Cavotec Radio Remote Control systems support munitions clearance in Norway
Advanced Radio Remote Control (RRC) systems, designed and manufactured by global engineering group, Cavotec MSL, have been successfully fitted to heavy construction vehicles clearing munitions from a military training range in central Norway.
“This project shows that we can deliver a solution for controlling heavy machinery over extended distances – far greater distances than alternative systems that are currently available,” says Cavotec Norway Managing Director, Sofus Gedde-Dahl. Cavotec RRC units have been adapted to allow drivers of two dumper trucks, two excavators and a bulldozer to operate their vehicles remotely from steel booths at a distance of between two and three kilometres. The concept has been devised by Norwegian heavy equipment specialist Brødrene Gjermundshaug Anlegg AS. The firm performs a broad range of services including road and railway building, water and wastewater projects, demolition and environmental improvement projects. You can find out more about Brødrene Gjermundshaug at http://www.gjermundshaug.no/. Drivers control the vehicles from specially constructed chairs equipped with joysticks and a radio link. Large wall-mounted TV screens relay images from cameras mounted on the vehicles. Shorter distance operations are carried out by standard MC-3300 hand-held terminals. The system is being used to clear mines and munitions from a training range used by NATO forces and the Norwegian army and air force in the Hjerkinn area of central Norway. The training range covers an area of some 165 square kilometres (64 square miles). Norwegian national television recently broadcast a report on the application, available here: http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/distrikt/ndtl/verdi/111264. Munitions clearance in the area is scheduled for completion in 2012. The area will subsequently be returned to the wild – all re-vegetation work is due to be finished by 2020. The Hjerkinn project follows other recent successes for Cavotec Micro-control. For example, Cavotec has been selected by a Danish company to supply RRC systems for use on lifeboats. Micro-control has also delivered 10 RRC units for an application in South Korean for heavy equipment transportation specialist KAMAG. Separately, Cavotec Micro-control has recently obtained formal dust certification for its MC-3-5-EX terminal. The unit is now cleared for use in all applications requiring dust approval for zones 21 and 22. The MC-3-5-EX already held M1 approval for use in mines. Dust represents a fire hazard and a potential explosion risk. According to manufacturing multinational, Stahl, eighty percent of all industrial dusts are combustible. “This is an important certification for the [MC-] 3-5-EX, as it highlights the terminal’s versatility; it means the terminal can be used in the vast majority of EX applications and environments,” says Cavotec Micro-control Sales Manger, Morten Bjerkholt. The technical specifications for the terminal are EX II 2 D Ex ibD 21 T130 Ta minus 20 degrees Celsius to plus 50 degrees Celsius. Typical dust types with which the MC-3-5-EX terminal can now be used include wood, grain, metals, paper, plastics, coal and peat.
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