Whale Tankers’ recently launched GullyWhale Plus – a radically upgraded Medium Volume Combination (MVC) tanker continues the exhibition round next month, this time surfacing at the RWM exhibition.
Having exhibited at the RWM for the first time last year, visitors to the show will get the chance to get up close to a tanker that boasts a number of new performance, and health and safety related features and product improvements.
Complete with an 1800-gallon capacity tank mounted on the 18 tonne MAN TG-M 4 x 2 day cab chassis, GullyWhale Plus is packed with new features that now form either part of Whale’s standard vehicle specification or which can be specified as options.
The most significant of the new features is 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 functions introduced to the GullyWhale Plus. The system also 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 already popular anti-vibration gully boom control unit – developed in- house as a means of reducing health and safety concerns surrounding hand-arm (HAV) vibration.
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.
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.
