Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/319134
I DA U N I V E R S A L M ay -J u n e 2 0 1 4 21 NUTS AND BOLTS NEWS Nuts and Bolts continued on page 23 Following the successful launch of Komatsu's fi rst iMC (intelligent machine control) dozer into the North American market last June, Komatsu Amer- ica will be expanding its family of iMC crawler dozers to include other popular-sized machines. In the past, crawler dozers have been able to perform high- precision fi nish grading only a er installing an add-on machine control system. However, Kom- atsu's iMC dozers perform rough dozing as well as fi nish grading in automatic mode, because of the fully automatic blade control. " e operator uses the machine control from start to fi n- ish, says Andy Smith, Operations Manager, of Sellers Contracting Services, LLC in Gordon, GA. "From the beginning of the cut all the way to the fi nal grade, the operator switches it in automatic and does the cut straight across, comes back does it again, all in automatic." When rough dozing, the automatic blade control monitors blade load and adjusts blade ele- vation to minimize track slip and perform high-effi ciency dozing. As work progresses closer to the target fi nish grade, the automatic blade control adjusts accordingly to provide fi nish grade perfor- mance with high-level precision. Improvement in combination rough dozing effi ciency is up to 13 percent higher compared to add-on machine control systems for tested models. With Komatsu's iMC crawler dozers, typical add-on machine control system components mounted on the blade have been replaced with factory installed cab top GNSS (Global Naviga- tion Satellite System) antenna, enhanced inertial measurement unit (IMU+), and stroke sensing hydraulic cylinders. ese com- ponents along with the machine control monitor and controllers mounted inside of the cab are Komatsu Expanding its Family of Dozers with Integrated Grade Control installed at the Komatsu manu- facturing facility during machine assembly. e integrated sensor package is robust and accurate and elimi- nates the daily hassles of install- ing/removing GNSS antenna(s) and cable(s) from the blade, including the wear associated with that removal. Inside the cab, customer selectable dozing modes allow system response to be tailored to the current machine opera- tion for optimized performance. Similarly, blade load settings are adjustable between pre-sets to match actual material conditions. When the machine travels around the jobsite, the cab top GNSS antenna collects accurate surface data by measuring actual elevations. e stroke sensing angle cylinder measures the actual angle of the blade for high precision grading accuracy on cross-slope, blade angled or not. ● www.forconstructionpros.com, March 2014