A jury of European construction-industry experts selected the On Board Weighing System for Volvo Construction Equipment's F-Series full-suspension articulated dump trucks from over 100 entries as winner of the Intermat 2012 Innovation Awards in the Civil Engineering category.
The Innovation Awards reward the most innovative equipment and techniques in the industry. The jury, under the chairmanship of the president of the French National Federation of Public Works, announced its decision in Paris on January 13 to an audience of international journalists. Volvo will receive its prize on Intermat's opening day on April 16.
Available for Volvo's Full Suspension haulers, the fully automatic On Board Weighing (OBW) system monitors the input of weight on the machine from pressure sensors and relays this information to load software integrated into the machine's electronics. OBW logs all transported loads and the ensuing data is then displayed on the operator's display.
The information can also be accessed remotely via the CareTrack telematics system. This allows complete payload management – giving access to data such as total transported load in tons; tons transported per gallon of fuel; and number of cycles.
The OBW system highlights if a machine has been overloaded during any of its cycles and a load indicator light is mounted outside the machine. The light turns yellow at partial load, green at nominal load and red when overloaded. This simple tool helps prevent overloading that can cause machine wear, tire damage and excess fuel consumption. The nominal load can be preset to suit material and site requirements.
Along with fuel consumption data, OBW can help to show the true productivity of the machine by combining fuel efficiency with tons of mass moved. It can also help in improving operator performance. In addition, the system offers the ability to access previously inaccessible information, such as the weight of "carry-back" left in the haul body after tipping.
