Archive, Features

Case study: Volvo CE L250H wheel loaders

When your quarry is a military site and you’re restricted to just 10 hours of work per day, downtime is not an option. South Korea’s Kun Woo Enterprise finds three Volvo CE L250H wheel loaders are up to the task.


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Inwha-Li Quarry is located on Ganghwa-Gun, an island just off the northwestern corner of South Korea, and a site restricted for military use – chiefly because it sits just a few kilometres from the North Korean shoreline.

But with growing demand for construction materials from the nearby cities of Incheon and Gimpo, Kun Woo Enterprise – a leading aggregates supplier – has been granted permission to operate a quarry that excavates and crushes over 1.2 million cubic metres of rock each year and which will be used for civilian projects.

This high demand, coupled with the quarry’s unique location, means efficient and reliable trucks are needed. The team at Kun Woo already has nine Volvo excavators in its fleet, and has made the choice to stick with Volvo for their new wheel loaders.

“We have always had confidence in Volvo excavators,” Kun Woo Enterprise director of administration Myeong-Su Gu says. “And we were impressed when our Volvo dealer proactively demonstrated the newly launched H-series loaders at our site.

“The loaders proved they could deliver fuel savings of up to 40 litres per day compared to the loaders we were using at the time.”

The L250H is powered by a 290kW, 6-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine configured to meet US Tier 4F/EU Stage IV emissions requirements. The lifting arm of the machine features Z-bar linkage, providing strong breakout force up to 330kN for digging in hard materials.

The L250H’s boom suspension system absorbs shock and reduces bouncing and bucket spillage that occurs when operating at speed on rough terrain, and it has load-sensing hydraulics that supply power to the lifting arm according to demand. This leads to lower fuel consumption and shorter cycle times.

“We quickly noticed that the L250H was able to fill a 25-tonne truck in just three loads, compared to the four loads it took our old models,” Gu says. “This increased loading capacity boosted our site’s productivity and lowered our cost per ton.”

In addition to the productivity gains, the Volvo wheel loaders also have an ROPS/FOPS operator’s cabin with a fully adjustable suspension seat. The cab is fully air conditioned, and all critical machine functions are displayed on an LCD screen located within the operator’s field of vision.

The machine also features several fuel-saving features including OptiShift – an automated system that combines Reverse By Braking (RBB) and a torque converter with lock-up.

Together, these features help to eliminate power losses and reduce fuel consumption by up to 18 percent.

 In addition, the L250H’s ‘Eco’ pedal applies mechanical push-back force when the accelerator is used excessively and engine rpm is about to exceed the economic operating range.

Under the high-pressure schedule at the Inwha-Li site, maintenance time must be kept to a minimum. The L250H has an electronically activated engine hood that lifts to provide easy access to engine components. The cab itself can also be tilted forward for access to service points.

 

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