Mine dump truck enters the "wide body" era

Due to the remarkable economic benefits, and in line with the trend of large-scale mining machinery products, wide-body mining dump trucks are replacing the traditional dump trucks as the main force on the market. With the increase of competitors, the competition among brands has become increasingly fierce.

On December 14, 1994, the Three Gorges Project was officially started as the first earthwork and stone were dumped into the Yangtze River. Deliberate people must remember that at that time, the dumping of earth and stones into the Yangtze River was a bulky mine wide body dump truck that had barely been seen in China. At the time, these products were imported from abroad without exception. In fact, in foreign countries, the application of such products in construction sites such as mines has become very common. However, at that time in China, traditional dump trucks were still the main force on the mines. It was only at some construction machinery exhibitions that people could see the wide-body dump trucks brought by Caterpillar, Terex and other companies.

With the advancement of industry technology, in the second half of last year, some manufacturers of dump trucks, such as Shaanxi Tongli, Taian Aerospace, and North Benz, took the lead in rushing into the widebody tipper market. At the same time, the market for mining dump trucks has skyrocketed, and orders for traditional dump trucks have shrunk. Wide-body dump trucks have become the main force in the market. Some people in the industry believe that in 2010, it will be the era of wide-body dump trucks.

Driven by economic efficiency

Dora Run is an important way to achieve faster economic benefits. From the mining area to the coal platform, the road is generally only a few kilometers. It is obviously very difficult to increase the total traffic by increasing the speed. Moreover, the road conditions of some coal mines are very poor, and the speed of dump trucks is very limited. At this time, there is only one road left, which is to increase the traffic volume of a single vehicle.

From the mining area to the coal platform, the roads are mostly hovering. Extending the body will make the vehicle's corners pass through weaker; increasing the height of the body will increase the product's center of gravity and drive hazards; therefore, lengthen the bodywork. Width becomes the most effective method. Taking the TAS3500 widebody dump truck manufactured by Taian Aerospace as an example, its volume has reached 3 meters by 5.6 meters by 1.6 meters, which is 0.7 meters wider than that of conventional dump trucks. Due to the expansion of its bottom area, its stacking capacity has also expanded. Under normal circumstances, after the traditional dump trucks are filled with goods, the total weight of the associated dump trucks has reached 50 tons, and the rated load of such wide dump trucks has already reached 50 tons, not to mention the height of the trucks. Heightened and strengthened. The wide-body dump trucks currently used in the market are generally 50% more loaded than conventional dump trucks.

Du Long, a sales manager of the Taian Aerospace dump truck business, said that it was precisely due to the huge economic benefits of a wide-body dump truck that a user who had originally ordered a traditional dump truck had withdrawn. Orders, all to buy a wide body dump truck.

Products meet the trend of large-scale

Another important reason why wide-body dump trucks are destined for the Chinese market is the large-scale production of other mine construction machinery products. At present, in the open-pit coal mines in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Qinghai, the requirements for large-scale construction machinery products are getting higher and higher. In addition to mining large-scale front shovel excavators, 33 tons and 45 tons of backhoe excavators have also been found everywhere, even 80 tons of excavator products. As the excavator's tonnage continues to increase and the bucket's bucket capacity grows bigger, a fatal problem arose - the width of the excavator bucket has exceeded the width of an ordinary dump truck, and the excavator wants to put the coal on the train. Must be in the direction of the body, which has a great impact on practical use. When the excavator is loading coal, it must constantly change the angle to ensure that the tip of the dump truck is evenly filled with coal. The width of an ordinary dump truck is about 2.3 meters, and it only occupies the width of one lane on a highway. However, in actual work, from the beginning to the end of use, these vehicles will not basically run on the road. Therefore, widening the vehicle body width is the simplest and most effective way to improve the current status of this work. The width of the existing wide-body dump truck has reached 3 meters, which allows the excavator to load the coal into the car along the direction of the body. The excavator can simply change the lifting amount of the bucket to achieve even distribution of coal. .

According to Zhang Yonghong of Ordos City Land Construction Machinery Sales Co., Ltd., the wide-body dump trucks currently on the market, the excavator can be filled with up to five shovels, and it is very convenient to use.

Technology needs to be improved

Widebody dump trucks are still an emerging product in China. Although Chinese companies have already grasped the basic technology for manufacturing such products, the reliability of products still needs to be continuously improved. The most important characteristics of this journey from the mining area to the coal station are the distance, the number of turns, and the height of the curve. Due to the increased weight of the wide-body dump truck, this imposes high requirements on the engine—high horsepower, good climbing ability, and easy start-up. These requirements boil down to the fact that low-speed torque must be large. The Yuchai engine is characterized by its low-speed torque, and it is precisely because of this, Taian Aerospace products use Yuchai engines. For example, the TAS3500 wide-body dump truck of Taian Aerospace is equipped with a 375 horsepower Yuchai 6M heavy-duty engine. In addition, in the area of ​​wide-body dump trucks, the proportion of engines such as Weichai is also very high.

Due to the poor working conditions in mines, there are a lot of dust, and the requirements for filters for wide-body dump trucks are also very high. Traditional single oil filter products have been difficult to meet the needs. At present, sand filter air filtration with three filtration functions has already begun to gradually enter the market. If it is successful, this technology will soon be promoted in wide body dump trucks and other mining construction machinery products.

In addition, the high torque at low engine speeds and the heavy weight of the loaded products also put a high test on the product chassis. Before that, due to the fact that the chassis of a certain brand did not adapt to the operation of the plateau, its share of the Qinghai-Tibet market was soon divided by two newly-entered brands. As Ma Guangyuan, a vehicle captain of the Qinghai Xingqing Group’s Muli Coal Mine, puts it, the market prospects for wide-body dump trucks are very promising, but due to the relatively short time to market, many local problems still need to be improved.

Brand competition is becoming increasingly fierce

Shaanxi Tongli, Taian Aerospace, North Benz, China National Heavy Duty Truck, Yutong Heavy Industry ... At present, the main enterprises that produce wide-body dump trucks nationwide can use two palms to finish counting. However, the battlefield of the wide-body dump truck market has only just begun, and it is still difficult to reach a conclusion as to who will win the largest market share. Li Peiwen, head of the Ningxia Hefeng Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. Shizuishan District, said that in the current Shizuishan region, Shaanxi Tongli has occupied 70% of the market share, and Sinohow's Howeville has occupied 20% of the country's total. Due to the late entry into the market, Tyan currently only accounts for 10% of the region's market, but they are confident that this market share will increase to 40% to 50% in June next year. On the previous day and the day of the reporter’s interview, Ningxia Hefeng Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. had received orders for a total of 30 sets of two products from the same user, which had already surpassed the production capacity of the main engine plant. Li Peiwen told reporters at the same time that Taian Aerospace has already established a clothing base in Shizuishan's industrial park and is expected to start production next year. By that time, the company's production capacity will be greatly improved, and the OEMs will be close to the market, so they will not have to limit their production capacity and let them sell their products.

The market for wide-body dump trucks is indeed very attractive. It is understood that five to six other companies are brewing or are already trialling wide-body dump trucks. On the road leading to the Muli coal mine in Qinghai Province, the reporter saw several wide-body dump trucks bearing trademarks that were never seen before. These vehicles flew away from the vehicle where the reporter was traveling and rolled up a smell of cigarette smoke.