Sustainable also underground: With electric drive and battery

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Sustainable also underground: With electric drive and battery-electric

XALT Energy and Freudenberg Battery Power Systems, both subsidiaries of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST), are working successfully with MacLean Engineering, Canada’s largest manufacturer of mining equipment. The aim is to promote the use of clean, battery-electric energy for the operation of mobile machines in underground mining.

MacLean aims to deliver zero emissions, safely and cost-effectively from its EV-Series heavy-duty battery-electric mining equipment including rock crushers, boom trucks, explosive loaders, roadheaders, cassette carriers, road graders, concrete trucks and sprayers, and more. A special battery subpack from Freudenberg Battery Power Systems is used here, which allows enormous flexibility in the design. MacLean has already configured more than 30 vehicle types for the Freudenberg battery system. MacLean has been supplying battery electric machines to mining companies in Canada for the past five years. MacLean now wants to offer customers around the world a diesel-free fleet solution with the batteries from Freudenberg.

“While climate change and rising CO2 emissions are driving the global adoption of battery-electric drives, the mining industry is in a unique situation,” said Patrick Marshall, vice president of product management at MacLean. “On the one hand, there is increasing demand for ores and minerals that support the development of zero-emission, electric vehicles and machines. On the other hand, without a shift to carbon neutral mining operations, the increasing emissions from extracting these resources could negate any environmental benefits.”

“A true treasure trove of benefits”

MacLean launched the EV-Series in 2016 and has continuously expanded the portfolio since then. Most recently, the 2021 range has been expanded to include a heavy-duty articulated shotcreter and grader, specifically designed for the harsh conditions of underground mining. But the benefits of all MacLean battery-powered vehicles go well beyond environmental goals, FST says.

The electrification of machines for hard rock civil engineering has many positive facets. “It’s a real treasure trove of benefits,” says Marshall. “Electric machines are quieter, emit no diesel particulates and create a healthier, less stressful environment for workers. Huge savings can also be made by reducing the cost of underground ventilation systems.”

With the EV-Series, MacLean helps its customers to achieve their sustainability goals and secure future investments. “Many mining companies have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050, some even by 2030,” Marshall said. “They want to perform well on key performance indicators related to the environment, sustainability and governance, as this is becoming increasingly important to investors. Now that governments have set new CO2 emission standards in line with the Paris Agreement, the mining industry also wants to play its part.”

A rewarding partnership

MacLean therefore approached Freudenberg with a request for support. The company’s battery experts immediately checked with the MacLean engineers what the energy requirements were, what battery carrier systems were needed and what the configurations looked like. In the end, MacLean chose the XMP76P subpack as the optimal powertrain solution. Several subpacks are connected in series to achieve an energy level of over 106 kWh per vehicle.

In the subpack XMP76P, 43-AH high performance cells of Xalt are used in a 2P24S architecture, which provide a total of 7.6 kWh energy. With a 6C discharge and 3C charge capability, the XMP76P is ideal for applications with high discharge power and regenerative requirements. Each subpack contains VTB (Voltage Temperature Balancing) boards that measure the voltages of all 24 cell pairs as well as the internal pack temperatures and perform cell balancing. The XMP76P is designed for use with XALT’s BDU (Battery Disconnect Unit) and MCU (Master Control Unit) via the I/O port.

The flexible housing of the subpack enables customized electrical and refrigeration interfaces. The active liquid cooling system ensures ideal cell temperatures that react quickly to increases in power demand and ambient temperatures, according to FST in a recent press release.

“We are very pleased with the performance of the batteries, Freudenberg’s technology roadmap and the support we receive from the company’s technical sales team – and of course the fact that we now have an international supply chain for our electric vehicles. We see great growth potential in this partnership,” concludes Marshall.

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3 thoughts on “Sustainable also underground: With electric drive and battery”

  1. Well then – they allow many vehicles and machines to be operated battery-electrically.

    This is not only possible in deep tunnels, but also on numerous construction sites in the country and the battery weight is not a disadvantage here, because it partially replaces the counterweight that is required anyway.

    For smaller machines, a changing system and a 2nd.battery pack. While 1 battery pack is used in the machine during the day, the 2.Recharge the battery pack via the PV system. When it rains, it is slowly recharged via the normal power grid, so that there are no charging peaks.

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  2. The market for e-drives is huge and creates many jobs. In this way, the lost screwdriver spaces can possibly even be completely compensated for. We want see.

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  3. 6C discharge and 3C charge capability is a house number! Nevertheless, the question remains as to how the high-voltage technology performs in operation compared to the low-voltage technology in mining operations. There is hardly any statement on this, because high voltage is considered to be the norm and, unfortunately, in many areas, one eye is blind. Low-voltage technology is by far cheaper, safer and more reliable.
    These drives were developed at the Bw University in Munich, but are simply ignored and placed on the technological side as impractical.
    why?
    The answer: Managers who are not very technically competent and politicians who are even less knowledgeable cannot be wrong and what should not be should not be the way it is!
    Germany, the users, the industry and last but not least the citizens who paid billions for nonsensical research suffered the damage!

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