LOAD & HAUL
EFFICIENCY DRIVE A
Murray Clifford asks if engine upgrades are a smart path to greater effi ciency?
HSE Mining in Australia is reaping the benefi ts of engine upgrades
s mining companies worldwide formulate strategies to transition to more sustainable operations
without impacting cost of production, can engine upgrades help to bridge the gap to future technologies? One mining contractor in Australia has discovered that they certainly can. Targeted upgrades that equip older
high-horsepower mining engines with some of the technology fi tted to the latest engines can pay big dividends. One company that has recently discovered this is HSE Mining, a contractor based in Australia. The South Walker Creek coal mine
in Queensland’s Bowen Basin produces some 6.5Mtpa of ROM coal from its open cut operations. In 2017, HSE Mining embarked on an upgrade programme for its 2,500hp Cummins Tier 1 QSK60 engines in six Komatsu 830E haul trucks, with a view to reducing its carbon footprint. HSE’s cost benefi t analysis of the proposed upgrade demonstrated clear
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potential for improved engine life and fuel savings. The Cummins solution chosen
by HSE (named ‘Advantage’ in some territories) focused on the fuel system, with a key upgrade to the fuel injection in which the early high-pressure unit injection system (HPI) is replaced by a high-pressure modular common rail system (MCRS) standard on Cummins’
latest generation high horsepower engines. The upgrade featured other innovations in combustion technology engineered for Tier 4 Final and Stage V emissions compliance, currently the most stringent off -highway emissions standards in the world.
HSE’s cost benefi t analysis of the
proposed upgrade demonstrated
clear potential for
improved engine life and fuel savings
MEASURED ADVANTAGES The MCRS upgrades brought a raft of operational improvements for HSE Mining. Notably, the operator observed that in-cylinder combustion technology was able to deliver a dramatic reduction of more than 60% in diesel particulate emissions with no aftertreatment. This naturally benefi tted maintenance too, with less soot loading in oil. The metrics for fuel consumption
were equally positive. The operator was able to identify a 3% reduction across the fi rst six Komatsu 830E trucks using the new fuel system technology. These fuel consumption gains naturally resulted in GHG
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