Bonfiglioli launches ECGenuis: continuously variable transmission for telehandlers at bauma 2019

First published at bauma - April 8, 2019

Bonfiglioli’s new ECGenius CVT

Italian drive specialist Bonfiglioli in partnership with Canadian specialist CVTCORP is launching ECGenius, a mechanical continuously variable transmission (CVT) gearbox for the telehandler market.

Packed with patented technologies, the ECGenius combines high power capacity, efficiency and costs less than hydromechanical or hydrostatic solutions, according to Bonfiglioli.

“The combination of these three benefits are typically not possible with conventional technology,” said Andrea Torcelli, Bonfiglioli’s chief technical officer. “To have fully mechanical, continuously variable at the right cost is potentially disruptive.”

The ECGenius is based on a toroidal CVT system, which sees power transferred between input and output discs via rollers. This is not a new technology, but what CVTCORP has done, says Torcelli is to find new ways to overcome the various problems with such systems.

“The genius thing is how the control has been designed, how simple and robust the system for controlling the speed into the cartridge is,” said Torcelli.

One of CVTCORP’s improvements is the means of transferring power. There is no metal-to-metal contact; it is done instead via traction oil which solidifies under pressure to transmit the torque.

CVTCORP created this technology 15 years ago and has been testing it for the past 10 years, with data being gathered from 50 units in the field and 25,000 hours of accelerated testing. For most of that time it has been supplying the agricultural and generator market. Only three years ago did it start to look at construction.

The challenge for CVTCORP was moving from manufacturing units in small batches to mass manufacturing for construction, namely telehandlers. “The problem was we were not able to manufacture the products in the right way,” said Daniel Girard, founder and CEO of CVTCORP. “We found in Bonfiglioli the perfect partner for that.”

The ECGenuis will be manufactured in the US at a facility in Hebron, Kentucky. Bonfiglioli and CVTCORP have already signed a deal with SkyJack to provide the gear boxes to their telehandlers. Another OEM will be announcing a similar deal soon, says Girard.

Alhough Bonfiglioli is a global business, with sales of €913m in 2018, it has an entrepreneurial spirit, which Girard says fits very well with the ethos at CVTCORP. Bonfiglioli, in turn, appreciates the engineering ingenuity which has gone into the ECGenuis.

Bonfiglioli has a licensing agreement with CVTCORP which covers the construction equipment market.

Stand A3 337