Continental Makes Construction Machinery Safer and More Efficient
Safety and efficiency are among the current trends in the construction machinery industry. At this year’s bauma from April 11 to 17 in Munich, the international technology corporation Continental will display new solutions for this from its wide-ranging portfolio for construction vehicles, construction machinery, and for industrial applications in machine and plant engineering. Among the highlights in hall B2, booth 403, are high-performance rubber tracks, conveyor belt technologies, instrumentation, and a telematics system for collecting and processing tire- and vehicle-related data. In addition, visitors will be able to experience many products live in a single-drum compactor cab at the booth.
Rubber and plastic products for reliable transportation
Trackman rubber tracks from Continental ensure safe transportation in the construction industry. They are like closed drive belts with a track section on which heavy devices and tractor units such as pickups or road construction equipment move forward. Thanks to new Armorlug technology, the rubber tracks now achieve an even better performance and are longer-lasting. Several fabric layers embedded in the drive lugs strengthen the material, and this enhances the product’s resistance capability. Continental will present the further-developed products at bauma for the first time.
Reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly: these characteristics are also exhibited by the conveyor belt solutions for the efficient transportation of goods. Trade fair visitors can find out about the latest product solutions regarding steep-incline conveying, closed belt systems, heat-resistant conveyor belts, energy-optimized transportation, or light PVC belts, e.g. for the foodstuffs or packaging industry.
Extremely flexible, and resistant to kinking if necessary: this description fits a new high-temperature hose, that features a systematically lightweight design and facilitates narrow bending radii. Anti-vibration technology and drive belts for industrial vehicles and systems will also be on show, as well as air spring systems for vibrating screen machines, for example. Particularly scratch-resistant surface materials for the interior of off-road vehicles are a perfect match for the tough conditions in day-to-day operations on the construction site.
Instrumentation solutions for working efficiently and comfortably
A particular highlight at the booth will be the original cab of a single-drum compactor. Visitors will be able to enter the 1.5 m-wide and 1.66 m-high cab and experience Continental’s technologies at close range – among them the ergonomic design of the driver workstation or the 360˚ monitoring by means of a camera system. An instrumentation solution is also present on-board.
In the field of instrumentation, Continental is expanding its product range and will present two new solutions at bauma: MultiViu Compact 4 is Continental’s new primary instrumentation for construction machinery. The 4.3-inch screen shows vehicle information such as speed and fill levels, and sends it to the Smartphone via the Bluetooth module. With its modern design, the display is robust, water- and vibration-resistant, and even legible under conditions of intense solar radiation thanks to its particularly bright screen. The dial-type gages from the SingleViu family will also celebrate their premiere. The single instruments to display the temperature, tank, or engine speed will be available on the market in three different diameters from 2017 onwards. They have both an analog as well as a CAN input, are particularly resistant thanks to their mineral glass pane, and do not cloud over.
Telematics system increases safety and efficiency of vehicle fleets
The new telematics solution ContiFlexBox keeps fleet managers, drivers, and the maintenance team constantly informed about relevant tire- and vehicle-related data. In combination with the tried-and-tested ContiPressureCheck™ tire pressure monitoring system, it facilitates the efficient management of vehicle fleets. The system informs the user when the tire pressure has to be corrected. Vehicle downtimes are thus reduced as the danger of tire damage is minimized, and the outlay for regular, time-consuming maintenance work is lessened. This increases the fleet’s efficiency and lowers the operating costs. The ContiFlexBox is installed in a vehicle’s driver’s cab, and supplied with energy via the engine ignition. The ContiPressureCheck™ tire pressure monitoring system automatically collects data about the tire pressure and temperature by means of sensors inside the tire. The ContiFlexBox can be used in vehicles in the most varied of industrial fields, even in off-the-road (OTR) applications.
Continental will also present a new radial tire for construction machinery for the first time in the form of the Conti EM-Master. This product is available in two versions with different tread designs. The Conti EM-Master E4/L4 has a high level of carcass protection, outstanding cut resistance, and a long service life. It is perfectly suited for use on gravel and rocky ground.
High-activity catalytic converters and efficient SCR systems for low emissions
Most vehicle manufacturers use exhaust system cleaning technology for Stage IV of the emission legislation for non-road mobile machinery currently in force. This technology eliminates nitrogen oxide and particles in the exhaust system with SCR systems by injecting urea (AdBlue®). Continental offers, among other things, high-activity oxidation catalytic converters installed close to the engine in such vehicles. The compact installation location close to the engine allows the catalytic converters to respond quickly as the temperatures are higher and detected earlier. This, in turn, leads to efficient exhaust system cleaning – and is one of the requirements for high turnover rates in the SCR system. With a high quality in AdBlue injection and mixing with the pre-cleaned exhaust gases, diesel engines can be operated as sparingly as possible, and thus in a fuel-saving, particle-free way.
To meet the high legal requirements in the future as well, Continental offers all emission-relevant modules of the engine- and exhaust system control unit, fuel injection technology, sensors, SCR systems and injectors, catalytic converters, filters, AdBlue tanks, and tubes, not to mention software and engineering. The UDP (universal decomposition pipe) developed by Continental in conjunction with an SCR injector specially adapted to this decomposition pipe enables high-efficiency SCR systems to be used in metallic catalytic converters, from injection and distribution right up to NOx conversion. Additional particulate filters, or combination filters with an SCR coating to remove the nitrogen oxide, are used for this purpose for Stage V of exhaust system cleaning as applicable for engines from 130 to 560 kW from 2019 onwards.