Pit & Quarry, December 2016

HAUL TRUCKS Caterpillars Detect object detection system automatically detects hazards such as other equipment or vehicles near the haul truck Philippi Hagenbuch the repetitive force of the materials causes significant damage to the truck body over time The manufacturer also ensures the truck body f loor has the appropriate configuration and is angled correctly for sufficient dumping and the greatest practical chute dump clearance the company says In addition to the Predictive Load system Philippi Hagenbuch uses finite element analysis to pinpoint high stress areas in the design This allows its engineers to know where higher strength steel and welds are necessary before production starts on the unit According to the company this ensures each Philippi Hagenbuch Load Profiled truck body meets customers needs and offers the greatest productivity and payload without overloading or unloading the truck PROXIMITY AWARENESS Caterpillar has introduced Proximity Awareness a new collision avoidance system for surface vehicles As a part of the Cat MineStar Detect capability set the new system uses the latest peer topeer communications leveraged by the automotive industry according to Cat The system delivers fast and reliable communications between vehicles and presents collision avoidance information to operators without the need for a robust radio network covering the site The onboard hardware can be fitted to light vehicles and to any brand of surface mining equipment Fewer components are required compared with the previous Cat Proximity Awareness system which uses a Wi Fi network According to Cat the new collision avoidance system requires less space installs quickly and lowers costs The onboard display can store up to 24 hours of incident data This data is sent to the office for storage and analysis by using strategically located communication hot spots on site Incident capture playback and reporting are independent of MineStar Fleet Cat adds Cat MineStar Fleet Proximity Awareness and Detect object detection see below can run on a single in cab display The Proximity Awareness system also features alarm tones that operators can easily distinguish from alerts delivered by other systems When combined with Fleet in the office enhanced reporting includes operator performance as related to the number of safety incidents In addition the system retains a number of features provided by the previous system such as avoidance zones speed zones highly configurable machine envelopes and projected paths operator notifications incident capture and playback for training or incident reconstruction The new system is easy for operators to use Cat adds The Proximity Awareness system presents information to the operator via an intuitive graphic display in the cab The system provides three onboard alarming levels The customer can configure the zones that define alarming Alarming priority ranges from low to critical Low priority indicates the projected path of a machine is on course to collide with another machine or its following another machine too closely Critical alarms occur when two or more machines have their closest zones intersect If machines are routinely in close proximity such as loading and hauling vehicles alarm filters can be implemented between the machine classes to silence non critical warnings OBJECT DETECTION Caterpillar now offers its Cat MineStar Detect object detection systems for additional Cat machines and virtually all brands of mobile surface mining equipment Previously unsupported Cat machines as well as other brands of machines can now be equipped with the cameras radars and in cab displays that deliver increased site awareness to mobile equipment operators Object detection kits are available with one to four cameras and as many as eight radars for applications ranging from small auxiliary equipment to ultra class mining trucks According to Cat functionality remains the same as the proven object detection system equipping Cat mining trucks from the factory and available as a factory option on several Cat wheel loaders and wheel dozers The company adds that the expanded line of retrofit kits enables enhanced safety and it standardizes mixed fleets for the benefit of operators and maintenance technician Object detection is wholly contained on the machine and does not require the installation or operation of any off board infrastructure Detect object detection is designed to work during machine startup and when a machine is traveling at low speeds Cat says the system employs radar capabilities to automatically detect hazards such as other equipment or vehicles within critical zones around the machine in front at the rear and each side The system also presents specific camera views to show the operator where potential hazards are detected A proximity bar on the in cab display flashes yellow or red depending on the distance of the detected object P Q 36 PIT QUARRY December 2016 pitandquarry com