by Nick Drew | Tue 02 Apr 2013
Environment minister gets his hands on a Komatsu Hybrid at Ridgway Rentals
On Friday 1st March, environment minister Owen Paterson, was on hand to officially open Ridgway rental’s depot, ahead of a public open day on Saturday 2nd March, at the aptly named Earthmover House, in Oswestry, Shropshire.
Conservative MP for North Shropshire and current environment minister, Owen Paterson has probably performed many opening ceremonies in the past, but not many like this one I would suspect! Instead of the customary ribbon cutting with a pair of posh scissors, Mr Paterson was invited to take to the controls of one of the company’s revolutionary Komatsu Hybrid excavators, to cut a scaffold pole with a set of shears attached to the machine. Mr Paterson, was also involved in the planting of 5 new trees to signify the arrival of the first 5 environmentally friendly hybrid machines to the company’s fleet.
Talking about his experience at the controls of the Komatsu machine Mr Paterson said, “It was a bit different and it’s great to see investment of this kind in our local area”
After the opening event, the assembled guests were treated to a “walk and talk” on the various Komatsu products from a Komatsu product engineer. Products involved included the new HM300-3 articulated dumptruck, which has increased payload compared to the previous model, and is fitted with Komatsu’s latest emissions compliant engine, and features a DPF which captures 90% of particulates. Also included is an EGR system, which recycles engine gasses. Also included in the walk around was the Komatsu PC360LC-10 excavator and of course the aforementioned Hybrid PC215LC-1.
The HB215LC-1 is powered by the Komatsu Hybrid System, which includes an electric swing motor, power generator motor, capacitor and a 141 hp (104 kW) diesel engine. The company developed its revolutionary hybrid system to work on the principle of swing energy regeneration and energy storage using an ultra-capacitor system. These capacitors provide fast energy storage and instantaneous power transmission.
The kinetic energy generated during the swing-braking phase is converted to electricity, which is sent through an inverter and then captured by the capacitor. This captured energy is then discharged very quickly for upper structure rotation and to assist the engine as commanded by the hybrid controller when accelerating under workload conditions. These machines are rapidly gaining a foothold in markets around the world with end users reporting fuel savings in excess of 25%, which can only be a good thing with fuel prices at an all-time high.
After the thrills and spills of the opening ceremony, on Saturday it was time to open the doors to the general public. The open day was a huge success with hundreds of visitors coming from near and far. As is the norm during these open days the “drive a digger” event proved to be popular, with a constant queue of young and indeed not so young people keen to get some “stick time” on the available machines.
There was even an appearance from Bob the Builder and Scoop who proved to be a big hit with the children. Naturally there was a large selection of Komatsu’s latest kit on static display for people to sit in with Ridgway staff on hand to assist with entry and exit from the cabs.
Local haulers Pentons and North Shropshire transport brought a selection of vintage trucks, the MG Owner’s club came with some vintage cars & J T Hughes came along with some Hybrid cars.
Ridgway Rentals would like to say a big thank you to the air ambulance, fire and rescue, local police, local first responder’s, cadets & RAF Shawbury for bringing one of their training helicopters.