The installation of two Plantforce 20t excavators by hydrogen conversion specialists ULEMCo marks another important step towards the Element 1 project deploying an end-to-end hydrogen fuel solution on construction sites.
This is an important milestone in the project, with installation of the hydrogen tanks and control systems for the two Kobelco SK210HLC-10E excavators. In preparation, one of the Kobelco SK210 excavators has been tested to identify the percentage of diesel replacement and an engine map designed to identify the optimum amount of hydrogen that can be introduced without impacting engine performance by the team at ULEMCo.
The installation includes lifting the tank assembly onto each of the two excavators and attaching it to the body of the machine. The hydrogen fuel management system control unit is then attached and connected to the engine management system The final part of the process is the installation of the Human Machine Interface (HMI) in the cab which display key system information to the operator.
This now brings the number of converted excavators to a full fleet of four ready for deployment in the coming weeks.
Element 1 brings together expertise from construction (BAM & Skanska), plant hire (Flannery & Plantforce), hydrogen sector (ULEMCo, GeoPura, Reynolds Logistics) and Research and Technical Organisation BRE to develop the use of hydrogen as a supplement to lower diesel usage on construction sites.
