Get FinancingCaterpillar Bringing Smart Creep, Cat Command For Loading To D3 Series Skid Steers & Compact Track Loaders
Caterpillar has announced a pair of upcoming options for its D3 Series wheel and track skid-steer loaders. A new smart creep feature for use with cold planer and wheel saw attachments will become available worldwide this summer or fall. In the same time frame, North American customers will be able to take advantage of Cat Command for Loading remote control systems in their D3 skid steers.
Smart Creep
Cat’s new smart creep feature continually senses the load on a cold planer or wheel saw attachment and automatically adjusts the loader’s drive speed to match cutting conditions. This helps avoid stalling the attachment and optimizes the loader’s speed to increase overall efficiency. Smart creep maintains a constant load on the engine, balancing forward travel speed with the cutting or grinding action. An auto-reverse feature detects a stall and changes the direction of the compact loader’s travel so the attachment can clear itself of debris and resume operation.
The operator can set a maximum creep speed from inside the cab and can monitor hydraulic pressure on the in-cab display.
Cat initially will make the smart creep sensor and software system available in a field installation kit in the third quarter of 2022. At that point, the manufacturer will also begin installing the system’s hardware components on new D3 skid steers and Cat cold planer and wheel saw attachments at the factory to make them smart creep-ready.
Cat Command for Loading
Also scheduled for Q3 are Cat Command for Loading remote operation systems for D3 Series wheel and track skid steers. The remote control schemes let users operate the loader from outside the cab in potentially hazardous applications such as demolition, site decommissioning, steel mill work, and unloading cargo from ships.
One of the new systems uses a line-of-sight console that can control a Cat D3 loader from nearly 1,000 feet (300 meters) away. There are two ergonomically designed consoles to choose from, depending on the complexity of the hydromechanical attachments the machine will be using. A ground-level switch behind a lockable door on the machine enables or disables the system, which comes with antennas, a microphone, a receiver, and indicator lighting.
The other Cat Command for Loading system is a non-line-of-sight setup that can operate multiple machines in succession from an off-site location far away. This version includes a 360-degree camera system, a joystick, foot controls, and mounts for multiple screens. The modular, simulator-style Command station can also be used with Command-enabled Cat excavators, dozers, and wheel loaders.
Caterpillar says its D3 loaders respond to the remote controls as if they were cabin-mounted controls. Automated safety measures stop all movement by the machine if it loses its wireless signal or other issues crop up. The consoles and Command station also come with standard all-stop switches, and an optional remote switch allows other on-site workers to stop a loader being piloted remotely. D3 owners can make their machines Command-ready with a dealer-installed field kit.
The Cat D3 Series
Caterpillar offers D3 loaders from 67.1 to 110 horsepower (50 to 82 kilowatts). Its wheel skid steers have operating capacities ranging from 1,550 to 3,700 pounds (705 to 1,680 kilograms), while Cat track skid-steer models can lift 1,530 to 4,340 lbs (695 to 1,970 kg) at a 35% tipping load.
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Source: Caterpillar