Moving to Electric Power
The rationale behind the move to power both the rail-bound and
crawler loaders electrically came from the knowledge that
compressed air is the single highest energy-related cost on a deep
level mine, and any reduction in its dependance would be
welcomed by mine management.
Secondly, adding to the losses in compressed air reticulation, at
night
the compressors are increasingly only operating to power
the loaders, so the energy efficiency, as a ratio of pneumatic
power available to the loader divided by power input to the
surface compressor, is extremely low, reportedly less than 10%.
The electric remote-control system enables the
operator to finely adjust the motor torque
applied and hence the acceleration of the bucket
