Remote Air Conditioning Charging – Earthmoving Equipment Focus
Safety in mining has come along leaps and bounds since the “early days” of tank tops, shorts and thongs. Whilst mining is still in essence a dangerous job, the risk avoidance procedures that the mining industry has taken upon itself to implement to protect the safety and well being of the employees in the industry is a compliment to the industry. However even with these safeguards and protections in place, unfortunately accidents can occur. Testing and commisioning has been identified as one of the periods of time where accidents have the potential to occur on a mine site and as such we will offer safety solutions below to assist with this in the field of earthmoving air conditioning.
Testing and commissioning is an important phase in the service cycle of maintaining earthmoving equipment and we at Lyons have been approached by a number of mine sites in the Pilbara to discuss possible alternative options when it comes to diagnosing and commissioning the A/C system in an earthmoving vehicle. Remote service ports have now been installed by Lyons on equipment such as this Caterpillar 16M (see photo below) and are an inexpensive way to remove some of the potential to cause injury when it comes to re-gassing or diagnosing the A/C system. These remote ports allow the A/C gauges to be connected for diagnosis / commissioning without the service technician being inside the engine bay where fan belts, pulleys and other moving components can be found. Remote service ports have been used by other industry providers for fast filling off fuel as well as grease lines however the A/C system can also be modified to suit. Service equipment can also be connected to the machine from a more convenient position to improve productivity and allow a quicker turnaround time for service work.