Student research survey on heavy equipments, please help

[MX401]

Hi guys,

We are a student group currently doing a research project on heavy equipments and heavy equipments operators. The problem we are facing right now is that we don't know much about this industry even after a huge amount of research online. It'll be extremely helpful if you could take 5 minutes and help us out with our survey. We sincerely appreciate your help.

Here is the survey link: https://goo.gl/forms/QFmK7yUihyyP2n022

Thank you so much. Wish you all a happy weekend!

 

[Planedriver]

I am not attempting to represent the forum, it's members or staff. Know the following is only my thoughts/concerns.

It would be nice if I knew who "we" is. Take a moment to introduce yourself and your group.
1. Against my better judgement I looked at your survey form.
2. I found nothing to indicate what any responses are going to be used for.
4. From the line of questions in your survey it is evident that you have extremely limited if any knowledge of heavy equipment.
5. Your line of inquiry also indicates you are not familiar with basic equipment operation or normal safety standards.
6. Your survey looks more like a questionnaire to determine feasibility of an app to modify and control a process and/or equipment that you know nothing about.

If I'm mistaken please feel free to set the record straight and bring more facts into the daylight. At that point I am willing to do what I can to help.

 

[MX401]

I am not attempting to represent the forum, it's members or staff. Know the following is only my thoughts/concerns.

It would be nice if I knew who "we" is. Take a moment to introduce yourself and your group.
1. Against my better judgement I looked at your survey form.
2. I found nothing to indicate what any responses are going to be used for.
4. From the line of questions in your survey it is evident that you have extremely limited if any knowledge of heavy equipment.
5. Your line of inquiry also indicates you are not familiar with basic equipment operation or normal safety standards.
6. Your survey looks more like a questionnaire to determine feasibility of an app to modify and control a process and/or equipment that you know nothing about.

If I'm mistaken please feel free to set the record straight and bring more facts into the daylight. At that point I am willing to do what I can to help.

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.
To introduce our team, we are a student group from SFU in Vancouver currently doing a research project on how to reduce fuel cost on heavy equipments from a digital media perspective instead of a mechanical perspective.
Indeed, we are not as familiar with heavy equipments as you are. After all, you are the expert in this area. As a student group, we are just trying to get the amount of information that we think will help with our project, nothing more.

 

[Planedriver]

Thank you for the additional information. I looked at your survey again with slightly less jaundice eye and may suggest you try to lay your framework after a few one on one discussions with operators and owners. For instance; You seem to be concerned about fuel burn at idle. Idle fuel consumption is minimal as compared to operator efficiency and power settings that match the task at hand. For economic and time reasons machines that are otherwise efficient on a particular job are used on jobs where their efficiency can't be utilized. (Think 20t excavator being used to shallow trench for a 4" drain line vs a trencher or backhoe on the same job.)

Heavy equipment manufactures are beginning to make machines that operate similar to large farm equipment where a computer continually controls the gearing and engine RPMs to provide the best efficiency for the job at hand.

Perhaps others will chime in here with their 2 cents worth.

 

[Shimmy1]

Heavy equipment manufactures are beginning to make machines that operate similar to large farm equipment where a computer continually controls the gearing and engine RPMs to provide the best efficiency for the job at hand.

This is something I've been thinking about for quite some time. Imagine an excavator that would automatically adjust RPM and hydraulic flow based on how you were moving the levers. Slow and gentle, low rpm/low flow. The faster/farther you move the levers, everything ramps up. Only possible drawback I could see is potentially higher fuel consumption due to the engine constantly adjusting rpm up and down, but as long as it wasn't trying to go from idle to full throttle it could work? Maybe the engine rpm could range from , say, 1400 to 1800? Just a thought.

 

[Planedriver]

I think Deere's new high speed dozer (pronounce HD quadratrack) does just that. An excavator might be a bit more difficult because of so many simultaneous operations with varying power requirements. I think you have got it. I mean who among us hasn't throttled down to unload off a lowboy when we could just use a little less pedal..

 

[Shimmy1]

Loading/unloading I'm always at idle. Certainly this is going to make waves, but the only time my feet are on the pedals is when I'm walking more than a few hundred feet, or I'm multi-tasking, LOL.

 

[thepumpguysc]

I applaud your idea however its already being done by the manufacturers.
They have moved from mechanical, fuel lubricated fuel systems to electronically controlled, engine oil lubricated fuel systems, controlled by an onboard computer, MAINLY to meet the new emission standards imposed by govt's.
The problem w/ that is> they didn't have the time to fully test the new technology and the systems break down constantly and either parts are not available or the cost is out of this world.
AND trying to find A QUALIFIED technician to diagnose and repair such a machine is rare..
The idea was in place but the training and parts were not.. Most folks run from tier 4 engines.

 

[Operator4100]

Very well spoken "thepumpguysc",,,,

 

[DMiller]

Many of the machines from the 'Old Days were strictly mechanical. Today's machines are state of the art high tech electronics wizardry with joystick hand controls, climate controlled cabins for operator extended hour comfort and the electronics to tell the operator of issues, flow controls problems and variables as changing the style of control from one machine manufacturer style to another by flipping a switch. With that as noted you have a rough riding, vibrating, high levels of harmonics and torque from blade/bucket/hydraulics and running gear that beat the electronics packages to death. The next aspect is these machines run day in day out all season and weather save excessively wet so the packages also have no constant save the fuel system cooling them as to temperature management. Breakdowns are more often, electrical devices are soft targets as to damage and time in use so these machines are also expensive for maintenance/repairs. I am in the US so did not take your survey.

 

[Planedriver]

All That Is Holy, Miller you have the grail. These kids want to understand what promotes their objective without the benefit of a global perspective. In point they want to know what kind of phone you have. Great! But that's assuming they have support that we may use our phones to "save fuel".

Garbage: Until they subscribe to really understand the industry as a whole. I'll not participate in/with the singularly motivated groups to satisfy their preconceived conclusions. It's nice that they want to save fuel with an I-phone but in order to do so they should at least understand the industry they are going to force feed their assertions to.

 

[movindirt]

I think you'll find most people in the construction industry who have to pay for repairs on their equipment prefer to have machinery with as little electronics as possible, my current excavator is a 1994 and it has auto idle, I turned it off the first day I got it because it was always revving up and down, I set the pace and go with it there and adjust accordingly depending on what I am doing. There is a reason most newer machines get traded off as soon as the warranty on the electrical components is up..

 

[digger242j]

I applaud your idea however its already being done by the manufacturers.

I've always believed that the most important aspect of being a student was not "learning" something in and of itself, but going through the process of "learning how to learn." To that end, I can certainly see the benefit of students doing something, even if it's already being done by current professionals. In the not too distant future some of these students will be responsible for what the manufacturers are putting out .

I've moved the original thread here, to General Industry Questions, since MX401 expressed to me that this was where it should have originally been posted.

(BTW, I'm a dinosaur. I use a flip phone.

...electrical devices are soft targets as to damage...

Yeah. On the job, our 21 year old laborer/truck driver dropped his smart phone and stepped on it, getting out of the truck yesterday. A couple hundred bucks later, he has a new one today.

Did I mention that I use a flip phone? )