Niftylift's Standard Duty Cycles Explained
Niftylift developed its 'Standard Duty Cycle' as a way to measure and compare the real-world performance of its products. Read on to learn more about how we do this...
Friday 6 November 2020
Background
With the increasing number of electric-only machines in the Niftylift product range, it is important for us to understand the endurance, efficiency and ultimately battery-life of these machines. To do this we have developed the Niftylift 'Standard Duty Cycle' test, which uses a specific repeatable sequence of machine functions that closely represent real-world machine usage.
Each sequence of machine functions is known as a Standard Duty Cycle (or SDC) and these are repeated until the machine's battery power is depleted. The number of SDCs that the machine will perform on one full charge is known as the 'SDC Rating' and provides us with a practical and realistic measure of how much 'work' a machine can perform, as well as a basis for comparison with other machines.
Note: Although developed for battery-powered machines, Niftylift also uses its SDC test to measure the performance of other machine power types. For example, for Diesel machines: the number of SDCs per tank of fuel etc.
The Niftylift Standard Duty Cycle (SDC) Test
All SDCs start with the machine in a fully charged state - with the battery charger showing an indication that the charge cycle is complete. The full safe working load of the machine must be present in the cage throughout the test, and all machine functions are operated at the maximum possible speed.
The SDC is repeated until the point at which the machine can no longer operate, or the battery display is showing 0%.
The industry standard for a typical day’s work is equivalent to 16 repetitions of our Standard Duty Cycle - or an SDC rating of 16.
Most new electric-only Niftylifts have an SDC rating of 32 or above, which means they could comfortably perform two full working days, or more, on a single charge.
Standard Duty Cycles by Machine Type
Real-world machine usage varies by machine type, so we use a different SDC for each of our product range types: Trailer Mounted, Self Propelled, Self Drive and TrackDrive. Each SDC is designed specifically to represent the way that machine type is used.
SDC for Trailer Mounted Machines
- Lower the Stabilisers
- Fully raise booms one function at a time
- Slew through 90 degrees
- Slew back through 90 degrees
- Fully lower booms one function at a time
- Wait 2 minutes
- Add 1 to SDC Count
- Return to step (2.) and repeat sequence 5 times
- Raise the Stabilisers
- Repeat the entire sequence until batteries are depleted
SDC for Self Propelled Machines
- Raise fly-boom (if applicable)
- Drive 30m forwards
- Drive 30m in reverse
- Fully raise booms, one function at a time
- Slew through 90 degrees
- Slew back through 90 degrees
- Fully lower booms one function at a time
- Wait 2 minutes
- Add 1 to SDC Count
- Repeat the entire sequence until batteries are depleted
SDC for Self Drive Machines
- Drive 30m forward
- Drive 30m in reverse
- Lower the Stabilisers
- Fully raise booms one function at a time
- Slew through 90 degrees
- Slew back through 90 degrees
- Fully lower booms one function at a time
- Wait 2 minutes
- Add 1 to SDC Count
- Return to step (4.) and repeat sequence 5 times
- Raise the Stabilisers
- Repeat the entire sequence until batteries are depleted
SDC for TrackDrive Machines
- Drive 20m forward
- Drive 20m in reverse
- Lower the Stabilisers
- Fully raise booms one function at a time
- Slew through 90 degrees
- Slew back through 90 degrees
- Fully lower booms one function at a time
- Wait 2 minutes
- Add 1 to SDC Count
- Return to step (4.) and repeat sequence 5 times
- Raise the Stabilisers
- Repeat the entire sequence until batteries are depleted
The Benefits of Standard Duty Cycle Testing
As the modern trend towards electric-powered machinery continues, improving battery life and efficiency is ever more important to Niftylift.
Standard Duty Cycle testing allows us to directly compare machine performance, throughout the product development process, allowing us to make fine adjustments that improve the efficiency of the machines and result in measurable benefits to our customers.
Contact Niftylift