Great opportunity for highly reliable and fuel-efficient engines to support the developments in India ‘in time and at cost’.
Miron Thoms, Vice President & Head of Volvo Penta India

What’s your outlook for mining in India?
The mining sector is on an upsurge given the economy’s growth that has led to the need for local raw material. As an engine supplier, Volvo Penta can underline this fact by the growing number of mining equipment in India powered by our diesel engines.

We see great opportunity for highly reliable and fuel-efficient engines to support the developments in India ‘in time and at cost’.

How competitive is India as compared to the international mining market?
The mechanisation currently happening in India is also visible in the mining sector. Cheap and low-cost mining operations are not counting anymore, and what is important is the total cost of operation as seen around the world in this sector. Volvo Penta has proven to be very competitive in that field and we can also see this development in India.

Please discuss your latest offering in this space.
The company offers 5- to 16-litre engines ranging from 105 kW to 565 kW. These engines are built on the Volvo Group’s common design concept with optimised fuel efficiency and most competitive total cost of ownership. These engines have a common platform across emission stage II, III and IV that helps OEM with ambitions to serve different segments and markets, coupled with our second-to-none international aftermarket network. Further, our engines are certified for MSHA and CANMET which are globally accepted certification in mining industry.

Globally, we offer our complete range of engines to OEMs for a number of mining applications including underground mining trucks and haulers along with mobile & stationary crushing plants. Our engines are benchmark in respect to lower ventilation rates required in underground mining. Volvo Penta sales engineering team offers full installations support and technical assistance.

We have a widespread after-market network and we continuously further improving the network with new touch points. Today, we are present in 61 locations with over 85 touch points throughout India. The regional warehouse in Bangalore is delivering on-time parts support. In addition to this, Volvo Penta also offers a 24 X 7 Action Service support in India. Of course, Volvo Penta offers a global service network and support wherever the equipment is exported from India.

How useful are your engines for mining operators in terms of maximising uptime and reducing fuel consumption?
Being part of the Volvo Group, continuous improvement and latest technology developments ensure that customers get the “latest and greatest”.

Volvo Penta diesel engines share a number of high-technology design features like compact design and high power-to-weight ratio, electronically controlled waste-gate turbocharger for increased block load acceptance, excellent performance with peak torque at low engine speed, exceptional reliability, low fuel consumption and low exhaust emissions with long service life. All of this helps deliver lowest cost of operations with maximised machine uptime.

We have taken our customers’ feedback into our development process, especially for the mining segment

Which engine technology are you using to lower ventilation rate and improve air quality underground?
A combination of different emission impacting technologies are available for global emission standards and different customer needs. The Volvo Group has a number of different emission reducing technologies available that are also proven in the field, like internal exhaust recirculation, diesel particle filters and selective catalytic reduction systems. Within the mining sector, the Volvo Penta SCR system has been the proven and preferred choice all over the world, with a maximum reduction of NOx of 93 per cent stage II compared to stage IV. Additionally, the engines are designed with sufficient margins to meet emission limits. The Volvo Group Quality System has placed stringent guidelines and checks on all the components manufactured in-house or sourced from outside. All in one, this is underlined by Volvo’s core values, besides technology, safety and environmental care.

What differentiates your equipment from the ones available in the market?
Mining applications like underground loaders and haulers, and crusher & screener market are operating in harsh conditions. This segment is important for Volvo Penta and we have, amongst others, prepared our products with heavy-duty cooling systems, cable harnesses, air and fuel filtrations and many more.

The base engines benefit from technology advancements enabled by Volvo Group common engine platform. They are not of standard design but specifically developed for demanding off-road applications such as crushers & screeners. These applications are included in our R&D field tests for increased reliability, operating in both cold and hot environments for several thousand hours per application. Such field testing is either carried out as integrated development with OEMs or independently by Volvo Penta.

In crushers’ power pack compartment engine, hydraulics motors, cooling packages, filters are assembled in a relatively small space. It needs to be designed to ensure smooth and easy accessibility for service points in field.

Volvo Penta engine control unit ECU for crusher and screener applications is calibrated to enable the engine to accept sudden load changes caused e.g. by large boulders being fed into the crushing unit. They are also capable of delivering higher level of fuel efficiency and low maintenance costs, enabling the customer to throughput more tonnes per fuel unit. These features put together help increase machine productivity. The company’s technical expertise has always ensured delivery of products with high performance, longer service life and durability.

The engine being compact in size and offering options like remote oil and fuel filter provides manufacturer the design freedom to place filters at accessible locations for easy maintenance. This helps to reduce maintenance time and improves uptime.

Additionally, the company assists OEMs on application engineering processes involving a review of OEM design requirements, discussions on suitable optional equipment, packaging studies, prototype installation, testing and validation.