This article is 4 years old. Images might not display.
Australian mines do not have the same sort of requirements that other jurisdictions do. However, many Australian miners want the cleanest burning diesel equipment possible to help limit the amount of diesel particulate matter emitted in their operations.
The TH663i truck's Stage V engine is designed to meet the requirements of non-road engines in the power range above 560 kilowatts. In this power range, instead of fitting the engines with diesel particulate filters, other means are used to reduce emissions.
In the TH663i's case its engine's exhaust after treatment contains a selective catalytic reduction system.
The SCR uses diesel exhaust fluid to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides without sacrificing the truck's performance or fuel efficiency.
According to Sandvik the common rail injection and dual-stage turbo charging provide high power density, low noise, low fuel consumption and low emissions.
Cooling solutions in the engine help minimise parasitic engine losses.
The Stage V engine option requires ultra-low sulphur fuel and low-ash engine oil to operate.
However, in addition to running on traditional fossil diesel fuel, the TH663i truck can also use paraffinic diesel fuels that meet the EN15940 standard's requirements.
Renewable paraffinic diesel fuel considerably reduces greenhouse gas footprint and carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and diesel particulate matter in the exhaust.
The truck can use different blends of fossil and paraffinic diesel.
Over the past couple of years Sandvik has made several improvements to the TH663i.
In 2019 Sandvik introduced a new transmission to increase productivity, reliability and reduce truck operating costs.
It also added a durable and maintenance-friendly cooler with better corrosion resistance and long component lifetimes.
In 2020 the truck's automation performance was upgraded with Sandvik introducing Automine for Trucks.
That system allowed autonomous truck haulage not only underground but also on the surface, which can be part of a truck's normal duty cycle at some mines.
