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Importance of detecting obstacles around construction machines increase rapidly. The millimeter-wave radar is the most useful sensor to keep to detect obstacles in the current technologies. because of its good performance under severe conditions. The signal processing algorithm of this radar is developed, for the using in working conditions by means of eliminating signal fluctuations and instabilities caused by its environments. The developed millimeter-wave radar has a reasonable performance, for example, detecting the rear side of automobiles and many types of construction machinery from the distance of 100m.

Since construction machinery manufacturers recommend various brands and types of greases for their machinery, customers would benefit from a standardized grease which can be used in all construction machinery. Furthermore, construction machinery manufacturers have many experiences of field problems caused by commercially available and commonly used EP Lithium greases. Therefore, the Fuels and Lubricants Committee of Japan Construction Mechanization Association (JCMA) has developed a new grease specification called “Japan Construction Mechanization Association Specification (JCMAS) GK,” for construction equipment. The JCMAS GK includes requirements for National Lubrication and Grease Institute (NLGI) No. 1 and No. 2 consistency grades. The JCMAS GK greases have enough lubricating properties for periodical grease fitting of most construction machines, hydraulic excavators, bulldozers and wheel loaders. The JCMAS GK greases are applicable from -20 to +130 degrees Celsius.

Unmanned off-highway dump trucks have been developed as the first step toward entire mine automation. The vehicles are operated on a teaching-playback basis. That is, an operator once drives a truck along a desired path, which is stored in IC memories as a series of points. Then microprocessors control the car so that it runs on the route repeatedly. The data can be saved in IC cards. System supervisors can select any one course in a card set on board. The card can be detached and kept for the future use. Also it can be copied to spread the course data to other vehicles when multiple trucks are operated in a fleet. When a vehicle is inside a loading area, an operator of a loading machine can drive the truck by radio control so that the operator can stop the truck at any point where he/she wants to load. The entire system comprises several chief subsystems, man machine interface including radio control, navigation, vehicle control, data link, and safety unit.

Of all the parts used on crawler-type construction equipment, the track bushings in the undercarriage of large bulldozers are subjected to particularly severe load conditions. A new and innovative heat treatment technology has been developed in order to improve the durability of these bushings from the point of their wear and fatigue crack characteristics. A new steel material has also been specified to match this heat treatment technology. The bushings thus developed have been extensively tested on bulldozers in customer service and proved to be successfully applied for production. They also offer a possibility for considerable reduction in manufacturing cost.

KOMATSU has successfully developed and marketed the HYPER GX series computer-controlled, intelligent hydraulic excavators. The development concepts of the HYPER GX series are as follows: 1. To improve safety at construction sites by use of measuring functions which reduce the number of ancillary workers. 2. To improve working environment and the quality of work by use of automatic functions which reduce operator fatigue and time required to complete a job. 3. To solve the problem of shortage of experienced workers by the use of operator support functions which allow easy operation even for inexperienced or older operators. Representative of these is the fully automatic grading function, with which the movement of boom, arm and bucket is computer-controlled to enable automatic excavation at a predetermined gradient.

Hydraulic fluid (HF) specifications for mobile construction equipment called JCMAS HK and HKB have been established by the Fuels and Lubricants Committee of Japan Construction Mechanization Association (JCMA). The specifications are designated by two viscosity categories of single grade and multigrade. Each category has ISO viscosity grade (VG) 32 and 46. The JCMAS HK oils are recommended for use in hydraulic systems designed at pressure up to 34.3MPa(5000psi) and to heat hydraulic fluid up to 100 °C. These oils also provide wear control, friction performance, oxidation and rust protection, seal swell control and filterability performance. Two piston pump test procedures were developed to evaluate lubricating performance of these oils under high pressure conditions. The JACMAS HKB oils are classified as environmentally friendly oils due to the additional requirement for biodegradability.

The paper provides mechanical and performance specifications for a giant 650 PS bulldozer and cites the outstanding features of this machine. The new bulldozer offers improvements in dozing, ripping, and pushing. It has an electropneumatic system employing solenoid valves and air cylinders, and it can be controlled by radio for unmanned operation in dangerous sites.

The users of construction machinery demand higher quality. It is especially difficult to satisfy them with large-size bulldozers designed according to conventional design concepts that is, a new design concept is required now. Komatsu is putting the D475A, built by fully redesigning the D455A bulldozer, on the market. When developing this model, its power-train system, undercarriage, frame, etc., were redesigned under a new concept that emphasized moving large amounts of soil effectively, and new structures were developed as a result. In this paper, the design concept of the D475A and the structure that attained that concept will be outlined.

This paper describes 3-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analysis to estimate the air flow in the construction machinery's engine compartment and accompanying measurements. As the computational grid, tetrahedral cells with rotating reference frame fixed to the fan were used. In the measurement, the single yawed hot wire rotation method was used to measure the 3-dimensional velocity vectors. As a result, the measured values correspond well to the computational results.

After new transmission lubricants are developed there is an extensive validation program where friction durability testing is performed on multiple clutch materials. Each durability test can run for long terms and the entire validation program can take much longer terms. A well designed lubricant and friction material will deliver the necessary friction control for construction equipment to operate at optimum level. A mechanistic construct has been evaluated to calculate friction durability in clutch systems based on fluid and surface tribological properties. Fluid properties include both boundary frictional and rheological effects. Surface properties include elastic modulus, surface roughness, asperity density and asperity tip radius. Using this mechanistic construct friction durability has been predicted.