Heading Whale Tankers exhibits at PAWRS was the GullyWhale Plus, a new and radically upgraded Medium Volume Combination MVC tanker. Equipped with an 1800 gallon capacity tank mounted on an MAN TG-M 4 x 2 day cab chassis, the GullyWhale Plus features a number of new performance and health and safety related features and product improvements. These will now form part of Whales standard vehicle specification or be available as options.
Surfacing alongside the new GullyWhale at PAWRS was another Plus variant in the KiloWhale high volume JetVac vacuum tanker. Available with many the many of the new GullyWhales product refinements and full range of options, KiloWhale Plus features the new MK60 high pressure jetting pump delivering 75 gallons per minute at 2,300psi.
Of the new standard features on the GullyWhale Plus, the most significant is the deployment of a radically new operating control system. Capable of interfacing with a manufacturer's chassis and CANbus system, the new PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) is being deployed to control a number of new key features and functions introduced to the GullyWhale Plus. For added flexibility, the system has inbuilt capacity for operators to introduce additional functionality in the future, such as vehicle telematic systems etc.
The upgraded PLC supports functions such as a hydrostatic sensor that provides a digital display of the tanker's capacity level - accurate to approximately .25% - as well as the amount of jetting time that remains at maximum flow.
GullyWhale Plus also incorporates Whale's recently introduced anti-vibration gully boom control unit - developed in-house as a means of reducing health and safety concerns surrounding hand-arm (HAV) vibration.
Featured as an option is a new jetting hose meter that is digitally programmable. Operating via two sensors located outside the reel housing, as opposed to running on the reel itself so as to avoid dirt and particulate ingress, a digital display provides the operator with two read outs; one showing how much hose remains on the reel at any given time, the other an incremental measurement of the length deployed down a drain. Tolerant to its working environment and mounted on the reel frame itself, the unit - suitable for retrofitting - is simple and fool proof to operate and accurate to within two metres.
The control system on the MVC is also being deployed to help deliver further improvements, particularly in relation to operator health and safety. For example when jetting, the MVC now features a safe mode start up.
Other new key features of the GullyWhale Plus include a quick acting boom valve that operates 60% faster than was previously possible; a 2" pneumatically operated inter-connecting valve mounted on top of the tank that prevents contamination of clean water, being interlocked so it can only be opened when the vac pump is running on vacuum, and a low level boom mounted greasing point feed that facilitates four point greasing of the boom turret to avoid working from height. Finally, the GullyWhale's boom sludge breaker incorporates nozzle inserts to deliver improved operating performance, whilst manual operation of water pressure regulation has been replace by electrically operated push buttons located on the rear mounted Whale control panel.
OPTIONAL EXTRAS
Alongside the new features that now form part of Whale's standard vehicle specification, a number of optional extras can also be specified. These are:
· A new style storage frame with the capacity for four solid type road signs mounted nearside.
· A rear and nearside lockable nozzle storage facility.
· Soft handgun start-up.
· Pulsation jetting auto-timed to one minute durations, with the added facility to ramp up or down the jetting time.
· Fully hydraulic side shift reel and self-aligning operated reel with 100m x ¾" Whale jetting hose.
· Eight-function radio remote control with failsafe auto shutdown feature, operational to within a range of 150 metres.
· In cab six-function display linked to the new PLC, with capacity to incorporate GPRS vehicle tracking technologies and data download.
Commenting on the decision to launch the changes introduced to the new MVC at PAWRS, Whale Tanker's Managing Director, Mark Warmington said: "Our attendance at PAWRS centred on us once again demonstrating our commitment to ongoing product development and the new GullyWhale Plus bears testimony to this. The modifications that we have introduced, which will now feature as standard across our tanker range, were well received by those who attended the show. Not only do the new features improve overall performance and efficiency, many have been introduced to make our products even more operator friendly, something that we at Whale take extremely seriously."