SURFACE AUTOMATION
engineer can minimise the cutting overlap while
still knowing the entire area will be cut to the
GPS plan. Another benefit to the automatic
steering technology is allowing the tractor to
drive straight to the plan with only minimal
steering corrections to maintain the heading. The
reduced steering corrections keep the machine
more productive shift after shift due to lower
operator interaction and dependence.”
Operations are trying to do more with fewer
resources, so designing equipment that is easy
to operate is critical, says Vermeer. “In an effort
to meet that need a system called SmartTEC has
been developed. It uses a simple and clean
layout designed to help coach operators to run
the machine as efficiently as possible. This
control system has proven itself to be effective in
training new operators, as well as taking
experienced operators and allowing them to fine-
tune the machine to the conditions they are in.
The coaching is done by prompts that come up
on the display alerting the operator with
suggestions to increase the ground drive lever,
shift the ground drive transmission to a higher or
lower range as well as several other commands.”
The attached image shows an example of the
display with two yellow prompts visible. The left
prompt is instructing the operator to increase the
attachment rotation speed and the right prompt
is instructing the operator to increase the load
control knob. Another notable feature of this
Vermeer surface miner report
created with a USB download;
though it is also on the
display in the cab of the
machine and visible through
Vermeer Fleet, a web-based
telemetry program which
transfers the information
through cellular data
system is it is common across
a lineup of track trenchers and
surface mining machines. Once
an operator is trained in one
machine, they will be familiar
with operating other machines
in the product line that are
equipped with SmartTEC.
A second part of the control
system is performance
monitoring. Within
performance monitoring, the
machine is actively logging
several key metrics of the
machine that can be looked at
to understand how the
machine is being used and if
there are things that can be
done differently to further
optimise the machine. These
metrics can be broken down
hourly (for the last 20 hours),
in 20 hour groups (for the last
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For more information, contact us at:
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