Automatic control of haul truck travel speed on open pits

Expanding raw materials production demands necessitates higher exploitation rates and capacities. Therefore, open pit mines resort to increasing their overall depth and hence introduce further machine related technical problems. Haul trucks experience intensified dynamic effects during traveling, resulting in a significant maintenance cost increase. The most influencing effects occur during the truck braking and stopping process, especially when heavily loaded. Current technical solutions in most haul truck configurations disregard plethora of these effects to lower their production cost. The dynamic effects should be defined according to specific conditions on an open pit and applied for modifying currently employed systems for automatic truck speed control (ASC). It is the purpose of this paper to present the ASC system employed on the haul truck and key points for further modification and development. Firstly, the paper presents basic aspects of the truck braking/stopping process. Secondly, a description of the BelAZ 75306 traction drive and braking systems is provided, followed by key features of the BelAZ 75306 ASC system. Finally, presented information is summarized, indicating flaws and recommendations for further improvement of the BelAZ 75306 ASC system employed on the open pit - 'Veliki Krivelj', Bor, Serbia