MechChem Africa November-December 2024

Anti-idle APU launched for dump-truck HVAC units Booyco Engineering has unveiled a new anti-idle auxiliary power unit (APU) for use on haul trucks and other large equipment at open cast mines and quarries. The system enables the main engines of these trucks to be switched off instead of idling while the truck stands stationary, to provide power to operate the air conditioning system, typically saving around 40 to 50 litres of diesel per idling hour. Booyco Engineering’s Grant Miller explains. A typical open cast mine or quarry uses a fleet of dump and haul trucks to transport material from the mining pit to a collection compressor of the HVAC unit when the vehicles engine is switched off. conditioning units, such as the Booyco D006E 24 V dc, a completely electric roof unit,” he adds. Booyco’s new anti-idle APU can gen

“So while idling, instead of powering the HVAC systems using the 30 to 50 turbocharged engine of a typical dump truck and consuming some 50 of diesel per hour, we supply a supplementary APU with a highly efficient 1.0 air cooled engine that can power everything necessary to keep the driver safe and comfortable,” says Miller. The intention is to couple the APU into an existing OEM air conditioning unit, an off-the-shelf system that the customer already has, or it can be used with one of our specialty aftermarket air

erate up to 120 A at 26 VDC to provide power to for the full range of air handing units used on mobile vehicles. It comes in an easily mountable enclosure that also includes the fuel tank – although, Miller points out, “we can also connect the unit to the vehicles onboard fuel supply, which avoids the operators hav ing to remember to put fuel into two separate tanks”. The APU provides power to batter ies that are used to power electric air

or processing point. When waiting to be loaded or offloaded, and even while they are being loaded, the drivers of these vehicles tend to leave the engines idling. On African mines, this is usually necessary to keep the air conditioners and dust filtration systems running so as to provide the legally-required safe cabin environment for drivers. “Any closed cab exposed to the African sun must have the air condition ing running continuously, otherwise the driver will literally be sitting in a solar cooker. So they leave the truck engines running continuously, even while waiting in long queues. These truck engines typi cally consume 40 to 50 /h of diesel while idling, and this is why we developed our anti-idle APU,” says Grant Miller, an ex ecutive director of Booyco Engineering. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, Booyco Engineering is the leading producer of speciality HVAC systems for mobile applications. “We have built a solid reputation for qual ity systems that last, with a majority of our units designed for use in extreme environmental and ambient conditions,” notes Miller. The company’s HVAC solutions en compass all aspects of air handling for the rail, mining, industrial and military sectors via specialist customised sys tems, standard units and maintenance support packages. The company there fore has a long history of powering its electrically-driven units off both ve hicle engines and supplementary mobile engine-driven gensets. “Our new APU is a cost-effective so lution to the problem of having to keep large engine on trucks running to keep the air in the cabin cool and clean. We have designed a range of diesel-driven power packs to deliver the 24 V typically used by mobile HVAC equipment, which can automatically kick in to power the

Instead of having the engine idling and consuming up to 50 /h per hour of fuel to keep the air conditioner running, the anti-idle APU can provide power to the air conditioner while consuming 2.0 to 3.0 /h of fuel.

38 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December 2024