Cat electric rope shovel packages help eliminate need for one-off technology customization

Caterpillar has launched two new optional technology solutions – the Integrated Technology Package and the Operator Assist Technology Package – for the Cat 7495 and 7495 HF electric rope shovels. The new packages eliminate the need for one-off technology customization, offer faster technology installation, and provide seamless integration of future technologies into machine operation. They offer health and productivity data tracking to help reduce the number of unplanned machine outages, creating a more predictable maintenance schedule while extending component life.

The Integrated Technology Package integrates Cat electronics into the machine's design and provides the foundation to support future technology expansion. The new package features six standard technologies – ranging from health monitoring to cycle segmentation – to support improved uptime reliability, improved operator efficiency, and enhanced cyber security. This upgrade also provides integration of Cat MineStar Solutions' suite of operational technologies that help track, monitor, and manage the shovel.

Building on the Integrated Technology Package, the Operator Assist Technology Package provides machine self-protection and control enhancements that help simplify 7495 and 7495 HF operations. This upgrade minimizes machine self-collisions and helps protect against operator practices that cause damage. It allows less experienced operators to load trucks efficiently while reducing the effort required to avoid poor digging practices impacting machine availability and overall productivity.

The new Operator Assist Technology Package upgrade simplifies how the shovel is operated through machine self-protection. It automatically detects and avoids collisions between the dipper, crawler, boom bumper, and cable management systems.

The technology's LiDAR vision system scans the front of the shovel and algorithms integrate with operator commands to provide the least intrusive avoidance path. If a collision is unavoidable, the system will arrest machine motion to prevent or mitigate the collision. It helps reduce unplanned downtime, extends component life, and improves the total cost of ownership.

The package features the second generation of Enhanced Motion Control, encompassing all the improvements of the first generation. It also offers a new feature to protect the rotating undercarriage by alerting the operator when the turning angle exceeds 20 degrees so that corrective action can be taken.

Other features within the new Operator Assist Technology Package include:

• Anti-swing in bank - prevents damaging side-loading forces on the dipper when the operator attempts to swing the dipper through the bank.
• Hoist stall prevention - monitors forces and helps crowd/retract commands to avoid stalling the dipper and prevent detrimental forces on the hoist gear case.
• Hoist rope slack prevention - automatically adjusts crowd and hoist references to maintain rope tension when slack is detected.
• Boom jack minimization - automatically adjusts hoist and crowd to maintain proper rope tension and improve cycle times.
• Rope crowd impact prevention - measures the force on the crowd rope and automatically adjusts motor output to avoid shock loading.
• Rope crowd overspeed prevention - eliminates unnecessary wear on the crowd brake by providing more braking power to avert overspeed situations.

By providing the foundation for supporting technology expansion and integration, the Integrated Technology Package helps to provide reliable reporting. New Cycle Segmentation establishes operating key performance indicators (KPIs) and identifies dwell time when idle. It divides cycle time data into digging, swinging to the truck, dumping and swinging to the bank segments. This allows miners to track machine performance across different shifts and operators.

With this introduction, legacy reporting technologies change to new Machine Health, Vibration Monitoring, Payload Management and Bearing Temperature Monitor technologies.

• Machine Health delivers improved reporting capabilities and provides remote real-time machine monitoring.
• Using sensors to capture data from the crowd, hoist, swing motors, and gearboxes, Vibration Monitoring examines vibration signals for changes, allowing for proactive maintenance to reduce unplanned outage downtime.
• Payload Management provides real-time feedback on material moved to avoid truck over/underloading.
• Bearing Temperature Monitor keeps track of hoist, swing and crowd bearing temperatures and alerts the operator if figures rise beyond established thresholds. 

The optional Integrated Technology Package will be available in standard and premium subscription levels. Standard subscriptions include all package technologies and push notifications for software updates. Premium subscriptions include all standard features plus vibration data analysis, monthly report generation from a Caterpillar engineer, and in-person consultation to review the report's findings and conclusions. 

New Cat 7495 and 7495 HF shovel purchases can be optionally equipped with the Integrated Technology Package and Operator Assist Technology Package starting in 2023. Availability of these technology packages as field retrofit kits is scheduled for mid-2023.