This Week in Power & Motion: Parker Hannifin Partners with Volvo CE on Electric Race Cars

There is much going on in the world of hydraulics, pneumatics and electronics motion control, from technology introductions and industry advancements to new trends and industry leaders. Each week the Power & Motion team collects some of the latest industry news to help keep our readers up to date on what's happening in the fluid power and motion control sectors as well as the industries they serve.

Registration Opens for NFPA Industry & Economic Outlook Conference

The National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) has announced registration is open for its annual Industry & Economic Outlook Conference (IEOC) which provides market outlooks for the fluid power industry and its various customer segments. NFPA's 2023 event will take place August 15-16 at the Westin Chicago Northwest in Itasca, IL.

According to the association, the 2022 event achieved record-breaking attendance and expectations are high for the 2023 event. Speakers at the IEOC will offer insights into market trends and data that will help hydraulics and pneumatics companies plan their businesses in the coming years.

Currently scheduled topics and speakers for the 2023 event include:

U.S. & Global Macro Trends and Impacts by Alan Beaulieu, ITR Economics
Construction Machinery Forecast by Bill Baker, Off Highway Research
2023 NFPA Technology Roadmap update by Eric Lanke, NFPA
Fluid Power Industry Forecast by Jim Meil, ACT Research

In addition to the conference, another highlight of the event is the annual NFPA Foundation Golf Fundraiser, set to be held August 14, which helps to raise money to support various educational opportunities provided by the association.

Important dates to note for those interested in attending the IEOC:

July 7 - Early bird registration rate of $875 for NFPA members ends.
July 24 - Hotel reservations at the conference rate will be available until this date or the block is full, whichever comes first.

Motion President Promoted to Group President Role

Motion President Randy Breaux has been promoted to the newly created role of Group President, Genuine Parts Company (GPC) America of which Motion Industries is a subsidiary. Breaux's role is effective July 1, 2023; he is stepping in upon the retirement of Kevin Herron, President, U.S. Automotive Group (USAG). Herron plans to retire at the end of 2023 after 34 years with the company and will serve in an advisory role until that time.

Breaux joined Motion in 2011 as Senior Vice President of Marketing, Distribution, Purchasing and Strategic Planning, followed by a promotion to Executive Vice President in January 2018 and President in January 2019. During his time in these leadership roles, Breaux has helped to transform Motion and create a strategic vision to lead it forward in the coming years.

In his new role he will oversee GPC's automotive and industrial businesses in North America as well as assume day-to-day responsibility as President of USAG.

Kevin Herron (left), President, U.S. Automotive Group (USAG) will retire at the end of 2023 and Randy Breaux (right) has been promoted to the newly created role of Group President, GPC North America, effective July 1.

Helios Closes Acquisition of i3 Product Development

Helios Technologies announces it has completed its acquisition of i3 Product Development, a custom engineering services firm specializing in electronics, mechanical, industrial, embedded and software engineering. i3's speciality is transforming customer ideas into industrial design solutions using rapid prototyping and 3D models.

i3 works in a variety of industries including medical, off-highway, recreational and commercial marine, power sports, agriculture and more, many of which are also areas in which Helios specializes.

According to Josef Matosevic, Helios’ President and Chief Executive Officer, the acquisition will complement the company's existing internal engineering teams across its operating companies. "We believe i3 equips Helios with significant value-added professional services capabilities to solve our customers’ most complex needs. In addition, they will provide customization to our platforms and solutions. i3 fits perfectly into the telematics and data analytics roadmap we have articulated, and their culture is very aligned with ours," he said in Helios' press release announcing completion of the acquisition.

Helios first announced its plans to acquire i3 on May 4 at which time the company stated the acquisition will help to provide profitable engineering, consulting and product development services for products and solutions beyond what is already offered by Helios.

Parker Hannifin Partners with Volvo CE for FIA World Rallycross

Parker Hannifin is joining Volvo Construction Equipment's (Volvo CE) team for season two of the FIA World Rallycross (World RX) Championship — which combines rallying and circuit racing and takes place on mixed surfaces. The CE Dealer team, now called the CE Dealer Team by Volvo Construction Equipment, includes some of the OEM's other industry partners as well as independent construction equipment dealers:

SSAB
CTEK
Engcon
Swecon
Ascendum
SMT
Babcock

According to Volvo CE, each member of the team, including the OEM itself, is committed to driving sustainable change in the construction equipment and motorsport industries. Volvo CE plans to be more active in helping shape the team's goal to create a more diverse and sustainable future it states in its press release announcing the partnership, similar values shared by Parker Hannifin.

The team intends to update the race car to have a more modern design similar to that of the Volvo CE L120 Electric Conversion wheel loader on which Parker Hannifin was a collaborator. Since 2022, vehicles competing in the World RX Championship have been equipped with identical electric powertrains supplied by Kreisel — a developer of battery systems which has also worked recently with heavy equipment OEM John Deere. The powertrain is comprised of twin motors providing 500 kW of power and 880 Nm of instant torque which is said to make them even faster than Formula 1 vehicles.

At CONEXPO/IFPE 2023, John Deere and Kreisel debuted new battery modules for heavy-duty machinery applications.

Parker Hannifin has joined Volvo CE's FIA World RX Championship team, and will help create an electric race car which takes inspiration from Volvo's electric construction equipment.

Gates Creates Mobile Version of Belt Drive Design Tool

Gates has developed a mobile version of its Gates Design Power design tool for belt drive systems. With the mobile app, machine design engineers and factory operations teams can design drives anywhere states Tom Pitstick, chief strategy officer for Gates, in the company's press release announcing the launch of the app.

Included in the mobile version are five extended support modules as well as an upgraded version of the company's Design Flex Pro to ensure ease of use, accuracy and availability.

Facility Management is a new tool which has been added to allow users to monitor and update all of their power transmission drive projects in a single location. Routine maintenance notifications can be sent from the app for each installed drive as well, helping to reduce downtime for customers. Within the mobile app, users can see which drives require attention and details such as installation date, original tension settings and recommended replacement dates, among others.

Additional tools now available in Design Power Mobile include a Sonic Tension Meter, Flashlight RPM Meter, Sound Meter, and Distance Measurement tool. They utilize the mobile device's built-in camera, flash and microphone to easily gather data without requiring use of other devices.

The mobile version of Gates Design Power makes it easier to design drives from anywhere as well as monitor the performance of already installed components.

ZF Partners with Liebherr on Fuel Cell Air Compressor

ZF has developed a high-speed air compressor for fuel cells which enables the chemical reaction necessary for generating electricity. The company developed the compressor under an exclusive agreement with the Liebherr Group's Aerospace & Transportation product segment.

The two companies plan to develop advanced fuel cell air compressor systems for their respective customer bases, with ZF exclusively equipping commercial vehicles states the company in its press release announcing the development partnership.

According to ZF, the compressor is a critical component of fuel cell systems as they are dependent upon a reliable supply of air. Liebherr will bring its decades of experience to the project, especially that with air bearing technology — which uses pressurized air to create a gap between two surfaces, resulting in a contactless design which does not require lubrication.

In addition to an oil-free design, ZF states the air bearing technology offers advantages including high-speed operation and high power density which will benefit its use in heavy-duty commercial vehicles.