Challenge

ESCO Corporation, a global provider of engineered products for mining, construction and other industrial markets, planned to design an improved hydraulic hammer for use with backhoes. ESCO knew its hydraulic hammer was running inefficiently and wanted to develop a new and improved model.  Because the hammer ran on the same hydraulic oil as the equipment to which it was attached, the inefficiencies of the hammer directly impacted the operating cost of the equipment.  ESCO hired MPR Associates in November 1999 to identify specific inefficiencies and design a method for improving the equipment's performance prior to building a prototype.  The project was completed in January 2000.

ESCO selected MPR for the project based on the company's extensive expertise and creative approach.  Typically, companies develop a concept, build a prototype and then conduct prototype testing, which is costly and time-consuming.  MPR's Technology group offers a different approach by solving engineering design problems in a cost effective and time sensitive manner.

MPR's proven approach starts with a technology assessment and concept definition.  MPR first reviewed and analyzed what the client had created to date against first principles engineering, the concept of referring back to the fundamental scientific laws that describe the behavior of physical systems.  Many engineering solutions are based on "handbook" solutions that rely on embedded simplifying assumptions and empirical data, which can result in solutions where the design margin and assumptions are not well understood.  By referring back to first principles, MPR can fully understand any simplifying assumptions made and can accurately assess design margins.  For ESCO, MPR used first principles engineering to develop the basis for the modeling approach and defined the simplifying assumptions. 

Approach

MPR started with a technology assessment to validate the equipment's underlying design.  It was difficult to measure the instrument parameters within the hydraulic hammer because of limited access to many of its intricate parts.   By developing a model using first principles engineering, MPR was able to predict the mechanical and hydraulic performance of the hammer and gain a much better understanding of how the hammer operates. 

Solution

MPR developed a model based on the existing product and then validated it against test data.  Once the model was validated, MPR used the model results to understand what was happening internally with the hydraulics and determined that the primary reason for the inefficiency was an unintended leakage path inside the equipment.  The leakage path only occurred during a portion of the hydraulic hammer cycle and would have been impossible to detect without a first-principles based analysis.  Evaluating test data alone would not have shown why the equipment was running inefficiently.  The use of modeling enabled MPR to understand the source of the problem.  Working collaboratively with the client, MPR developed a solution for increasing the equipment's efficiency.

Benefits

MPR identified the product's primary inefficiency without having to develop a prototype as part of the initial process by using first principles modeling of simulation through design, saving the client both time and money.  Working with the client over a six-week period, MPR's team evaluated and presented several options for improving the hydraulic hammer through modeling.  Based on the results, MPR and its client jointly developed a solution for creating a more efficient hydraulic hammer design.

ESCO Corporation sold the division that manufactures this equipment before a prototype could be developed.  MPR's work ended with the simulation modeling.