MINING TRUCKS
mobile systems to many mining equipment OEMs.
“Being chosen as the technology provider to
Roy Hill is testament that the market is eager to
establish a more open and interoperable supplier
in the AHS space, especially on retrofits, which
will provide more flexibility than the traditional
OEM offerings”, said Patrick Hald, General
Manager of ASI Mining.
The project will focus on safe and highly
productive operations and will leverage ASI’s
Mobius™ to achieve an integration platform
which can continue to scale for future
applications. The project will consist of a phased
implementation, with testing and production
verification of up to eight trucks undertaken in the
initial phase prior to the second phase of full fleet
expansion from mid-2021.
Beyond these examples, having previously said
it was weighing up a project to automate around
500 haul trucks across its Western Australia Iron
Ore and Queensland Coal sites, BHP has shed
more light on its autonomous haulage plans. The
company made the ambitious admission in May
2019. It has since said it will introduce
autonomous haulage at the BHP Mitsubishi
Alliance Goonyella Riverside mine, in Queensland,
in a staged project that will see up to 86 Komatsu
trucks converted to autonomous mode.
In its half-year results for H2 2019, BHP said of
the 500 haul trucks it previously spoke of 150 are
currently “under feasibility or execution” and 350
are included in its “medium-term plans”. Two
projects in the former category include the Eastern
Ridge mine site, in the Pilbara, which the company
is currently using as its proving ground for
innovation, and the 4.5 Mt/y Daunia coal mine, in
Queensland, which BHP opened in 2013 and has a
fleet of 16 226 t payload trucks (including Cat
793Fs).
well the introduction of the Hitachi system
unfolded. EH5000AC-3 is the successful result of a
long history from Euclid and Hitachi. Throughout
the years the truck has evolved in all aspects
including frame structures, mechanical designs,
heat management, and more. To always challenge
and improve our existing truck designs, a lot of
reliability-improving features have been
incorporated from our reputable excavator
designs. This aspiration for constant improvement
has brought the rewarding result of our current
EH5000AC-3.”
The driver comfort and manoeuvrability of the
EH5000AC-3 truck has always been its forte, adds
Hitachi. “The smooth acceleration and
deceleration of the truck is also a key strength,
made possible thanks to the torque-speed control
by the Hitachi AC-3 Drive Control System. This
system has led to customer feedback about
operator comfort, manoeuvrability and ability to
minimise haul road damage; this can typically
occur with a mechanical transmission hauler when
a sudden change in the torque at the gear shift
change causes the tyres to gain sudden traction,
sometimes causing slipping which ends up
digging a horizontal rut.”
Moving on to the EH3500AC-3 and EH4000AC-3
models, Hitachi states that component life has
exceeded both its and customer expectations,
particularly regarding gearbox and rotating
componentry. “These are the high-dollar items on
a haul truck, and having a longer life cycle on
W abtec’s optimized
d integrated
electric drive syste
em.
The power
o
is inside
e.
HCM’s vertical integration paying
dividends
Moving on to the big OEMs and looking first at
Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM), the
company is having some success with its new
ultraclass models, the EH5000AC-3 and
EH4000AC-3, with fleets now at a number of
locations. The EH5000AC-3 trucks are running now
as an example at the Roy Hill iron ore mine in
Australia, Vale’s Moatize coal mine in
Mozambique, Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) at West
Angelas in Australia, KPC Sangatta coal mine in
Indonesia, Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek, and
Bengalla Mining, both coal mines in Australia, and
the Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia.
Arguably the most important feature of the
EH5000AC-3 is the in-house Hitachi drive system
which has been highly successful in further
improving reliability of the trucks. Hitachi told IM:
“A number of our field technicians with experience
on other drive systems have commented on how
GE T
Tr r a n s p o r t a t i o n , n o w a W a bt e c
c o mpa n y , i n t r o d u c e d t he fir s t
c o m m e r c ia l l y v ia b le e le c t r i c dr i v e
s y s t e m f o r l a r g e m i n i n g h a u l tr u c k s
i n t h e e a r l y 1 9 6 0 ’ s . S i n c e t h e n , t h e
c o m p a n y h a s l e d t h e i n d u s tr y i n t h e
i n t r o d u c t io n o f ne w t e c hnolo g y t o
i m p r o v e t h e tr u c k ’ s c o s t p e r t o n .
T he s e i nno v a
at t io n s ha
av
v e i n c l u de d t he
fi r st so l i d-st a
at t e c o n t r o l s sy y s t e m , t h e
fir s t t r ol le y a s s i s t t e c hnolo g y f o r l a r g e
h a u l tr u c k s , t h e fi r s t A C e l e c tr i c d r i v e
s y s t e m a n d t h e fi r s t d e m o n s tr a
at t i o n o f
h yb r i d e n e r g y st or a g e .
W a bt e c o f f e r s t h e m o s t c o m p l e t e l i n e o f
A C e l e c tr i c d r i v e s y s t e m s i n t h e i n d u s tr y
r a n g i n g f r o m 1 0 0 - 4 0 0 t o n c a p a c i t y .
Wi t h se r v i c e - p r o v e n t r a ns m i s s i o n a n d
e le c t r i c c o mp o ne n t s , t he c o mpa n y
i s t h e r e c o g n i z e d i n d u s tr y l e a d e r i n
e l e c t r i c d r iv e s ys t e m s.
W abtecCorp.com
APRIL 2020 | International Mining 27