Sustainable development draws power from respect

Black Bruin motors and rotators have also supported many businesses, those of machine builders and machine operators alike. Whenever our hydraulics experts develop a new model or feature, they do it in the best interests of human, social, economic and environmental development. In all we do we try to make customers and nature an equal top priority. That’s why we’d rather talk about circular than linear economy. And our responsibility clearly extends beyond design and production to procurement – all the parts and raw materials we use to build the world’s most reliable power source.

Profoundly customer-oriented design

Like any serious business today, Black Bruin’s operations are guided by a powerful sustainability ethic, and our performance is evaluated not only in terms of financial results but also in terms of achievements with people, safety and the environment – and the way we work with other companies all along the supply chain. For us, helping mitigate climate change is a long cherished value, because we know that our customers and their customers – the loggers, farmers, fishermen and other machine operators highly respect nature in all its forms and want to work and earn a living with due respect for sustainable development.

The key design features of Black Bruin motors are used to promote sustainable development. Radial piston technology – direct drive – is much more compact than when you need a high-speed hydraulic motor and a gearbox. This means that less steel is needed. The design operates at a much lower noise level, too, which is especially important in urban areas – where applications with shredders, augers and drills powered by Black Bruin motors are so common. As one of our customers said: ”If I hadn’t seen the drill rotating, I wouldn’t have believed it was operating.”

Also, when you use a direct drive motor – ideally a Black Bruin radial piston motor – to replace a high-speed hydraulic motor and gearbox, you often cope without cooling the transmission oil. This obviously reduces the number of components in the system and energy consumption is lower, too.

Successful on fields and roads

In agricultural and forest trailers, the wheel hub motor uses the tractor’s hydraulics and needs no additional pump driven by tractor PTO to be effective. Auxiliary drive eliminates the need of massive tractor: A smaller machine has a smaller engine and consumes less fuel, thereby reducing CO2 emissions.

A smaller machine in fieldwork causes less compaction of the soil, which means better productivity. The crop can be harvested at the optimal time.  And in a rainy autumn, potato and carrot harvesting may be a very demanding job… Slurry tankers and manure spreaders may also encounter difficult conditions, especially in spring. With Black Bruin wheel drives they don’t need a tractor or excavator to pull them up from the wet fields.

Those who work in the forest know that Black Bruin rotators are very durable and need very little servicing during their lifetime. The secret is in their optimized radial piston technology which hardly wears at all, maintaining a tight grip year after year.

Here’s a short case story of how Black Bruin helps make a big difference: To revolutionize heavy transport efficiency, a very special power transmission solution was developed by the heavy lifting and transporting expert Mammoet. Branded as Trailer Power Assist, this TPA-system was able to cut in half the time for ITER’S first heavy transports. Using only two towing vehicles instead of the usual six, Mammoet has deployed the uniquely efficient TPA system to transport the ITER project’s first two toroidal field coils over 100km in southern France. Specially designed for long-haul heavy transport projects, TPA’s unique and versatile capabilities actually enabled Mammoet to complete the transports ahead of schedule. The versatility of the powered trailer system also provided Mammoet with enhanced handling combined with the system’s manoeuvrability. And the power source for TPA? None other than Black Bruin hydraulic motors!

Another impressive case is windmill maintenance work in Norway: Considerable savings in fuel and sand have been achieved there, because using the Black Bruin motors in the service vehicles has decisively reduced the need to resurface the sand roads.

Saving oil, brakes and nature

Of course, Black Bruin motors are only a relatively small player in a much bigger game, but we are keen to do our own part and manage it properly. And besides our own actions, we continuously explore new options and share our findings with our customers.

CTR101 and CTR201, the control options for Black Bruin’s On-Demand Drive System, ensure that optimal traction and freewheeling are always deployed. The system also features the HDC function to enable hydraulic braking – or the restraining effect of hydraulics – when descending steep hills. This function actually saves the actual operating brakes, which means that they don’t need to be replaced so often. And that – well – that means savings in both materials and energy.

And on top of that, at the end of their long lifecycle, Black Bruin motors are 95% recyclable.

There’s a lot of sustainable action at the Black Bruin factory and offices, too. That should be enough for another whole blog, coming out this spring.