This innovative ALL-ROUNDER is more than a match for dust!

“Lime is life,” proclaims the website of Hermann Trollius GmbH in reference to its primary product, which is extracted every day in the company’s own quarry and, along with dolomite, processed to make high-quality products for the steel, glass, sugar and animal feed industries.

Yet lime also kicks up quite a bit of dust during extraction when the rock is blasted out of the quarry walls in the first step of the processing chain. If not removed properly, the dirt would then not only settle all over the company’s premises and vehicles, but also spread to the adjacent streets and nearby village. “We have to make sure we keep dust levels relatively low. In principle, the contamination should stay on our company premises and not be spread outside,” explains company owner Hermann Trollius,  adding that the company had long been working to find an effective way to combat this fine dust. For instance, a network of pipes and sprinkler systems have been used to keep roadways wet and certain areas completely irrigated. In some cases, he says, water loads have also been transported in the scoop of a wheel loader and applied to the roadways. However, Hermann Trollius was still not completely satisfied with any of the solutions applied.

In the family business, which has already been in existence for seven decades, innovations and improvements have always played a major role. Half measures don’t really fit into the concept. This is why Hermann Trollius also did extensive research to get this problem done and dusted – literally. He finally made a crucial discovery on the internet: on the website of an Italian company called Ravasini, he came across irrigation vehicles used in locations such as mines and was fascinated by the technology installed in the vehicles. He contacted Ravasini and explained which functions he wanted for his water vehicle. His order was quite a novelty for the company in Parola (Parma) and hence a great challenge, but everything was implemented nonetheless, Trollius says happily. The delivery of the extraordinary multifunctional vehicle was preceded by an equally extraordinary development process. “Basically, everything happened online,” he says, explaining how he himself had taken pictures and videos of the entire site, then used this material to brief the Italian body manufacturer.

As a result, the company succeeded in building a vehicle based on a MAN TGS 26.510 with six different, technically sophisticated cleaning functions. Among other things, the vehicle can suck up water from a river or lake and so fill itself. In addition, swivelling fan nozzles at the front can be used to apply large amounts of water to the roadway with little pressure to wash away larger contaminants. The nozzles can be adjusted and swivelled from inside the vehicle using a joystick. A high-pressure spray bar attached to the rear of the water vehicle can be used to blast the road clean, just like with a steam jet. The road surface can cleaned at high pressure using the bar, which can be swivelled and lowered.

Three individually adjustable nozzles, also mounted at the rear, can be used to keep dirt roads in the quarry damp with a spray that falls like light rain. A monitor (jet pipe) reminiscent of the spray gun on a fire engine or a water cannon was positioned atop the tank. The unit, which comes from an American manufacturer, has excellent throwing power and can be controlled from the driver’s cab, just like the fan nozzles. It can be rotated upwards or downwards and can shoot a wide jet of water or spray mist over a large area. The MAN all-rounder also comes with a 20-metre reel-mounted hose that allows water to be distributed with the aid of a hand-held gun – for example in corners that are difficult or impossible to reach with the vehicle.

“The new vehicle was also designed with safety in mind,  with railings to the left and right of the tank, spotlights for good visibility and a camera system that can be accessed via a large monitor inside the MAN.”

Thanks to its many and varied functions, the innovative water vehicle is not only ideally suited for quarry dirt, but also offers a perfect solution for use on public roads. It was precisely because of this multifunctionality that Hermann Trollius preferred it to buying a tyre washing system, which is often used in businesses like his. MAN vehicles have proven their worth at the company and are popular with the drivers. This is why three additional, new MAN trucks will soon be starting work in the quarry in addition to the water truck featured here.

And Hermann Trollius’ express wish was that his special vehicle should also be based on a MAN with MAN HydroDrive®: “We need a nimble vehicle with a steerable axle and multiple drive axles for the quarry terrain,” he says. However, Trollius is still finding it hard to decide who should drive the new water vehicle. “It’s been my baby so far,” he laughs, adding that it was clear that there would have to be proper training before the vehicle could be operated. “There won’t be a fixed driver,” he reveals, but then the vehicle won’t be needed all the time, after all. “It is purely a service vehicle that is used to keep the facilities and roadways clean.” Lime is life – and this will continue to be true at Trollius. In the future, however, there won’t be too much of the dust and dirt stirred up by the rock during quarrying thanks to the innovative water vehicle.