FUELS & OILS
Elphinstone's underground WR810 Fuel & Lube
truck has a 5,000 l capacity
At the pump
Paul Moore looks at some of the recent innovations that have
vastly improved fuels and oils management, storage and
delivery
When mines seek to manage the multiple
fluid types their service trucks carry
around on-site, the technologies
available to do the job have not been optimal.
Slow filling of service trucks or an inability to
bottom-fill, compartments regularly overfilling,
operability issues as fluid transfer components
degrade, contamination of service fluids being
pumped into the mining fleet, inability to know
which tanks are actually full, even vehicles that
become unsafe to drive because of the amount of
liquid onboard are all common issues. Fluid
management company Banlaw says it has been
successfully deploying a unique electronic
solution to overcome these service truck
challenges, both retrofitting problem machines,
and on new truck bodies.
Banlaw Mechanical Engineer Mark Fretwell
says: “We see a lot of service trucks that lack
functional overfill protection, with filling systems
that are needlessly complex, or with technologies
that are actually designed for diesel, and were
never intended to be used with coolant, hydraulic
oil, or other liquids. Of course, there are going to
be issues on those machines. For service trucks
we are seeing a lot of interest in FillSafe Power at
the moment, which is our electronic tank overfill
protection product. It is a pressureless solution
that neatly circumvents the issues associated
with hardware designed exclusively for diesel,
and with pneumatic solutions. FillSafe Power has
been popular on excavators and diesel
locomotives for over a decade; but the latest
version continuously performs system checks,
which helps pinpoint a problem if there is one
with relative ease. This makes it just perfect for
service vehicles, which can have a number of
these systems onboard the same truck. Recent
projects in NSW, QLD, and PNG demonstrate this
clearly.”
Two of the challenges Banlaw has been
overcoming on service trucks relate to fluid
compartments overfilling and also of operators
simply not knowing when the tank is full. When
it’s unclear whether a tank is full, operators can
inadvertently pump more fluid into an alreadyfull
tank, or somebody has to climb up on top of
the vehicle to open hatches and check. Besides
the obvious risks from overfilling tanks and
climbing up oily ladders and on top of vehicles, it
is incredibly time intensive to fill perhaps nine
different storage tanks incrementally or
sequentially because you can’t trust the system
to do what it is meant to be doing automatically.
We asked Banlaw how this can be overcome.
“One benefit of our electronic solution is visible
immediately. If there is a green light turned-on
then you can fill that fluid compartment, and if
there’s only a red light then you know the tank is
already full. The status for each compartment is
evident at a glance with no wasted time.”
The faster the service truck bulk diesel storage
is filled, the faster that machine can be back in
the pit, refuelling the
mining fleet. This
contributes to overall
site productivity and also
limits the number of
service vehicles required
on site for larger
operations. Service
trucks are filled at a wide
range of flow rates which
require an engineered
solution unique to each
truck, but it is not
uncommon for these
machines to sit at a
refuelling bay for an
hour filling up. The
FillSafe Power solution uses an actuated ball
valve, allowing unrestricted flow into the tank.
“Some of our service truck projects have enabled
the onboard diesel bulk storage tanks to be filled
at a rate of 1,500 lpm. The result is that service
trucks spend more time doing their job, and
vehicle queues at refuelling facilities are
resolved.”
Service fluids such as oils and coolant
represent a different set of challenges. They don’t
behave like diesel, and therefore overfill
protection systems designed for diesel fuel are
not an appropriate choice. For example, a system
designed for use with diesel will often fail to shut
off when operated at flow rates below 100 lpm, or
it might quickly degrade when exposed to thicker
liquids or those with corrosive attributes. “The
FillSafe Power product is easy to maintain and is
elegant in its simplicity. It’s just an actuated valve
of the correct diameter and construction for the
fluid being managed, a stainless-steel electronic
level switch, and a very smart controller that
indicates tank status to the user with LEDs,
ensures that the ball valve closes automatically
at the correct fill level, and communicates any
system integrity issues with an alarm rather than
an expensive surprise.”
One recent Banlaw project upgraded a Cat 777
service truck for a gold miner; addressing many
of the challenges discussed above.
n Due to the steep incline of some areas the
truck needed to access, driving the vehicle
with the diesel tank completely full
represented a safety concern. An electronic
level switch was installed through the side of
the tank to terminate filling at the lower,
revised safe fill level. This would not have been
possible using a traditional top-mounted
mechanical level sensor or float.
n The truck in question was also not able to
bottom-fill service fluids because of two
Banlaw FillSafe Power is a pressureless lubes,
fluids and oils delivery solution that neatly
circumvents the issues associated with hardware
designed exclusively for diesel, and with
pneumatic solutions
28 International Mining | JULY/AUGUST 2020