Retarding Systems For Electric-Drive Haulage Trucks

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 71, No. 799, 1978

Barry J. Turley, Senior Sales and Applications Engineer, Off-Highway Drives, General Electric Company, Erie, Pennsylvania

With over 700 large electric-drive haulage trucks operating in Canadian mining today and over 3700 in mines worldwide, most aspects of electric drive are well known. Recently, however, extensive application of these trucks to down-hill hauling in mountain mining makes it vitally important that many of us better understand the operation and proper application of the dynamic retarding feature of these vehicles. This paper is an attempt to clear up misunderstandings on this subject, to suggest precautions that mining operators should take in comparing competitive retarding systems and to challenge equipment manufacturers to evolve improvements to the important aspect of system performance.

Mots Clés: Mechanical-electrical, Retarding systems, Electric drives, Haulage trucks, Braking, Trucks, Open-pit mining.