Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. announced recently that they would be launching the EH5000AC-3 Rigid Dump Truck with trolley system. The addition of the trolley aims to contribute to reducing life cycle costs and improving productivity. The trolley system will be available for worldwide, large-scale mining projects on June 1, 2018.
This model adds trolley mode to the EH5000AC-3 AC Drive Rigid Dump Truck (Nominal Payload: 296 tonnes, Target Gross Machine Operating Weight: 500 tonnes) that was launched in February 2013. Following EH3500AC-3 and EH4000AC-3, the launch of EH5000AC-3 with trolley system (Trolley Trucks) completes the lineup of the AC Drive Rigid Dump Truck series with trolley system. This, along with the Hitachi Mining Excavators, which has a large share worldwide, enables Hitachi Construction Machinery to respond to the various requests of large-scale mines and contribute to reducing life cycle costs and improving productivity, which are issues the customers face.
AC Drive Rigid Dump Trucks have alternators rotated by their diesel engines, and the electricity produced by the alternators are controlled by an inverter and other devices in the AC control cabinet before being supplied to the drive motors on the left and right rear wheels that moves the machine.The trolley truck is developed based on the drive system of the AC Drive Rigid Dump Truck.In mines that equip a generation facility, overhead wiring is set up on uphill slopes so that the pantograph mounted on the top of the Rigid Dump Truck will absorb the electricity flowing through the wires enabling efficient operation. Since the electricity absorbed during trolley mode rotates the drive motors, there is no need to rotate the engine at a high speed.
By maintaining low engine rotation, fuel consumption and the load on the engine can be reduced, which also contributes to reducing maintenance costs.
Furthermore, with the trolley box mounted on the truck, it is possible to smoothly switch between the trolley mode that is activated by electricity intake from the overhead wiring and the diesel mode that is activated by the engine, preventing load spill and reducing wear on the tires during the switch. In discharge points without overhead wiring, loading areas, downhill slopes, etc., the truck moves using electricity generated by the engine the same way as a standard EH5000AC-3 Rigid Dump Truck.
In addition, parts and components required for enabling trolley mode can be modified and mounted on standard Rigid Dump Trucks, and in addition to the stratified investments of the mine, this feature corresponds to the request from the customers who wants to modify to Trolley Trucks at a later date. Due to this, when introducing Rigid Dump Trucks, it is possible to operate them as standard AC Drive Rigid Dump Trucks and modify them to Trolley Trucks when the infrastructures such as generation facility and overhead wiring equipment are completed.
The AC drive and the trolley are systems that concentrate Hitachi Construction Machinery’s Rigid Dump Truck technology and the Hitachi Group’s technology, including electrically driven devices fostered by railway vehicles and a large amount of experience and performance in providing generation facilities.
Hitachi Construction Machinery will continue to improve their performance and reliability using the technology of the Hitachi Group with the goal of further customer satisfaction in mining machinery business.
Main features of trolley trucks:
Reduced fuel consumption - The Trolley Trucks make it possible to maintain low engine rotation during trolley mode,reducing the fuel consumption compared with standard EH5000AC-3 Rigid Dump Trucks.
Improved traction ability on uphill slope - When operating on uphill slope with load, trolley mode enables travel speed at approximately twice than normal diesel engine mode. This reduces cycle time, which contributes to improvement of production.
Reduced engine maintenance costs - The engine is maintained at low engine rotation during trolley mode to reduce engine load, which also reduces maintenance costs by extending overhaul intervals of the engine.
Reduced CO2 emissions - By reducing engine load during trolley mode, CO2 emissions from the Rigid Dump Truck can be suppressed, which contributes to reducing environmental burden.
Modification from diesel truck to trolley truck - The trolley system can be mounted after introduction of the standard Rigid Dump Truck, enabling the modification to trolley truck when generation facilities and overhead wiring equipment have been completed.
Differences in energy flow:
Diesel Mode
Trolley Mode