Capital Equipment News October 2016

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

OCTOBER 2016

EARTHMOVING EQUIPMENT

the gear ratios,” says Du Pisanie. “Smaller

ratio steps between each gear means that

the engine spends more time at its optimal

torque and fuel consumption point. This

gives improved performance, while at the

same time improves fuel consumption.”

The new range also benefits from Bell

Equipment’s aggressiveness with its new

software development. “At Bell we have

always aimed to be a class leader in our

software developments. They make the op-

eration of the truck faster, easier to learn and

much safer. Over the past few years, this has

been done with features such as Auto Horn, I

Tip, Neutral Park Brake and Tip Safe, to men-

tion a few,” says Du Pisanie.

The trend has continued with the E-Series

Large Truck range. The new Hillhold automat-

ically applies brakes to stop the truck from

rolling backwards on uphill drives. “If the

operator is driving uphill and takes their foot

off the throttle, the truck is at risk of rolling

backwards. Hillhold automatically applies

brakes to stop this. When the operator puts

their foot back on the throttle, it automatical-

ly releases the brakes when there is enough

torque produced to be able to pull away

smoothly,” adds Du Pisanie.

The Bell large truck range also comes with

a significantly improved Hill Descent Control.

The response time of this feature is now

much faster and is said to give the operator

greater confidence in using the system. “Sec-

ondly, the performance at low speed is a lot

more powerful and precise. As a result, tricky

downhill driving is much easier as all the

operator needs to do is to focus on steering

while the speed control gives him the speed

he wants,” says Du Pisanie.

Meanwhile, Daily Service Checks mea-

sures many variables on the truck, providing

critical information on the condition of many

of the systems. This feature, therefore, pro-

vides information on the monitor of the sta-

tus of several of daily service checks that

traditionally need to be done by physically

climbing on the machine.

In the Bell D-Series range, the brake

system and gears shared common oil in

the axle. “This required specialised oil

which could work in both the gears and the

brakes. In some of remote markets, this oil

was difficult to source,” says Du Pisanie.

“With the E-Series Large Truck range,

our engineers opted to use two separate

commonly available and optimised oils for

brakes and gears in the axle. Not only have

we been able to select the best suited oil in

each instance, but we have also introduced

large capacity cooling, for the brake

oil, across the range to improve system

durability in heavy duty applications.”

Safety and operator comfort

Du Pisanie says the Bell ADTs are designed

to take full payload “where no other truck

can go”. “The configuration of the truck and

the suspension systems play a very big role

in this, but traction devices are also very

important,” he says.

With that in mind, Bell’s ADT range has a

differential that splits the drive between the

front and rear of the truck. This differential

can be locked with an Inter-Axle Differential

Lock if one axle loses traction. Each axle

has a differential that splits the drive left

and right. If a wheel on the one side starts

slipping, each differential has a mechanism

that, once activated, will transfer torque to

the wheel with traction. “The system has a

clutch in it and if there is too much torque,

the clutch slips,” says Du Pisanie. “This is

important if it is driven on hard ground in that

condition. These are known as controlled

traction differentials (CTD).”

“Both of these systems used to be man-

ually selected by the operator, but the truck

now has the capability to identify if there is

a wheel or axle slip and then automatically

puts on these systems. The system first turns

on the Inter-Axle Differential Lock and if it

still identifies wheel slipping, it then turns on

the CTDs.”

By automating these two systems, the

Automatic Traction Control makes the

operation of the machine easier and also

prevents haul road and machine damage by

a novice operator, while keeping the truck

going in difficult terrain.

With Bell Equipment’s understanding

that a comfortable operator is a productive

one, the E-Series large Truck range benefits

from a new spacious cab with better noise

isolation for increased operator comfort. A

full colour 10-inch LCD screen gives a great

deal of information on machine operation

and status. “We have received positive feed-

back on the simplicity of the controls and

the ergonomics of our D-Series cab. These

aspects have been maintained and improved

where possible,” says Du Pisanie.

The Bell B60E, the biggest truck of its nature in the world, boasts a massive 55 t rated payload.

Tristan du Pisanie, product marketing

manager at Bell Equipment, says there is a

big trend towards bigger-sized ADTs globally.