As a result of the Kyoto Protocol [1], the European Union's legislation demands higher saving rates for the total energy consumption of technical equipment. Heavy Equipment, such as construction- and agricultural machines, contributes over 80% of the total off-road diesel fuel consumption in Germany per annum. It is therefore necessary to provide helpful solutions in order to reach this ambitious aim.
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research cooperates with machine manufacturers, component suppliers and research institutes in the area of heavy equipment. Under the project name TEAM [2] a three year project has been started, which is focused on the development and integration of new propulsion and steering systems for heavy equipment. One task within the project is finding an appropriate way of evaluating the energy efficiency of the enhanced machines, after the powertrain modifications have been applied to it.
The wide range of applicability, as well as the existence of one or more work functions, require a special approach for evaluating the energy efficiency of this category of vehicles. Therefore, a methodology was developed, which provides a uniform way to evaluate the energy efficiency of heavy equipment. This methodology is subdivided in a workflow of three consecutive sections. The first section, which leads to a derivation of representative movement- and load spectra is described in this article. The concept of the methodology is valid for all types of examined vehicles. Being funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the motivation for this resulting methodology is to remove the gap of missing efficiency evaluation practice for heavy equipment for European Union legislation processes in the coming years.