Sharp stones, heavy loads, different soil conditions, and other quarry challenges can lead to a loss of loader and dump truck tyre air pressure. If this happens, Matthias Burbaum, Schlüter Baumaschinen’s mining, quarrying and construction key account manager, receives an alarm message via mobile phone SMS. “The demands on loaders and dump trucks and their tyres in mining, quarrying and construction projects are very high,” says Burbaum.
Schlüter Baumaschinen is a service and sales company serving various industries with mining, quarrying, construction, and utility works-suited equipment from Komatsu and Sennebogen. Burbaum and his colleagues know that broken-down vehicles can quickly bring the worksite to a standstill. Thankfully, new digital solutions ensure that fleet tyre conditions can be monitored centrally and regardless of location.
Burbaum emphasises that large construction vehicles and machines such as articulated dump trucks and loaders are indispensable for extracting raw materials such as gravel or sandy soils. Tyre damage can occur while processing any raw material type, but selecting the right machine-tyre combination aids the smooth transport of large quantities of processed building materials and overburden under extreme conditions.
“So that we can offer our customers the vehicles in the best possible condition, it is important to know the status of the vehicle at each time – especially when there is a problem”, says Burbaum.
Different temperatures or, for example, faulty rims can cause tyres to lose air pressure. This results in high costs due to vehicle failure and downtime at the job site.
“For example, if the tyre pressure is on average 15% too low, the tread wear is up to 10% higher, and the carcass life is up to 15% shorter. At the same time, wrong tyre pressure also means significantly higher fuel consumption. This means a huge waste of resources and money,” says Reinhard Klant, earthmoving expert and product line manager at Continental Commercial Specialty Tyres (Continental).
Continental has developed digital, location-independent solutions to make the fleet manager’s life easier so that drivers and fleet managers always have an overview of the vehicles and tyres used.
“Since we use the tyre-pressure monitoring check ContiConnect Live from Continental, we could reduce maintenance costs and repair flaws like flat tyres before they even come up”, says Burbaum.
Klant adds: “We [Continental] install sensors inside all of our radial earthmoving tyres as standard ex-plant. With the appropriate Continental monitoring-solutions hardware installed on the dump truck, predictive maintenance comes easy. Tyre life can be substantially prolonged, while maintenance and service costs decrease.” Overall, Klant says the risk of a tyre breakdown, the least wanted disruption in the production process, can be minimised.
Klant continues: “Our experience says that the need for contactless fleet remote maintenance is high. For example, with a fleet of 15 vehicles, digital tyre monitoring can save around 195 maintenance servicing hours.”
As Klant explains, sensors in tyres monitor tyre pressure and temperature continuously. The data is sent in real time to a tyre-pressure monitoring system, such as Continental’s ContiPressureCheck and ContiConnect. With ContiConnect Live, data is sent to a cloud in real time. This allows Burbaum of Schlüter Baumaschinen and other fleet managers to call up detailed vehicle data in a web application. GPS is used to identify the machine’s location and, if a tyre-pressure issue is detected, an alert is sent via SMS or email to the fleet manager, resulting in swift action to fix the problem.
“The big advantage is enabling fleet managers to intervene directly before a potentially critical condition arises,” says Klant. “This is even possible during operation and not only on cooled-down equipment.”
Continental currently offers ContiPressureCheck and ContiConnect in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, UK, Sweden, Norway, France, and Portugal. The system will be made available in other European countries soon.
At a critical time for the tyre industry, hit by supply bottlenecks and sharp rises in raw material costs, resulting in a lack of product availability and soaring prices, Italian off-highway retread tyre maker and linked-solutions supplier Marangoni reports that an increasing number of quarry operators are exploiting the possibilities offered by tyre retreading. The company says the technology reduces operating costs and is good for the environment. All this, Marangoni stresses, without harming performance.
“In such a competitive and constantly evolving market, Marangoni continues to invest in research on new tyre compounds and the development of even higher performing tread designs,” says a company spokesperson. “This is the case of the latest addition to our ringtread Blackline MIX family, the product range created to meet users’ needs in the on/off segment in terms of reliability and low operating costs.”
Blackline MIX303 is an innovative Marangoni original pattern designed for use on the axle of vehicle trailers operating in mixed road/quarry applications requiring high mileage on very demanding surfaces. This new ringtread pattern is a 3PMSF marked product, suitable for winter usage, soon available for the retreading of 385/65R22.5 tyres.
Marangoni’s Blackline range has been developed with new compounds, said by the company to be chosen and combined to guarantee a performance that meets the highest market expectations concerning fuel consumption, durability, grip in the dry and the wet, and sturdiness in the most demanding on- and off-highway applications.
The new Blackline MIX303 pattern significantly improves the features of previous-generation ringtreads like the RSSY3, having a tread depth of 16.5mm and a Blackline compound said to ensure very high mileage. Furthermore, Blackline MIX303 is a non-directional profile, involving less risk of incorrect fitting and greater flexibility.
Blackline MIX303 features a pattern with reinforced shoulders to improve the resistance to shocks and side chafing and an improved compound said to guarantee grip on wet roads and good water drainage.
Global off-highway machine tyre giant BKT says quarry operators must be able to count on the robustness and reliability of the tyres on their loaders and dump trucks to help ensure manageable operating costs. Machine downtime due to a puncture and subsequent tyre replacement costs money and hampers productivity.
BKT states that the quarrying sector is also characterised by the constant development of more powerful and efficient equipment designed to carry increasingly heavy loads. This makes tyres an increasingly important element, given their fitting on ever larger and more hi-tech vehicles and their work transmitting the power of a machine to create traction and ensure stability, manoeuvrability, and safety.
Therefore, BKT says tyres for quarrying applications must be as increasingly hi-tech as the machinery they are fitted to, while also designed to withstand significant mechanical strain and stress and guarantee comfort and safety for operators for, in BKT’s case, 2,200 work hours.
How to choose the most suitable solution? BKT says it is important to know that tyres intended for quarry operations differ greatly depending on the type of specific application, the machinery, the load, the soil conditions, the work routine and a thousand other factors. All this influences a tyre’s pattern, compound, size, pressure and sides. Everything needs to be examined in detail.
Starting from users’ needs and requirements, BKT has always been involved in the study and development of specialised tyre solutions for quarry operators, offering an increasingly complete and varied range.
Among the solutions intended for quarry applications, the tyres of the EARTHMAX line stand out, designed for the heaviest and most difficult operations. It is a wide range of radial products designed to facilitate the best possible ground load distribution for dump trucks, wheeled loaders, dozers, and graders.
All EARTHMAX tyres are distinguished by their all-steel structure, providing resistance to the casing and against impacts. This feature is essential when faced with obstacles on the ground, exposing the tyre to a serious risk of puncture or damage to the casing.
The range includes three models that, thanks to their large size, are particularly suitable for handling operations in quarries of any kind and under the toughest conditions.
EARTHMAX SR 47 is the all-steel radial tyre best suited to rigid dump trucks (RDTs) that transport material on the most difficult terrain, such as rock quarries. This tyre lasts well thanks to the greater tread depth, marked with the wording E-4, which reduces wear and tear, ensuring a longer life to the tyre on long journeys. In addition, the geometry of the lugs has been designed to provide smooth wear of the tread and excellent traction. EARTHMAX SR 47 is also available with a cut-resistant compound to increase its strength.
EARTHMAX SR 41 is particularly suited for articulated dump trucks (ADTs), loaders and dozers in quarry transport and loading applications. It features a special tread that is deeper and has reinforced connecting bridges to guarantee greater block rigidity and, therefore, greater stability. The block geometry was specifically designed to ensure greater traction, essential for articulated dump trucks operating on particularly difficult terrain in tough conditions. In addition, EARTHMAX SR 41 is made with latest-generation BKT compounds, which guarantee excellent product performance and duration and are available in two different versions: with a cut-resistant compound, for use on inaccessible terrain covered with debris of various kinds, and with a standard compound, for use in mixed applications that require a good balance of performance.
EARTHMAX SR 45 is ideal for use on RDTs and, thanks to the geometry of the lugs, ensures excellent traction in all conditions. The special compound designed for this tyre guarantees resistance to the risks frequently found in extreme operating conditions, such as cuts, abrasions and impacts. This reduces vehicle downtime and maximises productivity at the same time. The deep tread it is equipped with ensures the product a prolonged life cycle, while its all-steel structure guarantees unique resistance characteristics.
Finally, EARTHMAX SR 53 class L-5, is an all-steel radial tyre designed to equip low-profile loaders, dozers and dump trucks used in quarries and mines for operations on particularly difficult rocky terrain. Its special compound resists cuts and does not overheat, while a special self-cleaning tread expels stones and foreign bodies - two innovative features enabling this tyre to have a long and very productive life.
Eric Matson, global field engineering manager for Goodyear’s off-the-road (OTR) tyre business, highlights how the major tyre maker can maximise quarry operators’ investment in the right tyre and linked solutions for their operations.
“Goodyear offers a full line of premium OTR products for quarry operations, and our Goodyear OTR tyre dealers can help you evaluate the best products for your specific equipment needs,” he says.
Goodyear’s newest addition to its off-highway large-haulage product line, the RH-4A+ is, says Matson, engineered to help deliver a lower operating cost per hour and higher productivity in hard rock underfoot conditions.
First introduced last autumn, Matson says Goodyear continues to expand this product line by introducing new sizes to fit machines across many applications, including quarry and aggregates.
He continues: “The Goodyear TL-3A+ is engineered for enhanced traction in soft underfoot conditions on loaders and articulated dump trucks.
“This radial tyre features a 100+ level tread depth with a self-cleaning tread design to promote traction and long hours to removal.”
Matson says Goodyear’s new ‘3 Star construction’ features a stronger radial casing with a bigger bead section and stronger ply wires.
Benefits of 3 Star compared to 2 Star are higher load-carrying capacity and potential improved cost per hour for quarry operators looking to reduce downtime in extreme conditions.
Matson adds: “Beyond offering a full lineup of premium OTR products, Goodyear’s engineers have capabilities to further enhance our tyres based on your specific needs. Examples of this can include adding reinforcements to the sidewall construction to support increased vehicle loads and altering the rubber compounds to enhance cut production and even help reduce heat generation.”
Once you have selected the right tyres for your application, Matson says it’s important to establish a tyre management program to optimise your investment. He notes that equipment-operating conditions are always in flux and can continuously change. Having a tyre management solution in place can help improve tyre performance and reduce operating costs at the same time.
Matson says Goodyear’s Tyre Management Solutions detects and alerts the fleet manager of potential issues to help avoid tyre-related incidents and reduce unplanned downtime.
Highlighting another quarrying machine-suited Goodyear tyre, he says: “Goodyear TPMS Heavy Duty is suited for small to mid-size quarry/aggregate operations due to the value it brings. The tyre-fitted sensor collects and monitors tyre pressure and temperature data in real time to detect potential issues. The onboard router and GPS records data and sends alerts through its mobile application.
“Goodyear TPMS Heavy Duty helps the fleet manager to make appropriate decisions to help avoid tyre-related incidents and plan maintenance efficiently.”
Matson says Goodyear’s EM Track is being used by quarry operators worldwide to manage their fleets’ tyres and rims, find abnormal wear conditions and improve overall tyre performance.
EM Track enables easy and accurate fleet surveys to help get your tyre-operating costs under control.
Matson concludes: “Selecting the right tyres for your application and the right tyre management solution will help to make sure your tyres are in top working condition and help you save on unplanned operating costs. Goodyear’s Trusted Products and Tyre Management Solutions are available worldwide. Consult with a Goodyear OTR tyre dealer who can evaluate specific equipment needs and make appropriate tyre recommendations specific to your quarry operation.”
