Giant Tyres For A Growing Need

Figure 1. In the mining sector, modern machinery is larger and more powerful, and requires increasingly outstanding performance from its tyres.

Giant tyres are designed to withstand the most demanding activities and environments. Piero Torassa, BKT Europe, identifies why giant tyres are therefore fundamental for machine performance and company productivity.

Research and the mega-trends of production efficiency and sustainability drive tyre development. In particular, the support of digital technology over the past 10 years has exponentially increased the possible scope of application without any creative limits, but above all by having available data and feasibility and investment forecasts.

The tyre market is growing together with the development of the work vehicle segment. Today, the better the machines perform, the more sophisticated the tyres that equip them must be, requiring a unique tool that is available to operators.

Perhaps the biggest revolution in recent years is a growth in company awareness that tyres are no longer an accessory component for the vehicle, but that they can be the keystone to ensuring its optimal performance.

What are the challenges of the mining sector and the demands from operators?

For a company working in the mining segment, the cost of vehicles can have major impacts on financial statements. These are imposing machines that can withstand heavy loads and which must work in environments where the daily variables in their use are unpredictable, either due to the type of load or soil, or due to climate change.

This is why performance needs to be calibrated and planned as precisely as possible; any vehicle downtime represents serious economic damage. Not to mention, a vehicle could remain idle precisely because a tyre is damaged or, even worse, is not the right one.

On the other hand, the mining sector, out of all segments, is the one that puts the most strain on tyres; they are at risk of being damaged every day and are quickly worn down in any case. That is why operators are very careful during the purchase phase for each tyre: it is a strategic choice.

Tyres are born from dialogue

BKT, one of the leading manufacturers of off-highway tyres, has invested in research into what technology can be made available to companies today.

For the company, dialogue with its users is becoming the driving force for this research. When designing a tyre, there are numerous parameters to satisfy, such as safety, traction, durability, and efficiency. For each type of operation and application, there is a suitable design, compound, structure, inflation, pressure, and, of course, size.

As with other manufacturing sectors, the tyre market too is data-drive by indicators which have been increasingly perfected since the start of the digital transformation. Nevertheless, the company has developed its own data organisation by focusing on cases it has collected over the years to transform them into precise feasibility projects, through virtual simulations, tests, and cataloguing of information. This is an asset to which user experience is added as necessary, as well as technical meetings often held with machinery manufacturers.

But it is not just technology. In fact, dialogue is born and is possible only through people: users with their needs and valuable feedback; the BKT staff from the R&D centre; the field engineering team which checks the tyres in the field; and experts who follow customers throughout the whole life cycle of the tyre they have bought, to advise on a possible choice of renewed equipment or to provide solutions and training that may help their daily routine.

Investment in the purchase of tyres, especially those used for mining work, is a significant item in customers' budgets. So, how can the investment be optimised? How can the right tyre be matched to the right machine?

Each application corresponds to a particular tyre

BKT recommends having direct and constant contact with the technicians because not all variables can be catalogued, such as working habits and the conditions of the soil, load, and transport.

However, the consequences of making the wrong choice are not limited to the tyre. The cost of a bad investment affects many other factors, such as the impacts of vehicle downtime on work schedules, as well as how much such a waste of resources weighs on the sustainability principles of modern businesses.

An expert is able to take every detail from the user in order to get an indication of the best solution. This can be useful as today’s tyres are technologically advanced products and can be extremely specific depending on the type of use, machinery, model, conditions, load, and much more.

The service must also be continuous and constant in the after-sales service, not just during the tyre selection phase. It is essential that there is always an expert available to solve important or momentary tyre-related problems. A question or doubt is never out of place if raised in good time – in this way, it is possible to correct any problems.

The answer: Giant tyres

In the mining and quarrying sector in particular, modern machinery is very powerful and large and requires tyres capable of dealing with treacherous terrain and heavy loads. Hence the need for ever larger and more resistant tyres.

The company offers various products in the giant tyre range. The first is EARTHMAX SR 46, a tyre designed for rigid dump trucks. The second is the EARTHMAX SR 468, the largest tyre ever made by the company, which is also intended for rigid dumpers.

Suitable for rough and muddy terrain, this tyre range is particularly resistant to attacks and punctures as a result of the ‘all steel’ structure, which provides resistance to the casing and an E-4 depth tread, which offers resistance in very difficult conditions. Finally, different tread compounds have been specifically developed for different track distances, to reduce heat build-in without compromising cut and wear resistance.

These two products are part of BKT’s EARTHMAX line, designed for better distribution of loads on the ground for dumpers, and which today includes 40 different tyres for the OTR sector, available in numerous sizes and compound variants.

In addition, BKT has developed another tyre that is particularly suitable for handling mining operations in

difficult conditions, due to its large size. The EARTHMAX SR 45, designed for rigid dump trucks, features a specific design, and deep tread provide the product with an extended life cycle. Thanks to a particular lug design, the tyre can ensure the best traction under any usage condition. It features a deeper tread, increasing the tyre life-cycle without compromising its performance over time. The special tread compound has been designed for the purpose of providing resistance against cuts, abrasion and impacts – all risks which can be frequently found in extreme usage conditions. By operating in this way, machine downtime is significantly reduced, maximising productivity at the same time.

The EARTHMAX range is produced in the Bhuj plant, the BKT model site where the Indian multinational invested structurally in 2021 in order to expand the production area; with 40% more space, today the site hosts a new plant for the Super Giant OTR line for tyres up to 63 in., one for Super Solid and one for Agri-radial tyres.

The modernisation of Bhuj and the subsequent inclusion of new machinery to produce the latest tyres in the Giant range was a challenging process for the company, which found itself having to briefly interrupt the work due to the pandemic. This partially slowed down the project but, since Spring 2021 (after the implementation of all the new safety-related parameters), the machinery has been installed and production could commence.

Figure 2. BKT’s EARTHMAX range of tyres is entirely produced in the Bhuj plant, a model production site equipped with advanced technology.

Figure 3. EARTHMAX SR 468 in the 40.00 R 57 size is the largest tyre ever made by BKT, intended for rigid dumpers.

Figure 4. Three BKT’s EARTHMAX SR 468 tyres in the 40.00 R 57 size are ready to be delivered to the South Eastern Coalfields Ltd mining company. Case study: India

During the pandemic, EARTHMAX SR 468 came into being. The new machinery that was needed to make the giant tyre reached the Indian plant in Bhuj in January 2020, just before the lockdown which affected – at various levels and at different times – the Asian continent. Initially, owing to the emergency situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the machinery at Bhuj was not immediately installed. It was only after a temporary shutdown of the company’s manufacturing facilities, which was necessary to finalise a rigorous safety plan for all staff, did activities finally return to full operation. This included the installation of the new 57 in. giant tyre machinery, which was installed with the remote help of the manufacturer and BKT engineers on site. This is how the first prototype was presented in September 2020 and, after the relevant tests, was put into production in the first few months of 2021.

Immediately after its creation, BKT was awarded a supply contract for giant tyres by South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), a mining company owned by the government of India's Ministry of Coal. The operation involved the supply of 42 EARTHMAX SR 468 tyres in the 40.00 R 57 size, intended to equip the machines present in the quarries distributed around the country and managed by the Ministry; the first batches have already been manufactured and delivered, while others will follow during 2022.

Towards an ever-greater future

There are numerous important issues which are influencing the development of the mining sector and related machinery and components. Among them are automation, data digitalisation, alternative energy, and innovative materials.

Given the growing need for productivity, machinery will be increasingly powerful and will need even larger tyres that transform their power into traction and which are above all resistant.

BKT is currently working on all of these fronts, with a particular focus on new compounds that have high cut and chip resistance, i.e. against cuts and abrasions, as well as ultra-heat resistant compounds, able to carry large loads and at the same time to maintain an excellent TKPH, that is the average ratio between the weight transported by the machinery and km/h.

Some ‘revolutions’ in the tyre world may be invisible to most, but they are no less important.