Liebherr drive technology – joining the electrification trend

At Bauma 2022, Liebherr will be showing electric drives with application areas “turning, driving and lifting”. With regard to the topics of climate neutrality and emission reduction, the shift towards electric, emission-free drives is already in full swing in the automotive industry. The construction industry is also closely following suit. But, how can a traction drive of a heavy, track-driven construction machine be electrified without forfeiting performance or compromising availability? “In the coming years, we will certainly see a variety of different types of drive solutions,” says Matthias Kiebler, who is responsible for advance development and innovation management at Liebherr's drive technology department. “The challenge we see for machine manufacturers is that they will have to find solutions for tight installation spaces, weight savings and different speed ranges, among other things – and all this with different weight classes and varying uptime of the application over the course of a day’s operation on the construction site.”

In line with this perspective, Liebherr's components product segment will be entering into an open dialog with customers and trade visitors at Bauma 2022, in order to discuss different points of view, to match requirements to applications and technology, and to present potential solutions. “We look forward to exciting discussions, as well as various perspectives and are happy to invite interested parties to join us at our booth 326 in hall A4,” says Thorsten Pohl, head of sales of the drive technology department. In addition to an open discussion on said issues, the Liebherr team will also outline application examples and projects they have implemented for the Liebherr companies, as well as for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

The exhibited LPI600 travel drive with the Liebherr PGK18/22 electric motor that finds its use in the most common sizes of construction machinery is a reallife example. With its compact design, it takes up relatively little space in the crawler undercarriage. This is an advantage when it comes to refurbishing existing undercarriage designs with electrification plans. At the same time, it provides a reliable and robust drive combination, which is completely sealed and secured to allow a wading depth of up to one meter below the waterline.

DAT1000 and LPX – the biggest and the heaviest amongst all slewing drive giants

„Drives for giant ideas“ at your fingertips: The DAT1000 is one of the largest and most powerful slewing gearboxes to date, which are often used in offshore cranes. Their high-quality design derives from the vast construction and process expertise and aims particularly at heavy-duty applications. With a height of almost three me-tres and its immense power, it can be adapted to customer-specific requirements, for instance with special module sizes, the pinion position at the top or bottom and, optionally, with a hydraulic or electric drive. To ensure permanent crane availability, it offers condition monitoring and can be equipped with appropriate sensor technology for analyses. This way, DATs can contribute to intelligent applications in Industry 4.0 beyond electrical operation.

With the LPX, Liebherr announces a new extra-large gearbox series and offers a first insight into the extended portfolio. The LPX gearbox series is intended for the heaviest industrial applications, such as roller presses, forming technology, manipulators in steel mills or ship locks, as well as centrifuges. With an immense force of up to over 7 million Nm and a weight of up to 17 tons, they will be among the strongest and heaviest slewing drives ever produced in the components product segment at the Biberach site in Germany. The LPX gearbox series are also primarily intended for electric drives. The first LPXs will be available in the course of 2023.

When safety comes first: DEW550 winch system

Maritime applications, especially ship-to-shore cranes, require reliable components for fast and, above all, safe cargo handling. With the DEW550 derrick winch, Liebherr offers a modular winch system that features high safety measures. Thanks to the use of a secondary brake and an emergency drive with auxiliary motor, goods can be positioned safely and in a controlled manner, even during emergency. This means that the crane can continue to operate reliably without long downtimes. Thanks to an integrated planetary plug-in gear, the modular winch system with an electric drive enables a compact design; it can be assembled quickly and easily. In short: Liebherr’s complete electric winch system offers an all-round carefree pack-age from one single source.