How to create a new truck using Haul Infinity Truck Creator

Relates to versions - 22.1+

This guide has been produced to show Alastri Products Users how to create and digitize a new truck (both electric and mechanically driven trucks) on the example of BELAZ 75307 model using Haul Infinity Truck Creator.

Prerequisites

Download the manufacturer's data sheet/specifications for the required truck model. The specification must include the following data:

• Weight: Empty (unladen) Weight; Maximum Payload Capacity (payload); Gross Weight
• Truck weight distribution on axles (%) : Front/Rear; Unladen/Laden
• Towing and Braking performance
• Fuel consumption, if applicable

Note: The specifications available on the Internet may differ by country and product type, even if the model name is the same. Therefore, when searching, stick to the data applicable to the particular model of truck used in your operation.

Creating new project

1. Run Haul Infinity version 22.1 or newer.

2. In the upper tab bar, click the Tools button and select the "Truck Creator" option.

1. Haul Infinity > Tools > Truck Creator

3. In the dialog window that opens, select Create New Project if you want to create a new project, or Open Existing Project to open an existing one.

2. Create New Project

Save the new project as a file with the suitable name and click Save. The saved file will have an extension ".truck".

3. File > Save As > specify a path > name the file after the model of the truck > Save

Import Specification

PDF Import

Select the PDF file of the downloaded specification/technical sheet for the desired truck. To do this, click the blue plus icon and specify where the downloaded specification is saved.

4. Import previously downloaded specification for a truck

If the information you need is gathered in multiple specifications instead of just one, you can upload several PDFs.

Note: If you need to modify/update uploaded specifications, it is not recommended to delete/add new file, as it causes all the settings to be lost. For this purpose, it is better to use the green re-load button and re-import the corresponding specification.

5. Re-import/update specification

 

Adding Regions

In the Regions section add a required number of regions to attach to the truck file for further references and creating an audit trial, such as:

• Cover Page or Source
• Weights Data: Weight Definitions, if applicable
• Rimpull Chart
• Retard Chart(s)
• Fuel data, if applicable

 

Adding Cover page

To facilitate finding information, or when loading multiple specifications, you will find it helpful to add a region of the entire first cover page. To do this: 

1. In the Regions panel, click the blue plus icon to add a new region.

6. Adding new regions

2. The Select Region window will open. Select the desired part (in this example, the entire cover page) by simply box-selecting it.

7. Select cover page region

3. Press OK to confirm.

4. The selected area will be added to the Regions list.

• Rename it accordingly.

• Since the Cover page is not a chart, don't check the Chart box.

• If you want to edit the selected region, use the edit/update button (green arrow).

8. Added Cover page region

Do the same practice for adding other regions specified above; i.e., Weights data (Weight Definitions, if applicable); Rimpull chart (Towing and Braking performance); Retard chart(s); and Fuel data (if applicable).

Note: You need to select the associated section with your desired region from PDF file. The previously added regions are highlighted in yellow. That's used to show the regions already being added and to prevent duplication of data.

9. The previously added regions are highlighted in yellow

Note: If what you are adding is a chart, check the Chart box, i.e., Rimpull data (Towing and Braking performance)

10. All added regions

Note: Various editing options are available in the Select Region window via right-click, such as the Select, Drag and Drop, Zoom tools, Return to Previous View, Rotate (clockwise or counter-clockwise), as well as Print, Search through the document, Select the entire area, and Display document properties.

11. Options available via right-click

Once you have finished adding all the applicable regions, click the Play button to proceed to the next setup step.

12. Run Next button

 

Truck Settings

In the Trucks Settings step, specify the applicable data sheets and, if necessary for reference, add the appropriate regions created in the previous step PDF Import.

Truck Information

Populate the applicable Truck information.

Manufacturer: Specify truck manufacturer.

Base Model: Truck Base Model, if applicable.

Series: Truck Series of truck, if applicable.

Data Source: Truck information Data Source, such as manufacturer's Web site, or a link to where the data was taken from.

Version ID: Automatically populated.

Version Date: Automatically populated.

Units

Check and, if necessary, adjust the suggested units of measurement to match those used in your operation.

13. Enter applicable Truck Information and Select units of measurement

Technical Information

Drive Type: Select the drive type: electric or mechanical.

Empty Weight (Kg): Enter an empty weight of the truck (without payload), in kilograms. To facilitate data search, in the Source Regions panel import the Weight region added in the previous step.

Note: when you enter an empty weight value, the total nominal payload field will automatically display a negative value. This is used to check that the data is calculated correctly.

14. Truck Information (Empty Weight)

Full Weight (Kg): Enter a full weight of the truck (with payload), in kilograms. To facilitate data search, in the Source Regions panel import the Weight region added in the previous step.

Note: when you enter a full weight value, the total nominal payload value will be automatically calculated. Compare it with the value shown in the added data region.

Nominal Payload (kg): The gross weight (payload) of the truck, in kilograms. Compare the automatically calculated value with the value from the data sheet or enter the value manually.

15. Truck Information (Full Weight / Nominal Payload)

Once you have finished entering all the applicable data, click the Play button to proceed to the next setup step.

Lists

In the Lists step, set the applicable list types (curves, number of gears, axles), which will be used in the following steps (namely Curves and Truck Configurations).

Rimpull Curves: At least one rimpull curves needs to be added to the list in the right viewport. Press the blue plus icon to add an item and give it a name, such as "Rimpull". 

16. Added Rimpull Curves

If a second rimpull curve is available, such as a rimpull curve utilising trolley assist, a second curve can be added and may be named Trolley Assist.

Retard Curves: At least one Retarding curve must be added representing the grade distances the curve represents. Press the blue plus icon to add an item and give it a name, such as "Retarder".

17. Added Retard Curves

If multiple grade retarding curves are available for each grade distance, each must be added to the list in the Retard Curves, for example:

18. Added Multiple Retard Curves

Fuel Consumption Curves: The addition of a fuel curve is optional and only used if fuel consumption data is available. More than one fuel curve can be added depending on the engine specifications supplied, such as Tier1, Tier2 etc where different regions have different emissions restrictions, and therefore different truck and engine configurations. If no data is available, this step can be skipped.

Axles: The number and name of the axles entered is dependent on the truck configuration. Add at least two axles: front and rear.

19. Added Axles

Gears: Add the applicable number of gears. 

20. Added Gears - Mechanically Driven Trucks

In this example of an electrically driven truck, only one first gear is applicable.

21. Added Gears - electrically Driven Trucks

Use the top toolbar buttons to move records up or down the list, sort in ascending or descending order, as well as copy and paste to/from Excel and clear data.

Note: when you paste from Excel, existing items will be cleared.

21. Buttons to manage added items

Once you have finished entering all the applicable data, click the Play button to proceed to the next setup step.

Axles Setup

In the Axles Setup step, enter the applicable load distribution data for the axles.

Enter the load distribution parameters in the top Axle Properties panel.

Depending on what data you have, you can choose to edit the data by weight or by percentage (Edit Weight or Edit Percentage columns, respectively).

22. When editing weights, percentage data fields are not available

23. When editing percentage, weight fields are not available

Note that the sum of the populated values must correspond to the specified weights according to the specification or be 100%. Otherwise, the program will automatically generate an error.

To facilitate the information search, import the Weight data region added in the PDF Import step.

24. Import Source Region

Locate the applicable information in the image of the weight data region and enter it in the Axles Properties table. In this example, the manufacturer's specification shows distribution by percentage, so check the Edit Percentage box and enter the data as shown. Note that the data for kg in the Empty Weight and Full Weight columns will be calculated and filled in automatically.

25. Populate percentage fields with data from the specification

Specify which axle is driven and the number of tyres.

26. Mark the driven axle and the number of tyres

Once you have finished entering all the applicable data, click the Play button to proceed to the next setup step.

Curves

In the Curves step the imported characteristic curves are digitized.

Because the Rimpull and Braking regions were marked as Charts in the PDF Import Setup step, they will be listed as Curves in the Curves step. For each of the curves listed, select the relevant region from the Region dropdown list.

27. Regions marked as Charts

2. Digitize each curve by the X and Y axes.

• In the X-Axis field, click the Edit button to open the Edit Axes dialog.
• Select the type of chart: Banded or Logarithmic.
• Specify the Lower and Upper values for the axis and select the applicable Units according to the chart.
• Move the axis bar (in this case, the pink line) so that it coincides exactly with the bottom line of the chart (Travel speed, km).

• Use the scroll wheel for zooming to make the lines align exactly with the axes of the chart.

• Press OK to confirm changes.

28. Specify Lower and Upper values, Units, and place the pink line exactly on the Travel speed axis

 

Repeat the same procedure to match the red line to the Y-axis (Towing force on wheels).

29. Specify Lower and Upper values, Units, and place the red line exactly on the Towing force axis

Note: since towing force on wheel is measured in kg x 1000, the Upper Value must be specified in thousands.

3. Digitize the Towing performance curve:

• Place the first point on the intersection of the Y-axis with the curve. Try to keep value in the column X (km/h) as 0.00.
• Put the intermediate points all along the curve.
• Use the scroll wheel to zoom in.
• You can move the points by holding down the left mouse button.
• Right-click on a point to delete it.
• Coordinates of points can be entered manually.
• Points can be copied to clipboard and pasted from Excel.

30. Place points along the towing performance curve

4. Follow the same procedure to digitize the rest of the charts (in this example, Braking performance chart). Once you have completed digitizing all the charts, click the Play button to proceed to the next setup step.

Truck Configurations

In the last step, Truck Configurations, make the final adjustments to the digitized truck and export both the current configuration and the finished file for use in Haul Infinity.

• Click the blue plus icon to add a new configuration.
• In the Name column, enter the name of the dump truck.
• In the Rimpull Curve column, select the Rimpull Curve chart.
• In the Rimpull Curve (Trolley Assist) column, select the Rimpull Curve chart when using a trolley drive. This is not applicable for this project, so select "(none)".
• In the Retard Curve column, select the braking performance chart.
• In the Fuel Curve column, select the fuel consumption chart. This is not applicable in this project, so select "(none)".
• In the Active column, tick the checkbox if you want this configuration to appear as active in Haul Infinity.

31. Specify name and map charts to the digitized curves

Saving and exporting

To save your current project at any setup step select File > Save or File > Save As. The project will be saved in ".truck" format.

Exporting the finished truck file

In the Truck Configuration step, click Export Selected Configuration. Specify the path to the folder where you want to save it. The file will be saved in ".opentruck2" format.

After you have confirmed all the setup steps, the Truck file can also be exported via File > Export OpenTruck. The file will be saved in ".opentruck2" format.

32. Exporting .opentruck file

Importing into Haul Infinity

The ".opentruck2" file you have created can be imported into Haul Infinity in the Trucks > Models setup step.

Go to Haul Infinity > Setup tab > Trucks>Models step > Add Truck > Import Trucks from Files > specify the path > import the ".opentruck2" file.

33. Importing Truck file

Note: if you need to change points, you can do this by copying the data, modifying it in Excel, and pasting it back into Haul Infinity.

34. Buttons for Copying and Pasting to/from Excel

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