News updated on 7.02.2024 at 10:50
In late January 2024, specialists from KamAZ, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, and KuzSTU discussed the progress of the project "Development and creation of a 220-ton unmanned shuttle quarry dump truck." The project research is being conducted within the framework of the KSTP "Clean Coal – Green Kuzbass" with the support of the REC "Kuzbass" for over a year.
All developments are planned to be implemented by 2027 - including the serial launch of new dump trucks. In 2024, the laboratories "Modeling and Digital Twins" and "Digital Dispatching and Unmanned Control System" will be completed and opened, the second stage of theoretical research will be completed, and a preliminary design of the dump truck will be developed, as well as a technical project for a digital dispatching system for a coal quarry for the full operation of unmanned cargo shuttles.
Scientists from Bauman Moscow State Technical University and KuzSTU are developing an electric transmission and electrochemical energy storage for them - the dump trucks will do without the use of an internal combustion engine. This option was chosen for a number of reasons - from technological to financial and environmental.
The use of energy storage devices (batteries or capacitors) in quarry dump trucks compared to ICEs will lead to significant fuel savings, as well as have a positive impact on the environmental situation in quarries. The use of storage devices will reduce the cost of quarry development (network installation) and will not cause problems during the operation of the contact network in adverse weather conditions. In addition, it is possible to implement fully unmanned movement of dump trucks in the quarry and optimize movement when performing a transport task along a known route. This is possible due to the use of optimal control laws in unmanned mode by programmatically controlling traction motors.
The Kuzbass dump truck is a distant relative of the KamAZ-6559, also known as «Jupiter 30», which is being tested in the Kemerovo region at quarries. That one is also domestic, cabless, unmanned, and does not waste time and fuel on turns during loading and unloading, but it only carries thirty tons. It is not specified whether the prospective model belongs to the "Jupiter" family.
First of all, the two-hundred-ton novelty will compete with the products of the BelAZ plant - Belarusian dump trucks were already popular in quarries, but in recent years they have firmly replaced the positions of Komatsu, Caterpillar, Hitachi, and Liebherr after their departure from Russia. At the same time, BelAZ, like Russian automakers, emphasizes environmental friendliness and tonnage in new dump truck developments. The latest novelty in the form of a gas BELAZ-7558N immediately gained many buyers at the XII St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.
Added:
KamAZ announced the activation of work on the creation of this truck from February. Among the main tasks:
- development of a hardware and software complex for designing an unmanned quarry dump truck;
- development of a preliminary design of the dump truck;
- development of a technical project for an unmanned traffic system;
- development of a technical project and working design documentation for a digital dispatching system for a coal quarry;
- simulation modeling of the movement of a quarry dump truck for theoretical study of its dynamics.
The movement of the machine will be set in the digital platform by trajectories, the dump truck will move in a robotic mode along a given route.
This will eliminate maneuvers during loading and at the dump, which will reduce operating costs for transporting rock mass by increasing productivity. Fuel costs and costs for large tires will also decrease.
