“Joy has offered a four-wheel independent suspension system as an optional feature on shuttle cars for more than 10 years,” Joy haulage engineering division, haulage hydraulics group leader Adam Peterson said.

“What has taken this system up a notch is the new Joyride strut incorporated into the suspension system.”

On a typical shuttle car unit not featuring four-wheel suspension, the machine’s discharge end wheels are suspended by a pivoting axle while its loading end is supported by fixed axles. Conversely, the decade-old optional four-wheel suspension technology uses a passive strut system that uses internal elastomeric pucks and spacer plates which Joy developed to last until the unit’s next machine rebuild.

“The new Joyride strut system, with its patented technology, significantly reduces forces on the suspension and offers the best-in-class ride today,” Peterson said.

“The Joyride strut is a product of one-and-a-half years of design, component testing, and underground machine testing, including a full year of testing at Foundation Coal’s [now Alpha Natural Resources’] Emerald mine in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.”

The development was realized as a result of ideal timing and detailed feedback from mines. It also placed a major focus on productivity and performance that would provide value to operations.

“Our customers had been asking if we could improve the current strut system to facilitate rebuilding, and Joy’s haulage engineering group was strategically driving the need to optimize the design characteristics to enable improved performance,” Peterson said, noting the struts can be retrofitted to existing suspension machines without the need for a new chassis.

Joyride, the OEM said, also has a dampening characteristic that can lessen forces on the machine and make for a more comfortable ride, less roadway rutting and less lost material. The feature allows greater utilization of Joy’s Optidrive speed capabilities.

Joy first offered Joyride on its 10SC32B model, but recently has extended that to most of its mid and high-seam models globally. The company offers a total of eight shuttle car models ranging from an 8-ton (7-tonne) capacity to the industry’s only 33-ton (30-tonne) unit.

The first Joyride-equipped shuttle car was shipped in January 2009 to Consol Energy’s Enlow Fork mine in West Finley, Pennsylvania, and more than 30 shuttle cars featuring Joyride have been sold since its introduction.

“Hundreds of the Joyride struts have been manufactured to date, more than half of them being purchased for retrofitting existing four-wheel suspension machines in the field,” Peterson said.

According to the OEM, more than 2500 shuttle cars are operating worldwide, two-thirds of which are Joy Mining machines.