To streamline the maintenance of mining machines such as the two Cat 6060 FS hydraulic excavators in the newly opened Northland Resources iron ore mine in Kaunisvaara, PON (the Swedish Caterpillar distributor) in cooperation with Berco has developed a Scania truck-borne service cabinet. The cabinet has pumping equipment for replacement of both oils and lubrication of machines as well as having a heated area with a workbench for minor repairs.

The service cabinet was custom made by Berco, with insulated walls like those in a refrigerated truck. A heater ensures that oil and grease can be pumped even in winter. The cabinet is divided into three sections with workshop bench, compressor and various hose reels in the main part, oil storage tanks in the middle and greases in the rear section. Oil cisterns can be handled with loaders from the two openable sides and grease drums by the openable rear. The cabinet is also constructed with spillage tubs, so the oil doesn’t end up on the mine floor.

Johan Waara, Fleet Analyst at PON Mining was looking for a new good solution to streamline their service work. After having engaged in dialogue with a number of different vendors, he opted to work with Berco in Skellefteå. “Berco had what we were looking for. A good cabinet, a wealth of experience when it comes to special designs and technical solutions” says Waara. “When Johan came with their ideas and designs to us at Berco we saw directly the possibilities. First of all it is very interesting being a new product, but also a challenge. To produce vehicles for the mining industry is difficult as the harsh environment is a big challenge”, says Jim Wallström, President at Berco.

The cabinet is built on a hookloader frame which means that you can easily park the service cabinet on the ground and then take the same truck, in this case a Scania, to fetch spare parts and so on. In this way you get a very flexible and economical system that can easily be extended with additional features in the future. The alternative to the cabinet would be to have several smaller vehicles, which would be expensive and inefficient, and with the equipment and materials standing on an open platform it would mean that the oils and greases would be hard to handle in the cold and the equipment would be subjected to a lot of dirt.

For the new service solution pumps themselves, the team have chosen a hydraulic system. The advantage of the hydraulic pumps is that when the cabinet is in the truck, it can use the Scania hydraulic system to power the pumps, and when the cabinet is parked separately, it uses a 380 volt electrical cable supply. With the onboard crane, loading and unloading of parts and oils is very smooth. The crane’s strength is sufficient to 6.5 t at 2.5 m. But to lift big hydraulic cylinders a few metres up to the excavator a larger crane can be rented. The crane’s long reach of 15 m would often be used during service for which there is a workman basket at the top of the crane to make the technician’s job comfortable and safe at high altitude.

Heat in the cabinet was a key aspect of the project. Partly to keep oils and greases useable in the extreme cold but also for service personnel to warm themselves and be able to make minor repairs inside the heated area. The heat is conducted either by a 12 kW diesel heater or by electrical supply when attached to the 380 volt power supply. In the cabinet can be found most items needed for a service. In the eight IBC (intermediate bulk container) tanks with a 1,000 litre capacity, there is anti-freeze, grease, hydraulic oil, engine oil and transmission fluid. There is also room for all the waste oils and other products, so everything can easily go for recycling.

Externally the cabinet is equipped with powerful working lights, so security has been thought through, while the entire cabinet is equipped with an efficient fire fighting system. The cabinet also has a compressor with high capacity because the largest machines use compressed air for their starter motor. When a machine has stood for a while it can happen that the air in the tank has leaked or something is wrong with the compressor, then the operator cannot start the engine. In these cases, the air compressor can be used.