Global Air Cylinder Wheels (GACW) is arguably not reinventing the wheel, but it is looking to disrupt an industry with an off-the-road innovation that could prove to be as revolutionary as the introduction of the radial tyre.
The aim of the Air Suspension Wheel (ASW) is to create a solution that lasts as long as the vehicle it is fitted on. That is some feat when you consider the many occurrences of legacy trucks and wheel loaders having been in the field for decades.
GACW is setting out to achieve this through the development of what it says is a unique mechanical steel wheel that replaces a vehicle’s rim and rubber tyre. It is made up of an inner steel hub with an outer steel drum, which are connected by 12 nitrogen-filled cylinders and six oil dampers, providing the required suspension. The outer drum can be fitted with bolt-on customised polyurethane or steel treads, which can be individually replaced without removing the wheel.
Since 2016, the ASW has underwent multiple rounds of field testing at sites of different mining companies in South Africa, USA, Chile and China, with varying cylinder designs and treads used to find the optimal formula.
From a catch up with Harmen van Kamp, co-Founder and CEO, at the recent Future Minerals Forum, in Riyadh, it appears the company is closing in on the ‘sweetspot’ with commercial launches in both the wheel loader and haul truck class expected to take place this year.
“We’ve settled on the best distribution of cylinders with six on each side of the wheel within the structure, as well as a number of treads that the market has taken a liking too,” he told IM.
Having several test sites under its belts – which have trialled the ASW on various equipment – van Kamp is focusing his messaging on three key pillars: safety, sustainability (or environment) and cost.
Safety is an easy one to understand, given a potential blowout on an ultraclass truck tyre can lead to serious injury or death. Tyres are inherently flammable too, which can lead to personnel safety risks, as well as cost implications. The ASW eliminates this by being both non-pneumatic and non-flammable.
The fact the treads are replaceable and that the wheels themselves are 100% recyclable ticks the sustainability box before even considering the longevity they offer when compared with the standard OTR tyre.
Cost is a harder ‘sell’ for van Kamp considering mining companies default to an upfront cost metric when comparing products. The ASWs are understandably more expensive than the status quo, but this cost is spread over a much longer timeframe than the one-year average life of a mining tyre GACW uses in its calculations. The total cost of ownership is, therefore, projected to be significantly less.
While this testing has gone on, GACW has racked up the patents – it has more than 60 to its name. It has also brought the product to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7, with that TRL 9 commercial status only months away.
Aside from having a commercially release for wheel loaders and trucks slated for the first nine months of 2025, GACW is also expecting to carry out further testing with the new product on wheel loaders and trucks in the Pilbara of Western Australia and Minnesota’s Iron Range – getting extreme heat and extreme cold results.
“After this, we could have readings from -40°C to +40°C,” van Kamp says, while acknowledging this is but a fraction of the mining company interest he is fielding daily.
