Caterpillar Inc Heavy Equipment CSR by GineersNow Engineering GineersNow Engineering Magazine November 2016 | Page 61

Photo by HSCBSG
There are still so much to
forward with engine controls,
fuel injection systems, and
the engine combustion
process. When engineers
work to improve these
areas about the engines in
construction
equipment,
it will yield increased fuel
efficiency and decreased
amount of harmful emissions
into the air. The greatest
impact in redesigning the
engine is in the environment,
being a critical issue in the
construction
equipment
industry.
Computer systems are only
a recent integration with
construction
equipment,
but they make waves for
enhanced site performance.
Digitization, including GPS
navigation, allows more
effective monitoring in
machine operations, more
analyzed fuel efficiency, much
controlled hydraulics, and
reliable reporting of machine
performance – all of which
are in the end part of the
construction process.
While these three are existing
areas that seek improvement,
there is also a room for
creativity in the manufacture
of construction equipment by
producing hybrids and using
3D printing.
There are already existing
hybrid excavators and hybrid
bulldozers, which will continue
to flourish as manufacturers
look in this area to accelerate
site operations.
But there’s a more current
technology, the 3D printing
or additive manufacturing,
which takes production of
construction equipment to an
entirely new level. It allows
modelling of equipment parts
like cabs, booms, and buckets,
as 3D printing provide design
allowances not found in
conventional manufacturing.
Efficiency, quality, and safety
are the cores of construction
equipment. And they remain
to be so in the future, just
catching up with modern
technology.
NOVEMBER 2016
Mining Engineering and Its Importance
61