CHAPTER - 12

EQUIPMENT PRODUCTIVITY

LASER BASED MACHINE CONTROL

The Need:

Construction equipment using laser control technology can achieve higher levels of productivity

Grader with Topcon 30-MC

Computer and Total-Station

Receiver

THE TECHNOLOGY

New systems use three modules to control the piece of equipment:

survey that upload in a total station using a computer notebook. A receiver mounted on the blade of the equipment, intercepts the laser beam. The interface between the positioning information and the actual steering of the equipment is performed through the use of a control system device which converts the digital data into machine hydraulic pulses.

The main benefit of these systems is the gain of productivity. The laser devices can triple the productivity of equipment on highway projects

PRODUCTIVITY CONCEPTS

The cycle of equipment pieces is the sequence of tasks which is repeated to produce a unit of output (e.g., a cubic yard, a trip load, etc.) There are two characteristics of the machine and the cycle that dictate the rate of output; the cycle capacity of the machine and the cycle rate or speed of the machine A hauler such as a scraper pan, usually has a rated capacity. Struck vs. Heaped capacity. The bowl of the scraper can be filled level (struck) yielding one capacity or can be filled above the top to a heaped capacity The material has a different weight-to-volume ratio when it is placed in its construction location (e.g., a road fill) and is compacted to its final density This leads to three types of measurement; 1) bank cubic yards ( in situ vol ), 2) loose cu. yd. and 3) compacted cu. yd.

PRODUCTIVITY CONCEPTS (continued)

Payment based on the placed earth construction so that the pay unit is final compacted cu. yd. (see fig. 12-1) See pg. 186 equations to calculate percent swell and the load factor Percent swell for fig. 12-1 is 30% Table 12-1 gives the load factor for various materials Higher the load factor, the smaller tendency to bulkup Therefore, with a high load factor, the loose volume and the in situ vol tend to be closer to one another See pg. 187

Figure 12-1 Volume Relationships

Table 12-2 Typical Rolling Resistance Factors

CYCLE TIME and POWER REQUIREMENTS

The second factor affecting the rate of output of a machine or machine combination is the time required to complete a cycle This is a function of the 3 items; 1) the power required 2) the power available and 3) the usable portion of the power available The power required is related to the rolling resistance (RR) inherent in the machine due to internal friction and the friction developed between the wheels or tracks and the related surface The power required is also a function of the grade resistance Rolling resistance in tracked vehicles is zero since tracks act as its own roadbed

CYCLE TIME and POWER REQUIREMENTS (continued)

See table 12-2 for rolling resistance in lbs./ton of weight Rule of thumb, RR is 40lbs/ton plus 30lbs/ton for each penetration of the surface under wheeled traffic If the deflection is 2 in. and wt. on wheels of a hauler is 70 tons, then RR is : RR= [40 +2 (30)]lb/ton x 70 tons = 7000 lbs The second factor involved in calculating power required is the grade resistance (GR) see fig 12-3. In most cases slopes (both uphill and downhill) will be encountered and lead to higher or lower power requirements Fig 12-4; for the haul road profile with RR and % grade see table 12-3, which gives the power required for each section

Figure 12-2 Factors Influencing Rolling Resistance

Figure 12-3 Grade Resistance a) b) Negative (resting) Force Positive (aiding) Force

Figure 12-4 Typical Haul Road Profile

Table 12-3 Calculations for Haul Road Sections

POWER AVAILABLE

The power available is controlled by the engine size of the equipment and the drive train, which allows transfer of power to the driving wheels or power take-off point The amount of power transferred is a function of the gear being used Most automobile drivers realize that lower gears transfer more power to overcome hills and rough surfaces Lower gears sacrifice speed in order to provide more power Higher gears deliver less power, but allow higher speed See table 12-4 for the power available in each gear See fig 12-5, nomograph, to determine power available in graphical form

POWER AVAILABLE (continued)

For tracked vehicles, the power available is quoted in drawbar pull. This is the force that can be delivered at the pulling point (i.e. pulling hitch) in a given gear for a given tractor type The power available for a wheeled vehicle is stated in pounds of rimpull. This is the force that can be developed by the wheels at its point of contact with the road surface Manufacturers also provide rated power and maximum power Rated power is the level of power that is developed in a given gear under normal load and over extended work periods The maximum power is the peak power that can be developed for a short period of time, e.g. a bulldozer is used to pull a truck out of a ditch, a quick surge of power is used to dislodge the truck Most calculations are done using rated power See example on pg 191, fig 12-5 and fig 12-6

Table 12-4 Speed and Draw Pull (270 hp) (Track type tractor

Fig. 12-5 Gear Requirements Chart-35 Ton off Highway Truck

Fig. 12-6 Travel time (a) empty and (b) loaded

USABLE POWER

To this point, it has been assumed that all of the available power is usable and can be developed Two main constraints in using the available power are the road surface traction characteristics (for wheeled vehicles) and the attitudes are which the operations are conducted Tires of a car spin on a wet or slippery pavement. Although, engine and gears are delivering a certain horsepower, no traction to develop power into the ground Combustion engines operating at high altitudes experience a reduction in oxygen, which leads to reduce power First, is a problem with traction. The factors that influence the usable power are the coefficient of traction and the vehicle weight The coefficient of traction is a measure of the ability of a surface to receive and develop the power being delivered to the driving wheels and has been determined by experiment. See table 12-5

USABLE POWER (continued)

Power that can be developed = coefficient of traction X weight on drivers In the consideration of RR and GR, the entire weight was used in calculating usable power only the weight on the driving wheels is used See fig 12-7 for determination of driver weights Illustration of usable power, see the example on pg. 194 & 195 The altitude is also a problem with respect to usable power. Bogota, Columbia (elevation 8600ft) cant develop the same power as one operating in Atlanta, Georgia (elevation 1080ft) A rule of thumb to correct this effect is to decrease pounds pulled 3% for each 1000ft above 3000ft

Table 12-5 Coefficients of Traction

Figure 12-7 Determination of Driver Eeights

EQUIPMENT BALANCE

In situations where two types of equipment work together to accomplish a task, it is important that a balance in the productivity of the units be achieved This is desirable so that one unit is not continually idle waiting for other unit to catch up Consider the problem of balancing productivity within the context of a push dozer loading a tractor scraper. A simple model of this process is shown in fig 12-9 The circles represent delay in waiting states, while square designated active work activities with associated times can be estimated The haul unit is a 30 cu. yd. scraper and is loaded in the cut area with the aid of a 385-hp pusher dozer. The system consists of two interacting cycles. See example pg. 197-200

Fig. 12-9 Scraper-pusher dual cycle model Fig. 12-8 Impact of usable power constraints

Figure 12-10 Travel Time Nomographs

Fig. 12-11 Scraper-pusher cycle timing

Fig. 12-12 Productivity Plot

RANDOM WORK TASK DURATIONS

In systems where the randomness of cycle times is considered, system productivity is reduced further The influence of random durations on the movement of resources causes various units to become bunched together and thus to arrive at and overload work tasks Results delay impact the productivity of cycles by increasing the time that resource units spend idle states pending release to productive work tasks Fig. 12-13 indicates the influence of random durations on the scraper fleet production

RANDOM WORK TASK DURATIONS (continued)

The curved line of fig. 12-13 slightly below the linear plot of production based on deterministic work task times shows the reduction caused by the addition of random variations of cycle This randomness leads to bunching of haulers on their cycle Fig. 12-14a, haul units are exactly 1.35 min apart In systems that include the effect of random variations of cycle times, bunching occurs on the haul cycle as seen in fig. 12-14b. The bunching effect is most determined to the production