Spotlight Feature Articles FUELS & OILS | Page 8

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