Austin Engineering is a leading designer and manufacturer of mining equipment, including the reputable JEC and WESTECH brand, bringing more than 50 years’ experience in engineering and manufacturing equipment for the mining industry.
Austin partners with top companies and OEMs to engineer customised solutions to mining challenges.
Its highly sought-after quality products include dump truck bodies, buckets, tyre handlers, ancillary equipment, engineering solutions and a new range of patented, innovative water tanks.
Austin Engineering’s range of water tanks are designed with an innovative baffle which greatly reduces the effects of surging to allow a more stable and safer operating water tank option.
Baffles?are flow-directing vanes or panels used in tanks to direct the flow of?fluids?for maximum efficiency.
The baffles interlock in an eggcrate formation providing accuracy in manufacturing with increased structural integrity, with corrugation adding stiffness.
This interlocking corrugated baffle system baffles limits the waters flow and movement to create a stable fluid surge control.
The system works by controlling both transverse and longitudinal water surging reducing the overturning forces by 19% from side to side to improve truck stability from traditional tanks.
In addition the maximum overturning force is delayed by about one second, providing an increase in the time to react to any side force, helping to prevent the sloshing and surging of the water that can cause the vehicle to become unstable.
The control of the truck thereby becomes easier, safer and with less energy expended by the engine, for the added benefit of an increased fuel saving.
The design serves to improve control of the truck which leads to advances in operator safety and lowered operating costs for the company.
The Austin Stairway Access Tank®
Safety is increased in the function of the truck with a reduced confined space risk, thanks to stair access from the top of the water tank into the tank interior, and a direct line of travel through internal baffle compartments to the stairway.
Austin Engineering has added its own patented Austin Stairway Access Tank® module to the design, which introduces larger baffle openings with a direct line of travel greatly, improving safety for workers during confined space maintenance work.
The useable baffle openings are without doors and the sides are channelled for extra strength.
The large access port is equipped with stairway and handrails that the worker can safely walk through, and the large access portholes in the vertical baffles allow 360° access inside the tank.
An access cover is included on the fill port with integrated safety handrails, and the absence of a sloped tank floor to potentially entrap personnel makes preventive maintenance activities safer, less costly, and more accessible.
Instead, the Stairway Access Tank® eliminates slip or trip hazards by providing a flat top surface to walk on, which also removes trip hazards when walking inside the tank.
The tank bottom has a natural sump for ease of cleaning and tank draining and an optional ventilation fan system may be attached to the ventilation ports.
Custom-built and versatile
Custom-built to suit most haul trucks, the new Stairway Access Tank® includes all spray equipment, easily engineered to suit 6×6 articulated or off highway mining trucks.
Austin’s heavy-duty water tank modules for dust suppression or fire-fighting trucks are available in 14,000l to 180,000l capacity and all spray equipment brands are available alongside its Austin system.
Tank access is ergonomic and safe.
During maintenance, air extractors can be added to draw fresh air into the tank through front wall ventilation holes and extract stale air and CO2 through the rear ventilation holes.
Austin water tanks are able to be mounted on a variety of off-highway truck chassis, maintaining correct axle splits for load distribution.
Added features include a large fill port located in a recessed channel behind the water dam that ensures that any overfill flows away from the cab and deck to the rear of the truck.
A rash screen is situated on the fill port, and gravity priming of the pump is assured as all tanks have a flooded suction inlet.
Design
The design includes a range of innovative after-tank features.
The tank structures are designed around nominal capacities to mount to most off-highway prime movers.
They are fully raiseable for maintenance utilising existing hoist cylinders.
The tank deck is painted with nonslip surface and added safety is provided by handrails, including access landing and a self-closing gate at the entry to top deck area.
Optional sacrificial anodes are applied to all internal compartments and a modular pump assembly with vibration-isolated manual suction shutoff valve allows pump module removal without draining the water tank.
Included is a rear-mounted spring rewind hose reel with fast fill cubicle on top of tank with mesh strainer and rectangular funnel.
The auxiliary bottom fill point with butterfly valve and camlock fitting allows pump filling from sumps and a manual rapid dump valve is suitable for flushing debris from tank.
The sight level gauge is visible from driver’s cabin with cabin mounted remote level indicator to the driver’s cab.
Range of extras
Optional accessories include spray heads individually controlled via cabin control box, that can be coupled to the Water Wise system, and a remote-controlled tank-mounted water cannon can be fitted to rear or front of the tank.
A proportional control valve can be installed in the main water supply line to offer variable flow, controlled by a PLC operated from a cabin console, complete with manual override.
Flow rate is defined by the road speed of the vehicle providing a signal to the PLC controller.
HID work lamps, fluorescent lighting to upper deck, LED tail light cluster and amber rotating beacons are all standard features.
Solutions and capability
Austin Engineering Ltd is an Australian-based engineering company, with manufacturing operations in Australia, Indonesia, North and South America and other dedicated global partners to ensure a truly global presence and support mechanism.
Austin has a unique advantage with its engineering intellectual property, with over 50 years of engineering and manufacturing knowledge and experience through which its customised products providing exceptional productivity gains for its clients. Austin, truly are marketing leading through proven ability in the field
A complete service provider, it offers on- and off-site repair and maintenance. Support is delivered for the lifecycle of the tanks through ongoing assistance with equipment operating requirements, the supply of parts and equipment, systems maintenance and upgrades, and repairs and maintenance programs.
Its products provide clients with engineering solutions combined with high quality efficient manufacturing capabilities, resulting in maximising the in-field time availability and capability of every product and reducing downtime for valued clients.
Austin Engineering has more than 50 years’ experience providing engineering and manufacturing equipment solutions in the mining industry.
As a company focused on research and the development of new, innovative designs, Austin Engineering’s pioneering technology delivers superior products with proven safety and productivity.
Austin Engineering is the leading provider of quality water tanks, built for global performance, even in the toughest conditions.