The construction of the wind farm on the Gobi Desert is entering a critical stage, and Team Zhang's Caterpillar D7E bulldozer is responsible for leveling the foundation earthwork. One afternoon, when the equipment was leveling the sand dunes, the hydraulic system suddenly alarmed, and the bucket movement became sluggish. Checking through the on-board diagnostic system, it showed that the pressure of the bucket cylinder fluctuated abnormally, with the highest value exceeding the standard by 30%. After shutdown, maintenance personnel used an endoscope to check and found spiral scratches on the inner wall of the cylinder barrel, and the wear amount near the bottom reached 0.3mm, which exceeded the allowable tolerance.
Further investigation of the equipment operation data shows that this bulldozer has been working continuously for three months in the gravel layer containing quartz sand, working 16 hours a day, and the hydraulic oil pollution degree has reached NAS 8 level. More critically, the non-original filter element replaced last week had insufficient filtration precision, causing tiny sand particles to enter the oil cylinder, resulting in abrasive wear. Due to the remote location, the original maintenance team would take a week to arrive, and the project progress was at risk of stagnation.
Solution:
KICAN Team's Online Customized Solution
After receiving Team Zhang's request for help, the KICAN team launched an online emergency response process. First, through remote assistance, they obtained the original drawings of the Caterpillar D7E (including cylinder assembly dimensions, hydraulic system parameters), the equipment's operating data for the past six months (working hours, load curve, hydraulic oil test report), and the images of cylinder barrel damage taken by the endoscope.
The technical team restored the wear model of the cylinder barrel in 3D modeling software and formulated a plan based on the characteristics of the Gobi environment: using high-strength nitrided steel 38CrMoAl, after overall nitriding treatment, the surface hardness reaches HV900 or more, and the wear resistance is 50% higher than that of the original cylinder barrel; the inner wall adopts an optimized honing network design, which increases the oil storage capacity by 30% and reduces the risk of dry friction; in response to the problem of sand particle intrusion, a customized two-stage filtration system is matched (main filter precision 1μm, bypass filter precision 0.5μm), and a Teflon dust scraper is added at the entrance of the cylinder barrel.
All design parameters were shared with Team Zhang through the cloud for confirmation, and videos of key processes (such as nitriding temperature curve, honing precision detection) were transmitted in real-time during the production process. After the finished cylinder barrel was tested for dimensional accuracy by laser scanning (error ≤ 0.01mm), it was directly sent to the construction site via cold chain logistics, taking only 72 hours in total.
User Feedback and Machinery Usage Experience
"Never seen such efficient remote service!" Team Zhang exclaimed after receiving the cylinder barrel. The local maintenance personnel installed it according to the video guidance provided by KICAN, and the whole process only took 2 hours. After restarting the equipment, the smoothness of the bucket movement was significantly improved, and the pressure fluctuation range of the hydraulic system dropped from ±15% to ±3%.
Data after two weeks of continuous operation showed that the oil cylinder temperature was stable at 45-50℃, 12℃ lower than before; the hydraulic oil pollution degree remained at NAS 6 level, without frequent replacement. Team Zhang did the math: the online plan saved the travel cost of the original team, the price of the customized cylinder barrel was 8% lower than that of the original parts, and with the reduction of 3 days of downtime (daily loss of 20,000 yuan), the comprehensive cost saving was nearly 100,000 yuan.
Operator Xiao Li felt more intuitively: "In the past, the oil cylinder would 'struggle' when pushing hard soil, but now it feels very smooth, and the force of the joystick is much lighter." This D7E now works continuously for 18 hours a day on the Gobi Desert and remains stable. KICAN's online customization plan not only solved the emergency failure but also gave them a new understanding of the remote maintenance mode.
