When you put the OTR Tyres to serious use in the mines, the Managers are always checking how “hot” the tyres are.
Heat dissipation is one of the major tyre failure causes!!
Typically, as the OTR tyres get hot it affects the tread and thereby affects the life of the tyre.
Measuring Temperature.
In ultra large tyres, the variation of the temperature inside the tyre can be fairly high. The temperature at the top of the tyre, the temperature at the sides and then the temperatures at the part of the tyre that is in contact with the pit area will be different for a variety of reasons. Think convection as a reason. There are more. So measuring the temperature is at best trying to get an “ average” temperature of the Tyre during operation.
Having sensors inside the OTR Tyres, “internal sensors” can give data that can be misleading or inconclusive. More assumptions have to be made to make use of this data. (Think of the physical law they use. The Ideal Gas law. And that is under ideal conditions so errors creep in!)
Measuring Pressure
The best place to measure pressure is at the Valve stem. Calculations based on pressure could reflect the condition of the OTR Tyre better, as tyre pressure would change less than the temperature variation on an OTR tyre.
Consistent OTR Tyre pressure monitoring will extend the life of the OTR tyre. You can continuously check for tread wear vs pressure and use the results to extend tyre life.
OTR Monitoring, Sensors and data transferring.
The sensor technology for tyre temperature and pressure monitoring keeps improving. While this monitoring will be happening continuously, the data collected can be transmitted “wirelessly” to a “console” in the HME. It can be processed for specific maintenance queries.
Once all the machines in a fleet return for the day, each console can transfer data to a master console. This data will be analysed across machines for usage to determine what needs to be done to extend OTR Tyre life of the fleet.
So yes, remote monitoring, ioT, analysis of ‘Real” data and predictive methods of maintenance have entered the world of OTR tyre management, to extend the life of the OTR tyre.
This will open up new areas or research, once the data collected gets analysed.And it will optimise the life of an OTR tyre in the rough and rocky terrain it operates in.
Until next time……