system prints, copies, etc. at 90 p/min. |
Butler adds that Xerox had been working on particle simulation software that would help the company improve the way toner is applied to paper when undergoing the xerographic process. Understanding the behavior of electrically charged toner particles of “rocks” that have different sizes and shapes is very complex process. “We wanted to understand the process so we could control the toner to make its deposition density more uniform,” says Butler.
Because Xerox and Caterpillar focus on different aspects of the general “particle problem,” Caterpillar has solved some of the underlying particle simulation problems that Xerox encountered when trying to model real behavior in software. Xerox has solved other aspects of the problem. “We even had similar names for our software,” says Butler. “Internally, ours is called PIC 3D.”
This technology transfer is one recent example of how design engineers are creating leapfrog technologies that may appear in products sold several years in the future. What Caterpillar and Xerox are realizing now through technology licensing agreements is that they can help each other at several points in the product design and development process.
“We used to keep our patented technologies pretty close to the vest,” says Bill Berlinger, manager, corporate licensing at Caterpillar. “But we see the potential to successfully transfer our technology to areas outside our core markets in many ways.” It is one way that Caterpillar is getting more mileage from the investment that it has made throughout decades of engineering and development of software, hardware, electronics, hydraulics, controls, engine design, fuel systems, and logistical operations.
Technology transfers outside of their core markets are not unusual at Caterpillar. In the automotive market, for example, Caterpillar has formed partnerships in nearly every phase of manufacturing, from research and development to prototyping, manufacturing and product evaluation.
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Particle simulation for copiers using Rocks 3D software originally created for mining equipment. |
Power cells
When Caterpillar wanted to offer its customers better power cells for earthmoving equipment, engineers started looking around for someone that could help them reach the next level of battery technology. When no battery manufacturer showed much interest in the project, the company seized the opportunity to transfer their knowledge into a start-up company, Firefly Energy, Inc, Peoria, IL. The research and development taking place at the new company is leading to a new power cell technology based on a radically different material concept that could soon replace traditional lead-acid batteries in many applications.
“We have automobile manufacturers showing interest in the test data from the new power cells,” says Firefly’s CEO, Ed Williams. “They like the low-cost of lead-acid batteries, but they don’t like the weight and limited number of available charges and discharges.” He adds that Lithium Ion and Nickel Metal Hydride technologies are ten to twenty times more expensive. “Besides the automotive industry, there is also interest in this technology from a telecommunications company,” says Williams.
Caterpillar’s Phil McClusky, manager of advanced materials technology, adds that the new battery technology also may be suitable for applications involving marine and railway products, uninterruptible power sources, mining vehicles, and general utilities.
Key to the battery’s performance and power density is an increase in the surface area over which battery chemistry takes place. The power density of traditional lead-acid batteries is limited by the number of lead plates that fit inside the battery envelope. In a standard car battery, there might typically be 100 to 120 of these plates, so the battery chemistry is limited to the surface area of the plates.
“Our new battery material has about 2,000 times more surface area per cubic inch than current lead-acid technology, and we use approximately 75% less lead,” says Williams. “We estimate that we will provide the equivalent charge in a package that is one-quarter the size of a standard lead-acid battery, one quarter the weight, and will perform better in the extreme temperatures in which equipment like Caterpillar’s operates.”
Williams indicates there are several areas within the automotive market that could benefit from this new technology, including cars and trucks powered by traditional combustion engines, electric vehicles, and hybrids. “Our test data indicates that our new battery could offer a longer life in these applications plus provide the ability to accept higher voltage charges from regenerative braking systems,” says Williams. “As the automotive industry moves from 12 to 42V, our new battery material could enable automotive manufactures to run power steering, air conditioning, and other automotive systems from the battery rather than run them off of the engine.”
Currently Firefly is undertaking accelerated testing of the new material to determine how long a battery made from the new material will last in various automotive applications. The company will then build prototypes that automotive manufacturers will test in labs for their vehicle prototypes.
In the case of Firefly, the successful transfer of technology took place in the beginning research phase of the product development process. For some products, it is the appropriate point at which technology transfers should take place, before designs are cast in stone. However, for some products, the technology transfer needs to take place further downstream.
Emissions testing
When Caterpillar engineers test engine prototypes, they need reliable means of measuring exhaust emissions for compliance with environmental regulations. After patenting key components in an emissions testing process, the company transferred the technology to one of its suppliers, Sierra Instruments, Monterey, CA, which resulted in a new product for the supplier.
“Caterpillar was primarily interested in using the technology for testing diesel engines used on their earthmoving equipment,” recalls Sierra’s president, Matt Olin. “Now, we offer the same technology for testing engines that power lawnmowers, motorcycles, and many other combustion-engine driven products.”
The first of two features transferred from Caterpillar to Sierra’s new Model BG-3 transient partial flow particulate sampling systems is the design of the dilution tunnel, which focuses on the control of thermophoretic deposition on the dilution tunnel walls in the emissions testing equipment. “Thermophoresis is the motion of aerosol in the direction of decreasing temperature — in this case, from a hot exhaust core toward a comparatively cool wall,” explains Rob Graze, senior engineering specialist at Caterpillar’s Technical Center, Mossville, IL. “Thermophoretic deposition is a major contributor to diesel exhaust particulate measurement variability because of the random re-entrainment of large agglomerates that form on the tunnel walls.”
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Sierra Instrument’s original exhaust emission testing equipment required approximately 1,000 sq ft of floor space. The new Model BG3 product with Caterpillar technology shown here is about the size of a refrigerator. |
The second level of technology focuses on the goal of replacing or refitting the large and expensive full flow (constant volume sampler) dilution system with a much smaller partial flow system. “The challenge is in developing a partial flow system that combines highly accurate flow measurement with adequate speed of response in order to follow transient engine test cycles,” says Graze. “The reality of transient sampling is that a significant percentage of the particulate is made during the low air-to-fuel ratio transitions encountered during accelerations.”
Graze adds that partial flow systems that cannot maintain exhaust sampling proportionality during these excursions will not achieve correlation to the full dilution system which is the global transient emissions measurement standard.
Olin notes that current exhaust emission testing requires approximately 1,000 sq ft of floor space. “Our new product using the Caterpillar technology is now about the size of a refrigerator and it performs tests in minutes rather than hours,” says Olin. The BG-3 is now available from Sierra for testing on- and off-highway engines manufactured to meet emission levels required by 2007, as outlined in ISO 16183.
Sierra’s new equipment will become an important development tool at Caterpillar, according to Graze. “Repeatable data is the key to accurately quantifying the small building blocks that represent progress toward meeting emission goals,” says Graze. “This is crucial information, as engine design and hardware changes are made during the development cycle based on those measurements.”
Considering licensing
In addition to the creation of new products, licensing technology from another company can reduce research and development costs. “Why start with a clean sheet of paper if the solution already exists?” asks Berlinger. “By licensing specific technologies, companies avoid unnecessary capital expenses and concentrate on what they do best.”
Reducing research and development costs often translates into the elimination of some of the time associated with carrying out the research and development. Therefore, companies that license technology often reduce their products’ time to market.
“I think that, out of habit, people tend to look only in their own industries for product development ideas,” concludes Xerox’s Butler. “But if you look outside of your industry, you can sometimes find the break-through technology you need. The possibilities exist where the technology is mature and the application is new.”
For more information:
Xerox,
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Caterpillar,
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Firefly Energy,
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Sierra Instrument,
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