Fully integrating into the mine site’s Cat Command autonomous haulage fleet to control haul road dust, the market’s first commercially available AWT is built on the field-proven 789D mining truck chassis and integrates the truck, tank, and Cat Water Delivery System (WDS), connected with Cat MineStar™ technology.
Featuring Command for hauling, the new 789D AWT offers the same potential for greater utilisation than staffed equipment. The fully autonomous truck reduces shift changes, meal breaks, and other operational delays to improve efficiency. Complying with watering plans, the water truck seamlessly interacts with other autonomous equipment and integrates with customer mining processes and systems managed by MineStar.
The 789D is the largest Cat water truck product offering that can accommodate up to 165 000 l (43 588 gal), depending on tank configuration. The AWT senses when the water tank is running low and can be programmed to integrate with the water refill station to fully automate the water refill process. The auto shutoff feature prevents tank overfilling.
Corey Wurtzbacher, General Manager and Vice President Technology, Caterpillar, says:
“To meet customer requirements for dust control, Caterpillar implemented a MineStar-integrated watering model based on many years of site watering studies and Cat WDS performance data. This model allows the truck to monitor traffic, weather, and road conditions, prioritise what areas need water, when the areas need water, and how many passes it should take to apply the correct amount of water saturation for the given conditions. The integration of Caterpillar’s many years of autonomous truck operations and water delivery development have been combined to make a high performing autonomous watering solution.”