PG Engineered Control Solutions

Tough actuators to meet the toughest standards

PG — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 20:44:10 +0000

PG actuators: Tough actuators to meet the toughest standards

There’s no more critical or demanding job for a generator set than supporting a forward-deployed combat team. PG Controls supports that mission with governor actuators for small (5kW, 10kW and 15kW) models of the latest military generator equipment.

Background: In the early 2000’s the United States and its allies were deployed in harsh, remote environments in critical operations. The Department of Defense recognized the need to upgrade power generation equipment across a wide range of power ratings. While the DoD always looks to Commercial products as a primary choice, they determined that the marketplace didn’t have mission-ready systems:

[Slide from Combat Systems Support Project Management Office March 2007]

As a result the Advanced Medium Mobile Power Sources (AMMPS) project was formed for field-deployable generator sets in ratings from 5-60kW.

PG had a long history in the successful design and manufacture of fuel governing actuators with a strong reputation for accurate and responsive engine speed control, lower operating temperature and longer life. Accordingly, we were selected to provide actuators for three engines from the Kubota Super Mini and Yanmar TNV Series Diesels that power AAMPS generator sets in the 5-15kW range (integrated into generator sets by Cummins Power Generation).

[5kW, 10kW and 15kW AMMPS generator sets]

AAMPS units are still in production today and operational across the globe with US and allied forces.

The PG products used on these engines are specialized versions of our SV and SJ family of small Diesel engine governor actuators, with unique features to address the extreme environmental operating demands of combat support missions.

We’ve “earned our stripes” in the rigors of tough qualification standards, robust in-theater performance and a solid record of high-quality manufacturing. We’re proud to play our small role on the AAMPS team.

Our long and successful history with the SV and SJ family, bolstered by lessons learned from AAMPS, makes PG the industry standard in electronically-governed small Diesels. Commercial versions of the SJ and SV actuator (examples shown below) are available for your industrial, power generation and marine project needs. Engines include not only Kubota and Yanmar, but also Caterpillar Perkins and Mitsubishi brands.

[Examples from SV and SJ actuator family]

We’d be happy to address your toughest governing challenges.

Take a look at our actuators here:

https://pgcontrols.com/product-category/actuators/

… or e-mail us with your specific needs at customerservice@pgcontrols.com

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PG Makes the News

PG — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 14:34:15 +0000

PG Engineered Control Solutions has moved – and it’s very exciting that this change was featured by WTVO, a local Rockford TV station, in their segment “Made In The Stateline” which aired on Thursday, Feb 9, 2017.

Why the move? At its heart, PG’s move was about the future, and about our customers’ futures. We continue the design, development and test efforts that will allow our customers to make the most of Hybrid Electric Vehicles, or HEVs. While our former building served us well, we simply couldn’t maintain production of our engine speed control-focused products while developing, testing and selling our HEV systems, at least not in the footprint we had. In the end, the momentum of interest in our HEV offering propelled us to a bigger and better facility, one that enables us to meet the needs and requirements of our customers.

There are so many exciting things happening here at PG on the HEV front! Watch this space over the coming weeks and months for further information about PG’s plans to support its customers – and their end users! – with the products and systems they need to make the most out of hybrid electric systems.

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GIE+EXPO 2016

PG — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 12:45:12 +0000

PG’s Hybrid Electric ZTR development continues. In this video, you’ll get a brief look at the vehicle on a flat surface, along with a sample of real-time performance information from our wireless data logger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7s4xxKYC9A
Soon we’ll be testing our new, PG-designed electric motor controls, and we expect to demonstrate the rugged, energy-efficient and cost-effective product that makes a Hybrid system the preferred power option for the premium ZTR market.
Come see us at the GIE+EXPO, and let’s talk about…
– MORE flexibility for your landscaping power needs, from vehicle layout to PTO options
– LESS Tier IV regulatory cost, assembly labor, maintenance time and fuel burned
– NO belts, pulleys, or hydraulic oil
… and ALL made possible with PG Hybrid Electric Technology!
See you at Booth 10083!

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Electrification Update

PG — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 20:43:10 +0000

Back to the topic of electrification and hybrid technology: it’s a big deal here at PG. Big enough that we plan to display our Hybrid technology at the upcoming Green Industry and Equipment Expo (GIE) in Louisville (October 19-21).

And, as I mentioned in my last entry, at PG we “live the promise” of electrification in our personal mobility choices, too. I drive a Toyota Avalon Hybrid; my Sales boss has gone a step further by choosing a plug-in: a Chevy Volt.

The PG Fleet: Avalon Hybrid and Volt Plug-In Hybrid

Beside the fact that we love great cars that sip fuel while delivering smooth, quiet and responsive rides, we also think it’s important to have daily, personal experience and understanding of the technologies we offer to our customers.

The Key Electrification Principle

The Avalon and the Volt above apply a simple principle: optimize the combination of a smaller, lower-output engine and electrical energy storage (a battery) to perform the desired mission while burning the least amount of fuel.

The Avalon uses a small battery for startup, very low speed driving and acceleration assist, with the engine operating most of the time. It gives excellent all-around performance on much less fuel. The Volt has a bigger battery that fully powers the car for about 40 miles, but operates much like the Avalon when the battery is near depletion. The result is silent, emission-free urban/suburban driving, with fuel burned only when needed for longer drives.

The design teams adopted different strategies, to be sure. But both companies optimized a battery/engine combination for the mission, and exploited advantages of electric accessories (A/C, power steering, etc.) to use energy more efficiently.

And we’re doing the same here at PG.

Here’s what it means to you

Electrification promises new advances for cleaner, more efficient engine-driven equipment, and not just for cars. PG offers robust , affordable, safe electrification solutions to landscaping and industrial applications… solutions that result in:

smaller engines operated more efficiently,
flexibility in vehicle configuration and manufacture, and
greater productivity throughout the entire value chain, from factory to field.

Would you like to…

– avoid the expensive and complex Tier-IV emission solutions for engines in the 25-30hp range, but still maintain overall performance?

– evict hydraulic fluids from your factory, customer working environment, and service area?

– offer your customers the option for silent operation during load/unload and transport?

Then give us a call, drop an e-mail, or best of all make a plan to see us at the GIE (booth 10083) to discover the possibilities of electrification.

Meanwhile watch this space!

‘Til next week,

Dave

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Electrification Update

PG — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 20:35:32 +0000

The PG Fleet: Avalon Hybrid and Volt Plug-In Hybrid

The Key Electrification Principle

And we’re doing the same here at PG.

Here’s what it means to you

smaller engines operated more efficiently,
flexibility in vehicle configuration and manufacture, and
greater productivity throughout the entire value chain, from factory to field.

Would you like to…

– avoid the expensive and complex Tier-IV emission solutions for engines in the 25-30hp range, but still maintain overall performance?

– evict hydraulic fluids from your factory, customer working environment, and service area?

– offer your customers the option for silent operation during load/unload and transport?

Then give us a call, drop an e-mail, or best of all make a plan to see us at the GIE (booth 10083) to discover the possibilities of electrification.

Meanwhile watch this space!

‘Til next week,

Dave

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The Power of Electrification: an Introduction

PG — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 20:13:53 +0000

I drive a nice hybrid vehicle to work each day. My wife also drives a nice vehicle, with a similarly-sized gas tank. When she fills up her car’s gas tank, the “Distance to Empty” indicator shows about 370 miles to empty; when I fill up my hybrid vehicle’s gas tank, the same type indicator shows over 500 miles to empty – more than 35% better than my wife’s very nice but non-hybrid vehicle. The benefit of electrification becomes very clear with fewer stops at the pump.

The PG tag line is ‘Engineering Power’ for a reason: we’re working hard to bring the benefits of electrification to our customer base and the end users of their equipment. The fuel savings aspects of electrification illustrated here are an obvious starting point, but it doesn’t end here. Watch this space for more discussion about the benefits of hybrid systems and vehicle electrification in your products!

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Buffalo Turbine Cyclone Blower

PG — Thu, 14 May 2015 09:00:01 +0000

The Buffalo Turbine Cyclone Blower

Buffalo Turbine (BT) is a globally-recognized designer and manufacturer of high performance debris blowers for a variety of markets from landscaping and agriculture to municipal and public event cleanup. Among their many products is the Cyclone series of large, powerful debris blowers.

Their challenge was to add wireless radio frequency (RF) control for a new version of this product line. Their goal was to control the engine – startup/shutdown and speed – as well as the nozzle direction, allowing the operator to control the machine in all modes from a towing vehicle without the need for a wired connection.

There were numerous hurdles to address, not the least of which was to “overlay” engine commands to a Tier IV certified, Electronically Fuel-Injected (EFI) Kohler engine. Of course, the wireless must be sufficiently powerful to insure positive control even if the operator were to step away from the vehicle cab, as well as be secure and meet all RF emissions and interference requirements. Also, the brush DC nozzle drive motor required a drive circuit, and all of the receiver, engine control, and motor drive functions needed to fit in a compact, integrated package. Finally, a complex wire harness was needed to provide physical connections to all control features mounted on the blower.

In answer to BT’s need’s, PG created a complete wirelessly-controlled subsystem, with the PECoS RCR1 Digital Controller and RCR Remote Transmitter developed for these types of wirelessly controlled applications. The SR-4 actuator provides the electro-mechanical connection to control engine speed.

SR-4 Actuator

RCR Remote Transmitter

PECoS RCR1 Digital Controller

Buffalo Turbine’s Cyclone KB-4 Debris Blower has now taken a lead position in the industry with robust and capable wireless control capability.

Would your application benefit from compact, rugged, wireless control capability? Do you need a customized engine control solution for a Tier IV engine while maintaining the standard EFI controls architecture? Contact us to learn more.

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Jacobsen Truckster

PG — Thu, 14 May 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Jacobsen Truckster

Jacobsen’s Truckster is a true heavy duty utility vehicle in both the XD and Cushman configurations. Possessing a rugged and durable construction with large payload capacity, it provides unique value for a variety of commercial and agricultural users. The roomy, comfortable cabin complements Jacobsen’s operator-friendly environment. Transitioning from simple agricultural or greens equipment is easy, and all of the Truckster’s versatility is safely accessible to any competent operator.
Jacobsen envisioned an important option to enhance ease of operability: automatic speed control and limitation… put more simply, “cruise control”. This feature serves two objectives. The first is safety, insuring the ability of owners and supervisors to limit maximum speed in selected operating environments. The second is steady speed control for specialized processes such as precise and consistent application of agricultural chemicals.
The challenge for Jacobsen arose in market availability of this option in high-production, strictly regulated engine controllers. The solution: PG’s PECoS Model VCA controller.
The VCA gives precise Truckster speed control by commanding engine speed (in either Diesel or Gasoline version) without effecting its Tier IV certification. In effect it provides an optional control “layer” between the operator and the engine, a unique value proposition for the Truckster product. The VCA forms a core controller product architecture that can be offered across a variety of vehicle management needs, demonstrating PG’s exceptional capability to engineer power solutions beyond the engine.

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Precision Governors now doing business as PG Engineered Control Solutions

PG — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:00:02 +0000

Precision Governors was founded in 1978 to provide electronic governing for speed control of small to medium size engines to an underserved industry in need of a technically advanced supplier. Our work evolved into the design and manufacture of electronics and actuators that control these engines, and over time into full system-level design and integration responsibility. Today our products and services encompass much more interaction with, and control of, the end-user equipment which our products are part of.

While we’ll always be proud of our Precision Governors heritage, the time has come to formally recognize the evolution of our company – from one doing engine speed governing components to one providing highly-engineered system-level solutions for a diverse set of customers and markets – by changing the name of our business to PG Engineering Control Solutions, or PG-ECS. We’ve updated the PG-ECS Mission Statement to reflect the exciting future we have in front of us:

Whether you seek
superior engine control,
precise generator output, or the

transformative potential of electrification, PG is…

Engineering Power

Whether customers are seeking the Power of PG’s Engineering capability, or looking to Engineer the next advancement in Power technology on their end-user equipment, we at PG have the answer, oftentimes before the question is completely clear.

Watch this space for updates! We’ll provide technology updates and project progress reports via this page on a regular basis We hope we can get you as excited about the PG-ECS future as we are!

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