FUELS & OILS
Mobile fuel & lube delivery
The latest addition to the underground Elphinstone fleet announced in October 2019 and available
through the worldwide Caterpillar Dealer Network is the WR810 Fuel & Lube truck. It offers a
Caterpillar powertrain, all-wheel drive, oscillating hitch, spacious three-seat climate-controlled ROPS
cabin, 5,000 litre diesel tank, 4 x 300 litre oil tanks, space for 2 x 44 gallon oil drums, 2 x grease
drums, air compressor, fire suppression system, bunded tray and many other features. This truck
was specifically designed for the in-situ servicing and “top-up” of fluid levels of production
equipment underground. Back on surface, the versatile Haulmax 3900 truck from Elphinstone can be
fitted with a Support Vehicles Australia (SVA) fuel and lube service module. These have been sold
and serviced by WesTrac to a valued iron ore mining customer in the Pilbara, Western Australia. No
less than 17 Haulmax trucks have been delivered to the same customer since 2012, the oldest with
more than 40,000 hours of strong reliable service. SVA worked with Elphinstone to integrate the
67,000 litre capacity module and ensure optimum load distribution on the Haulmax chassis.
a system it calls AutoFuel. The company has an
R&D site near Brisbane airport and a test site near
the Port of Brisbane. The robot it says was
designed to improve the safety of workplaces, and
significantly increase productivity and
accountability. The AutoFuel autonomous truck
refuelling robot will be located next to the haul
road where trucks will arrive. “The robot will be
notified electronically that the truck is ready for
fuel, it will then position itself and connect the
nozzle to the truck. In around 5 minutes, the robot
will transfer a full tank of fuel to the truck and
disconnect, so the truck can continue hauling.”
UFR says the robot is self-contained and does
not require any external services. It is able to be
supervised at a remote work location using a GUI
and can fully function without an operator to
provide the refuelling. “This UFR product has a
vision system that allows the robot to see people
and inspect trucks in intricate detail. It has
sensors to locate the fuel nozzle and a gripper to
be able to remove the fuel cap.” To add some
perspective, it typically takes up to 30 minutes for
operators to refill fuel tanks currently.
“With the use of our robot, no personnel are
required to operate equipment at these fuelling
stations. This directly impacts the workers as they
would immediately have a significant decrease in
exposure to hazards, impacting workplace safety
meaningfully. Our robot will provide the mining
industry with increased truck utilisation, giving the
ability for mines to save a substantial amount
each year. Along with this, the sensing systems of
the robot will allow accurate and consistent data
to be collected which will effectively manage fuel
allocation – directly improving the accountability
on the overall usage of fuel. Our autonomous
truck refuelling robot provides workers with an
innovative solution to effectively and safely refuel
trucks to help keep the mines moving as efficiently
as possible.”
Jeff Sterling, the UFR MD, told IM: “We are in
the development stage and have designed and
manufactured and are testing the fuelling system
currently. The fuelling attachment works on our
E20C machine of which we have a number in service
for other types of work in mining and so the current
development now that we have the attachment built
is testing and finalising the software and sensor set
up. We have had some reasonable interest from not
just mining but ports and defence.
Cascadia leverages decision intel to
up fuel efficiency
Cascadia Scientific, a Vancouver firm specialising
in high accuracy fuel measurement for the mining
sector, has principally leveraged its platform to
deliver decision intelligence used to increase fuel
efficiency. Most recently, the company has its
sights trained on using measured fuel burn to
revolutionise maintenance scheduling strategy. For
the past 18 months, Cascadia Scientific has been
collecting maintenance data from subscribers to
determine the timing and motivation of historical
preventive maintenance activity. The goal was to
determine how closely service intervals aligned
with the fundamental processes that drive
equipment wear, and consumable depletion or
deterioration. In most settings, maintenance
activities were triggered by the passage of time,
most commonly engine run-time, but in other
cases key-on time or elapsed days.
Cascadia Scientific demonstrated that the
passage of time represents a very poor proxy for
equipment utilisation. When considering engine
runtime, the most reliable of the time triggered
approaches, variable equipment allocation and
idle times contributed to variability in fuel burn
across maintenance intervals that exceeded 45%.
Fuel consumption, unlike time, naturally reflects
operational intensity and is the key to their
enhanced strategy.
Analysis of maintenance records was performed
to establish safe limits for fuel consumption
between service activities, and these became the
basis for future service triggers. To further ensure
continued equipment health, the new strategies
combined fuel consumption triggers with
extended time based triggers using a “first to fire”
principle whereby a service event is scheduled
upon the exceedance of either limit.
The outcome was an extension in the average
time between preventive maintenance events of
roughly 14% which provides a reduction in
maintenance cost and increased equipment
availability. Critically, this average included
shortened maintenance intervals that were
triggered in response to particularly fuel intensive
operating periods.
Cascadia Scientific is nearing completion of new
platform module that will allow uses to implement
these strategies with triggers based not only on
fuel and time, but also in response to loading
events, distance travelled and other key
operational metrics.
Ground Force fuel & lube delivery
innovations
Ground Force Worldwide offers a variety of fuel &
lube solutions, including conventional, articulated,
rigid frame, skid and smaller standalone options.
All its fuel/lube solutions offer quick fill rates of up
to 300 gpm depending on specifications and
components. The company installs pressure-less
fuelling systems on its equipment to help ensure
safe and efficient fuel delivery.
All Ground Force fuel & lube solutions also offer
“ground level” fill panels with overflow protection
integrated into the system in the form of indicator
lights and a warning alarm for ease for the
operator.
A newer addition to the offering is an in-cab
product level indicator system, that is designed to
give real-time product levels to the operator.
Ground Force also offers a wide range of filtration
options from simple filtration to the most complex
kidney loop filtration. "Our enclosed, insulated,
and heated units add protection from the
elements in harsh environment applications," the
company told IM.
Fluid transfer components are of the highest
quality, with stainless steel used in many
applications and where requested for reduced
component degradation. All fuel and product
tanks are also designed with strategic baffling.
"This as well as an engineered low centre of
gravity makes our solutions the safest on the
market. For articulated fuel trucks, we offer roll
over protection caps on the fuel tank as well as an
optional in-cab inclinometer to provide the
operator with a warning system while driving."
All Ground Force Fuel & Lube Solutions come
standard with a ‘Parker G11’ which allows
Bluetooth accessibility for troubleshooting and
upgrades.
Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) delivery has become
a standard for all Ground Force fuel & lube
solutions. “We also provide solutions for older
Ground Force equipment as well as competitive
products, by way of replacement of a current
product tank or integration of a new tank into
another area on the equipment.”
Lastly, Ground Force fuel & lube skids offer all
International Mining | JULY/AUGUST 2020