Energy Performance of Dump Trucks in Opencast Mine

Dump trucks are used worldwide for handling ore and waste in most of the opencast mines. The energy consumption in dump trucks accounts for about 32 % of the total energy requirement in opencast mines. In this paper a modeling framework is developed to analyse a generic mine transportation problem with multiple dump trucks operating between multiple crushers and excavators. The minimum specific fuel consumption (SFC) of dump trucks for a specified pay load and material handling rate is optimized. The model investigates the variations of SFC with operating parameters like pay load, speed, wind speed etc. A case study of down gradient opencast limestone mine of capacity 2600 t/h shows a fuel savings of 15%. An achievable minimum SFC of 86 g/ton of ore handled is estimated using proposed model.