The mining vehicle industry chain is a comprehensive value chain with “material-parts-system-vehicle-scene” as the vertical main line and R&D, testing, standard, finance, and remanufacturing as the horizontal support. Value chain. It bears the mission of transforming primary resources such as iron and steel, rare earths, and rubber into high-efficiency mining transportation equipment, and also shoulders the strategic responsibility of lowering the transportation cost of mining ton-kilometers and realizing green and low-carbon mining through continuous technological iteration. The following is a systematic description of the composition, technical characteristics, and industrial synergy mechanism of the key links in the upstream, middle, and downstream of the industry chain.
I. Upstream: Key materials, core components, and resources of industry, academia, and research
1. Key material system
(1) Ultra-high-strength steel and wear-resistant steel: carriages and frames have a strong demand for steel with yield strength ≥1100MPa, and domestic Baosteel and Anshan Iron & Steel can supply them in large quantities; and wear-resistant steel has its Brinell hardness elevated to more than 500HB through the B and Ti micro-alloying technology to meet the requirements of impact resistance for the -40℃ extreme cold mining area.
(2) Light alloys: aluminum alloy fuel tank, magnesium alloy dashboard bracket, titanium alloy spring seat, etc., in the weight reduction of 7%-12% at the same time to improve corrosion resistance; the non-ferrous metal institute, Beijing University, jointly developed of Al-Zn-Mg-Sc alloy has entered the road verification.
(3) Non-metallic composite materials: aramid fiber cord fabric in high-load tires to replace part of the steel wire, reducing heat generation; ceramic-based composite brake linings can increase continuous downhill braking life by 3 times.
(4) Rare-earth permanent magnets and silicon-based semiconductors: used in high-torque permanent magnet synchronous motors above 350kW and SiC inverter modules, which are the core of realizing the efficiency of electric-driven mining cards ≥92%.
2. Core components
(1) Powertrain: high-power diesel engine (displacement 60L, power 2500kW), dual-fuel (diesel/LNG) engine, pure electric, and hydrogen fuel cell system. Weichai, Cummins, MTU, Yihuatong, etc. have a layout.
(2) Transmission and axles: wet braking mining axles with rated load above 60t, adopting planetary wheelside deceleration + oil-cooled multi-disc braking technology; Allison, ZF, and China National Heavy Duty Truck Axle Division have formed a competitive pattern.
(3) Suspension and tires: oil and gas suspension + rubber co-spring combination in the 100-ton rigid mining trucks to achieve vibration-damping stroke ± 180mm; Bridgestone 59/80R63 giant radial tires with a single-tire load of up to 100t, life of up to 8000h.
(4) Line control and intelligent system: L4 automatic driving kit with LiDAR+high-precision map has been demonstrated and operated in Inner Mongolia Shengli and Roy Hill mining area in Australia; brake/steering redundant line control system meets ISO 26262 ASIL-D safety level.
3. Industry-academia-research resources
The upstream link gathers scientific research institutions such as the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Engineering Research Center for Electric Vehicles of Beijing Institute of Technology, the State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing of Central South University, etc. At the same time, Sany Heavy Industry-Central South University “Joint Laboratory of Advanced Mining Equipment”, At the same time, Sany Heavy Industry – Zhongnan University “Advanced Mining Equipment Joint Laboratory”, XCMG – China University of Mining and Technology “Intelligent Mining Transportation System Collaborative Innovation Center” and other school and enterprise platforms, around the high abrasion-resistant materials, hybrid control, vehicle and road coordinated decision-making algorithms to carry out common technology research.
II. Midstream: Manufacturers of complete mining vehicles
Machine manufacturers are the integration of the industry chain hub, and the technology route is divided into “large-scale, electrification, intelligence, and unmanned” four major directions.
(1) Large-scale: XCMG DE400 (load capacity of 400t), NTE360 (load capacity of 360t) of the northern shares of the largest domestic tonnage to set a new record; through the topology optimization, the whole casting of the bridge shell achieves a structure of weight reduction of 9%.
(2) Electrification: Xiangdian Heavy Duty SF339EV pure electric mining truck adopts a 1200kWh lithium iron phosphate liquid-cooled battery pack, equipped with a 4-speed AMT transmission, with heavy-duty uphill energy consumption of only 1.15kWh/t-km, which is compared with the same tonnage of a diesel engine to reduce carbon emissions by 4,000t per year.
(3) Intelligent: LGMG cooperates with Huawei MDC to develop a cloud-based scheduling system integrating 5G+Beidou, realizing unmanned group operation of 30 vehicles, with an average operating efficiency increase of 27% and a labor cost decrease of 80%.
(4) Unmanned: Komatsu FrontRunner, Carter Command for Hauling has been commercially operated in more than 20 mines around the world; Domestic Treadmill Intelligence, Huituo Intelligence to provide rear-mounted unmanned solutions, modification cycle ≤ 15 days.
Machine enterprises in the supply chain management generally adopt “strategic procurement + joint development” mode, and share BOM, FEMA, PPAP data with upstream suppliers to realize the whole process of traceability from materials to assemblies; at the same time, through the “digital twin factory” on welding, through the “Digital Twin Factory”, simulation and optimization of welding, painting and assembly beats are carried out, and the delivery cycle is shortened from the traditional 180 days to 120 days.
III. Downstream: Mines and Seven Key Application Scenarios
1. Metallurgical mines: Anshan Qidashan iron ore mine and Baowu Meishan iron ore mine adopt 220t-class electric wheel mine trucks, and through the belt + mine truck joint transportation system, the comprehensive transportation cost of ore has been reduced to 0.35 yuan/t-km. 2. Coal mines: The State Administration of Industry and Commerce of China (SACIC) has adopted a new system of “welding and coating” to optimize the welding and coating cycle.
2. Coal mines: National Energy Group Juneng Heidaigou open-pit mine deployed one hundred unmanned mine cards, and electric shovels and bulldozers to realize V2X synergy, stripping a total annual average of 120 million m³, the world’s largest annual stripping volume of a single machine.
3. Non-ferrous metal mines: Zijin Mining’s Kamoa copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) uses plateau-type mining trucks, and in response to the problem of power degradation at altitudes of more than 2,000m, the power maintenance rate of the rated power has been increased to 96% through electronically-controlled pressurization and optimization of intercooling.
4. Chemical mines: Qinghai Salt Lake Industrial Group potash mines to develop anti-corrosion compartments, the use of 2205 duplex stainless steel + fluorocarbon coating, brine corrosion rate down to 0.025mm/a.
5. Building materials mine: Conch Cement Wuhu mine to build a “5G + Industrial Internet” demonstration base, mine card scheduling system and DCS control system through the realization of the ore particle size online detection – dynamic optimization of the truck path – crushing station load self-adaptation.
6. Infrastructural projects: Sichuan-Tibet Railway construction supporting mines, the use of wide-body dump trucks (60t class) to cope with high-cold, lack of oxygen, large longitudinal slope conditions, the engine to increase the plateau intake preheating + fuel heating dual system, -35 ℃, a starting success rate of 100%.
7. Hydropower project: Baihetan hydropower station migrant resettlement yard adopts pure electric mine card + fixed power exchange station, with full power resurrection in 3 minutes, replacing 1.2 million liters of diesel fuel annually, realizing “zero-carbon yard”.
IV. Horizontal support system
1. Standards and regulations: GB/T 35194-2017 “Mining Electric Wheel Dump Truck”, T/CCMA 0079-2020 “Technical Specification for Unmanned Transportation System for Open Pit Mines”, and so on have built up a standard system for the whole life cycle of design, safety, testing, and operation.
2. Testing and certification: National Center for Quality Supervision and Inspection of Construction Machinery (Yanqing, Beijing) and China Automotive Research Yancheng Proving Ground have comprehensive testing capabilities such as full-load ramp, brake recession, EMC, and electromagnetic compatibility, etc. The world’s first “plateau+high-heat” dual-environmental chamber test runway dedicated to mining trucks will be built in 2024.
3. Financial services: CITIC Financial Leasing has launched the “Mining Card Battery Bank” model, in which customers rent batteries and share the proceeds with the amount of fuel savings, thus reducing the pressure of one-time investment; PICC has launched the unmanned third-party liability insurance, and the annual premium for a single unit has been reduced to 60% of that of the traditional type of insurance.
4. Remanufacturing and recycling: Based on the National Green Manufacturing System Integration Project, XCMG and Weichai jointly build a four-level remanufacturing system of “engine-transmission-axle-vehicle”, and the performance of remanufactured products is not lower than that of new products. The performance of remanufactured products is not less than that of new products by 95%, the price is reduced by 40%, and 80,000 tons of waste steel emissions can be reduced annually.
