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Equipment supplier to focus on innovations for local mining industry

ENHANCING PERFORMANCE The P&H Generation 2 wheel loader range is designed to achieve increased operating hours and productivity, and can load 75 t to 400 t haul trucks

CONVEYING CAPABILITY The high-angle conveyor technology can convey material at angles from -35° to 90° using standard conveyor belting, idlers and conveyor design techniques

3rd July 2015

By: Mia Breytenbach

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: Features

  

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US-based mining equipment manufacturer Joy Global aims to increase awareness of its surface mining technology offerings for the South African mining industry.

The company has equipment that is helping customers optimize mine performance, such as the P&H Generation 2 wheel loader.

“The P&H Generation 2 wheel loader range is designed to achieve increased operating hours and productivity, owing to its mobility and robust modular design offering,” Joy Global Africa’s surface mining director Ian van den Brink tells Mining Weekly, highlighting that the various models can load 75 t to 400 t haul trucks.

The machines allow for increased mobility and significantly lower diesel usage at mining operations, as opposed to using slower hydraulic excavators and shovels, he adds.

Van den Brink says operations requiring that equipment be relocated or frequently moved for blasting or mining processes benefit from the mobility of the wheel loaders as they assist in resuming production faster.

“Moreover, the Generation 2 wheel loader can load at production rates in excess of 4 000 t/h, at 40% of the diesel consumption of equivalent excavators,” Van den Brink says.

The loaders are being used as the primary loading tool in various applications that include coal, iron-ore, diamonds and hard rock. They offer Switched Reluctance (SR) hybrid drive technology, he emphasises.

“JOY SR Hybrid Drive technology enables complete control of the machine and facilitates power regeneration, which results in efficient wheel loader operations and reduces diesel consumption by as much as 30% to 45%. The carbon footprint is also typically more than 200% less than that of a traditional hydraulic excavator,” Van den Brink explains.

The SR electric motors in the drive technology become generators during braking or retarding, and feed power back into the generator that is connected to the engine. Operator fatigue is reduced with the simplicity of the dual joystick, SR drive controls and the wheel torque control, which reduces the jerks and oscillations associated with stopping and starting.

Van den Brink notes in Africa, about 30% of the P&H Wheel Loader fleet operating in coal, diamonds, iron-ore and uranium operations are of the Gen 2 SR Hybrid Drive type.

Flexible Solution
Owing to the current global market, low commodity cycles, and other mining industry challenges, such as strikes, mines are driving efficiencies and are extending equipment life cycles. Therefore, they require low-cost, flexible solutions that provide high reliability and productivity – features that these wheel loaders provide, Van den Brink believes.

Joy Global technologies focus on improved safety performance that end-users are demanding, he says, adding that they require specific features that speak to improved safety, safety management and reduced operator fatigue, as well as and collision avoidance and proximity detection.

Conveyor Technology
Joy Global also aims to increase awareness of its high-angle conveyor (HAC) technology, which, although decades old, is still relatively underutilised locally, Van den Brink says.

Joy Global’s HAC differs from standard high-angle conveyors comprising buckets and ribbed belts in that it can convey material at angles from -35° to 90° using standard conveyor belting, idlers and conveyor design techniques.

The sandwich-belt principle of the HAC allows for the use of standard rubber belting and conveyor components to achieve high conveying angles at high capacities while retaining the low-cost, high reliability features of conventional conveyors. Other benefits include ease of operation and low maintenance.

There have been 13 such conveyor systems installed in South Africa over the past several years in mining processing applications, in coal, iron-ore and copper operations.

Joy Global aims to also draw the local industry’s attention to the suitability of the HAC for openpit mining applications, reducing the potential size of the haulage fleet, and is discussing the system with several South African companies.

Van den Brink emphasises the usefulness of HAC, particularly in coal and paper and pulp applications, as the nature of the design prevents product degradation and fines generation. It also facilitates the bulk handling of wet material.

Innovation Continuation
Joy Global has recently completed the design of the first 2650CX hybrid excavator, ushering in a new mining equipment category.

The diesel powered hybrid excavator incorporates the wrist action and clam shell bucket design from an excavator for superior digability and the boom and hoist design of a rope shovel, Van den Brink explains, highlighting that it also combines the productivity and reliability of a rope shovel with the flexibility and digability of a hydraulic excavator.

The 2650CX hybrid excavator is also equipped with the JOY SR Hybrid Drive system, which will lead to projected fuel savings of about 25%.

The excavator will be undergoing field trials and testing in the US, and is designed to achieve a payload of 60 t, with production rates of about 4 000 t/h and to load 135 t to 360 t haul trucks, Van den Brink says, noting that Joy Global plans to launch the machine later this year.

Joy Global is positioning itself for significant market growth through new product development for the surface mining industry, driving zero harm, highest productivity and lowest cost per tonne,” Van den Brink concludes.

Edited by Leandi Kolver
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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