Digging with precision

Electronic technologies continue to transform the off-highway environment, all the way down to the components used to create electrohydraulic systems, including pumps, valves, and new additions, such as house controllers and sensors.

Today's hydraulic systems are sharply different than those of the last decade, deploying numerous controllers and sensors. These devices are increasingly being integrated deeply into the system, so operators rarely know that they're interacting with a number of powerful devices every time they move a joystick. Even basic valves now have sophisticated electronics.

“We've got one processor per section of the valve. On a loader with two functions, we'll have two sections and two processors. An excavator may have 11 sections and 11 processors,” said Tony Welter, Mobile Valves Product Manager at Eaton.