GE’s Mine Cruiser brings utility safety to the subterranean mining passages of Australia.
In mineral-rich Australia, mines meander through kilometer long stretches of bedrock. To help mining crews get to work, specialized vehicles have to be designed to navigate the deep subterranean passes safely. Enter GE’s Mk7.0 TIER 3 Mine Cruiser.
While the Mine Cruiser is more of a plodding workhorse than a speedy supercar, it is still quite powerful thanks to a 4.3 liter, 4-cylinder MWM 4.10TCA Series 10 diesel turbo-charged engine. Designed to carry 14 passengers at once, the 6,600kg (14,450lb)
TIER 3’s engine will also output nearly 107HP of torque; making easy work of New South Wales’ coal mines.
Nothing is easy at such depths, though, and operating in a coal mine requires an advanced engine cooling system. The reason for this is the extremely flammable coal dust stirred up in the air, which explodes at around 163° C (325° F). To avoid such a terrible result, GE’s engineers had to develop a special engine that expels exhaust at a lower temperature.
To ensure a safe operating temperature the Mine Cruiser’s exhaust manifold is encased in a water jacket, while the exhaust fumes are cooled and purified by a water bath. The end result is an exhaust system that pumps out fumes at a much cooler 150° C (300° F).
This does raise one important question though: What about the engine’s combustion? To make sure that the glow plugs do not set off a blaze, engineers armed the vehicle with a surplus of spark arrestors and pressure tested components. A process that keeps all of the combustion cycles sealed within the Mine Cruiser’s engine and well away from the outside atmosphere.
All of GE’s hard work has paid off too. Recently the company delivered its 500th Mine Cruiser, making it on the best selling subterranean trucks on the planet. Which only leaves us with one last thing to say:
(video clip of Doc for Back to the Future saying “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads!”)
Image Courtesy of GE
