A Danish engineering called Danfloss has developed a new digital hydraulic system designed specifically for electric construction equipment, claiming it can reduce energy consumption from a machine’s battery by 35% and improve runtime by more than 50%.

The breakthrough could prove significant for heavy-duty machinery, where electrification has often faced a major challenge: battery-powered machines must deliver enough runtime and productivity to match the demands of construction and mining work.

The project began with a Develon DX300LC-7 crawler excavator, which was converted into a fully electric machine.

The excavator was fitted with a Danfoss Editron EM-PMI375 drive motor, EC-C1200 inverter, and MC050 motor controller, along with three 140-kWh batteries.

The key change, however, came in the hydraulic system. Engineers replaced the excavator’s conventional swashplate hydraulic pump with a newly developed DDP180D pump motor designed to service the boom, arm, bucket, and swing functions.

Digital hydraulics cut battery demand

Unlike a conventional hydraulic setup that supplies constant power and pressure throughout the system, the new unit uses ten individually controllable outlets. These outlets provide hydraulic force only where it is needed, instead of continuously feeding the whole system at a peak-load level.

This allows designers to build around the machine’s average workload rather than its peak load. The result is a more efficient electric excavator that can perform significantly more work using the same amount of stored battery energy.

By reducing unnecessary hydraulic losses, the system cuts battery energy consumption by 35%.

In practical terms, this gives the machine more than 50% additional runtime, a major improvement for electric construction equipment that must operate for long work cycles in demanding environments.

“We are extremely encouraged by these results, but there is more work to do,” said Alasdair Robertson, senior director, Digital Displacement, Danfoss Power Solutions.

“Further gains are possible, and we will continue optimizing the system to maximize the energy savings and value for our customers,” he continued.

UK grant supports red diesel alternatives

The electrification project was partly funded through a grant from the UK’s Red Diesel Replacement Phase 2 Competition.

The program is designed to advance the development of lower-emission alternatives to red diesel used in the construction and mining industries.

Red diesel has long powered off-highway equipment, but industries that rely on heavy-duty machinery are increasingly looking for cleaner alternatives.

Electrification is one route, but battery size, runtime, and total cost of ownership remain central concerns.

Longer runtime could accelerate adoption

For electric construction machines, performance is not just about emissions. Operators also need smooth control, productivity, and cost advantages before battery-electric machines can be adopted more widely.

“Electric excavators offer excellent responsiveness, smooth control, a quiet cab environment and zero-emission operation,” added Robertson.

“With Dextreme Max, they can also deliver the runtime, productivity and total cost of ownership advantages required for wider adoption, thereby accelerating the decarbonization of heavy-duty machinery,” he said.

If the system can be scaled successfully, it could help make electric excavators and other heavy-duty machines more practical for real-world construction and mining operations.

By extending runtime while lowering battery energy demand, the technology could remove one of the biggest barriers facing off-highway electric vehicles.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are pushing materials design closer to the atomic scale by showing how MXenes can be tailored almost atom-by-atom for advanced technologies.

In two recent publications, researchers demonstrated new ways to control the types of atoms in MXenes, where those atoms sit, and what chemical groups attach to their atom-thin surfaces.

MXenes, pronounced “max-eens,” are a family of two-dimensional materials often just a few atoms thick. They are mainly made from transition metals, such as titanium, vanadium, or molybdenum, bonded to carbon and/or nitrogen.

Expanding the MXene material family

MXenes begin as layered solids called MAX phases. When researchers chemically remove one type of layer from a MAX phase, the remaining sheets can be separated into thin, flat MXene layers.

“I like to imagine MAX phases as a textbook with all the pages glued shut and MXenes as a single page you want to extract,” explained Brian Wyatt, a Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellow at Argonne.

“You have to dissolve the glue and coax that page out. The glue and pages represent different chemical environments, so atoms prefer to be near certain layers,” he added.

In work published in Science, Argonne scientists created 40 different MAX phases, each containing at least two metals and, in some cases, as many as nine metals in a single structure.

The achievement nearly doubled the known chemical space that can be used to make MXenes.

When atomic order breaks down

The researchers found that atomic ordering can continue when a material contains up to six different metals. But when seven or more metals are added, the pattern breaks down and the atoms become truly disordered.

“This is where entropy, the natural tendency toward randomness, wins,” Wyatt said. “Nature likes some kinds of order, but once we add enough different ingredients, it becomes too hard for the atoms to stay organized,” he added.

Using secondary ion mass spectrometry, or SIMS, the team measured the material layer by layer to see where different atoms were located.

Designer materials for future technologies

“We like to say that these are like designer materials,” Wyatt said. “If I want a certain application, I use these compositions; if I want something different, I use others. The class is so big, we can design for what we need.”

One promising use is electromagnetic interference shielding, where MXenes can block unwanted signals even in nanometer-thick coatings.

Researchers are also studying them for catalysis, where their exposed 2D surfaces could reduce the need for costly materials such as platinum.

“The tunability of MXenes is key for catalysis,” Muhoza said.

“Sometimes you need specific metals as active sites, but only a small area of bulk material is actually active. With MXenes, you can put those metals on a 2D structure, so they’re all exposed,” he added.

The next challenge is scaling these materials for manufacturing and industry adoption. Artificial intelligence and machine learning may help researchers identify which element combinations are most worth testing.

Researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have designed and tested a key component for rotating detonation engines (RDEs), an emerging combustion technology that could help make next-generation gas turbines more efficient, less fuel-intensive, and cleaner.

The work focuses on pressure gain combustion, a long-sought advancement in turbine technology.

Unlike conventional gas turbine combustion, which typically loses pressure during the combustion process, pressure gain combustion can increase pressure as fuel is burned.

This could significantly improve turbine performance while reducing fuel use and lowering nitrogen oxides emissions.

Detonation waves instead of conventional combustion

Rotating detonation engines operate in a fundamentally different way from today’s turbine combustors. Instead of relying on conventional flame-based combustion, RDEs use rapidly moving detonation waves inside a chamber.

These waves release energy quickly and generate high-pressure pulses that can potentially improve overall engine efficiency.

“We could achieve pressure gain combustion with RDEs because they operate using detonation waves rather than conventional combustion used in today’s gas turbines,” said NETL’s Justin Weber, who leads this project with his colleagues in the Lab’s Advanced Turbines research team.

“Detonations release energy more rapidly, forming a high-pressure pulse and shock wave. But transitioning this concept into reliable hardware has long posed scientific and engineering challenges — particularly in ensuring stable, repeatable detonation under varying operating conditions,” he continued.

That challenge has been one of the major barriers to turning RDEs from a promising laboratory concept into practical hardware for turbine-scale systems.

Computer modeling guides injector redesign

To address the issue, NETL researchers used high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations to redesign the injector that delivers fuel and air into the detonation chamber.

Earlier injector concepts suffered from startup instabilities, making it difficult to reliably generate and sustain the detonation waves needed for RDE operation.

The team used CFD modeling to examine how injector geometry, flow distribution, and fuel-mixing behavior affected wave formation.

This approach helped researchers develop a novel-aero strut injector configuration. According to NETL, the new design can sustain detonation waves while producing a lower pressure drop across the injector, improving performance.

The research demonstrates how advanced modeling can accelerate hardware development by reducing reliance on trial-and-error testing. It also gives researchers a deeper understanding of how combustion dynamics change under extreme operating conditions.

Stable waves confirmed in testing

NETL then tested the redesigned injector using its water-cooled RDE test platform, a research rig built to withstand extreme thermal loads during high-pressure detonation.

“To validate the new design, we integrated the injector into NETL’s water-cooled RDE test platform — an advanced research rig designed to withstand extreme thermal loads during high-pressure detonation,” Weber said.

The result directly supports NETL’s Advanced Turbines Program, which is focused on maturing pressure gain combustion and reducing technical risks for next-generation gas turbines.

A stable injector is considered a critical building block for practical RDE-based systems. By demonstrating consistent detonation behavior across multiple conditions, NETL has moved the technology closer to real-world deployment.

Researchers now plan to continue refining RDE components and exploring integration with turbine hardware, with the goal of eventually bringing pressure gain combustion from the laboratory into commercial energy infrastructure.

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated has announced that Teledyne FLIR Defense has secured an $11.2 million contract from the U.S. Army’s Capability Program Executive for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense to deliver more than 45 advanced CBRN unmanned aerial system kits.

The award is centered on equipping frontline units with unmanned systems that can detect, map, and assess hazardous environments without putting soldiers directly in danger.

The kits are based on Teledyne FLIR’s R80D SkyRaider unmanned aerial system and will include modular chemical, biological, and radiological detection payloads, along with resilient communications technologies.

“Safe-guarding soldiers from weapons of mass destruction is at the core of our mission,” said Dr. JihFen Lei, President of Teledyne Defense and Aerospace Group and Senior Vice President of Teledyne Technologies.

“These SkyRaider-based sensor kits dramatically improve how units can detect and map CBRN hazards without exposing warfighters to dangerous environments,” he added.

Drone kits built for CBRN threat detection

The kits were developed under the U.S. Army’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Sensor Integration on Robotic Platforms program, known as CSIRP.

The program is focused on rapidly prototyping and fielding modular sensor solutions that can enhance drones and unmanned ground vehicles.

According to the announcement, CSIRP brings together advanced sensing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomy, and communications technologies to improve robotic platforms used in hazardous environments.

For this contract, the R80D SkyRaider drone has been specially configured with semi-autonomous CBRN search and survey capabilities developed under the CSIRP program.

Once deployed, the drone can autonomously locate and characterize CBRN threats, giving operators a safer way to understand the risks present in contaminated areas.

Using detection payloads mounted on the drone, operators can view real-time hazard data through mapping, targeting, and communications tools.

This allows dismounted frontline units to rapidly assess contaminated environments while keeping personnel out of harm’s way.

Carrying modular payloads

Each kit includes the R80D SkyRaider drone carrying a selection of chemical, biological, and radiological detection payloads. The payload suite includes the Teledyne FLIR MUVE B330 biological sensor and features autonomous operation.

The modular nature of the system is a key part of the Army’s CSIRP effort, which aims to field sensor solutions that can be integrated onto robotic platforms for different operational needs.

In this case, the SkyRaider-based kit gives units a mobile aerial platform that can support CBRN search, survey, and hazard characterization missions.

The technology is intended to strengthen how frontline units respond to environments where chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear hazards may be present.

Instead of sending soldiers directly into contaminated zones, operators can use the drone to gather hazard data remotely and in real time.

Deliveries expected in 2026

The sensor kits will be built at Teledyne FLIR Defense facilities in Elkridge, Maryland, and West Lafayette, Indiana. Additional engineering work will be performed in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Deliveries under the $11.2 million contract are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2026.

For Teledyne FLIR Defense, the award adds to its work in integrated CBRN detection solutions and unmanned sensing systems.

For the Army, the SkyRaider-based kits represent another step toward using robotic platforms to help soldiers detect, map, and respond to dangerous battlefield hazards from a safer distance.