Posted by Paul Moore on fifteenth October 2024
Earlier this 12 months, IM Editorial Director Paul Moore was capable of see the Komatsu WX04B battery electrical LHD in motion as a part of a sneak preview at a Komatsu buyer occasion at its check mine, which makes use of the College of Arizona’s San Xavier Mining Laboratory close to Tucson, Arizona.
Doug Eamer, Komatsu Senior VP of Onerous Rock Mining: “That is our first battery electrical LHD and options our dynamic battery swap system. You may have your battery pod on the rear – it’s an ESS or Vitality Storage System. After I say the swapping is dynamic, the automobile has onboard energy to have the ability to offload the depleted battery and choose up a charged battery. It’s a patented floor stage system – which is allowed for within the form and design of the ESS physique and the departure angle from the LHD.”
IM Editorial Director Paul Moore on the San Xavier Mining Laboratory earlier this 12 months
Competitor battery swap programs are vertical lifts, and use electro-hydraulic cylinders to help the battery and/or require the battery to be deposited right into a devoted tray or flat concrete pad. Eamer states: “With our design, the battery could be unloaded onto uneven floor, even on a destructive grade off-set from the place the machine chassis is and even the place there are some unfastened rocks – our system nonetheless permits the pod to be picked up, pulled on and locked into place.”
The WX04B went by way of months of testing earlier this 12 months. The proof of idea machine is critical as a result of it varieties the idea for all of Komatsu’s deliberate bigger LHDs shifting ahead – the following iteration of which might be a 7 t LHD set to be launched in 2025/2026. That machine may also have floor stage battery swap just like the WX04B plus it is going to have an on-board tramming battery pack. Along with the 7 t machine, Komatsu has plans to introduce bigger battery electrical LHDs sooner or later.
The corporate can also be persevering with the event of hybrid LHDs to supply prospects who need that flexibility earlier than going to full battery. Komatsu may also have a look at introducing battery electrical fashions for its underground vehicles. As well as, with the current GHH acquisition, there might be synergies with a few of its fashions and designs as effectively.
These design attributes are meant to maintain it so simple as potential to make the machines as versatile as potential throughout all forms of laborious rock mines together with small and mid-tier operations together with slender vein websites. And the bottom stage system means swapping batteries could be finished in most elements of the mine – it doesn’t want a devoted and purpose-built swapping space. Eamer: “We went by way of many iterations of our battery LHD design and the suggestions from early BEV adopter prospects was all the time – we wish sturdy and easy, so that’s what now we have finished.” As well as, competitor batteries want auxiliary cooling for thermal administration – the Komatsu battery thermal administration system is built-in into the ESS in order that auxiliary cooling isn’t wanted.
Komatsu WX04B and batter charger at MINExpo 2024 in September
Lastly, the system is charging port agnostic – it has a CCS2 port, that means the client has the choice to make use of a third-party charger. Komatsu has its personal vehicle-agnostic 150 kW battery charger that it developed for the WX04B which has inbuilt transformers and has been engineered particularly for underground laborious rock mining. Its compact, rugged design permits the charger to be simply moved and deployed and is on the market in quite a lot of enter voltage ranges to satisfy world calls for.
The packs themselves have Proterra battery modules – within the WX04B there are six of them – with a complete power density of 165 kW/h which is twice that of rivals on this class that means theoretically it may well run for twice as lengthy. It might probably function for as much as 4 hours in a typical underground LHD responsibility software with the cost cycle round two hours. The machine could be alternative charged to replenish the battery throughout shift modifications or operator lunch breaks with out eradicating the ESS.
The battery administration system acts just like the mind of the battery system because it constantly controls and screens the battery cells. On-board telemetry permits for battery data to be constantly monitored in actual time right down to the cell stage which might set off alarms and assist with troubleshooting and potential points. The WX04B has a tramming battery pack with loads of energy to tram with no pod hooked up in addition to to swap the pods.
Komatsu designed the WX04B based mostly on a typical and confirmed platform with its WX04 diesel machine utilising widespread components resembling Komatsu’s industry-proven Z-link, bolstered growth design and optimised geometry which provide wonderful reliability, sturdiness and productiveness. The operator cab is ROPS/FOPS-certified, with beneficiant house and luxury. A completely enclosed, environmentally managed possibility consists of open-door security interlocks that activate brakes whereas deactivating the growth, bucket and steering features.
The WX04B battery electrical LHD and 150 kW battery charger have been each not too long ago featured in Komatsu’s sales space at MINExpo 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
