Development of computer based equipment performance monitoring systems in open cast mines

Abstract

Truck haulage is the most common means used for moving ore/waste in open-pit mining operations, but it is usually the most expensive unit operation in a truck shovel mining system. The state-of-the-art in computing technology has advanced to a point where there are several truck dispatching systems which offer the potential of improving truck-shovel productivity and subsequent savings. Introducing a dispatching system in a mine can achieve operational gains by reducing waiting times and obtain other benefits through better monitoring, optimal routing and grade control. Efficiency of the employed truck-shovel fleet depends on the dispatching strategy in use, the complexity of the truckshovel system and a variety of other variables. It is a common situation in mining that considerable analysis of the available strategies is undertaken before dispatching is adopted. In most cases, computer simulation is the most applicable and effective method of comparing the alternative dispatching strategies. To develop a computer based equipment performance monitoring systems in open cast mines. We have made a choice to make it on the shovel dumper combination using GPS. The computer monitors the location and status (full or empty, heading, and velocity) of each vehicle in the fleet. The system analyzes production statistics, such as haul routes, historic data about drive time to a specific shovel location, and cycle time how long it takes to make a round trip from the shovel to the dump site and back. The system then correlates these data to most efficiently route all the vehicles. The computer based equipment performance monitoring of equipments of open cast coal mine on an offline monitoring basis. This system starts from the counting of the number of trips dumpers. It has very good features such as it is easy to learn, very good user interface capability. The success of the system is totally dependent on the availability and incorporation of the data into the system .If the data will no be available then the system cannot provide good result. The data which has been incorporated into the system also should be correct, other wise it will provide wrong information to the management. There is a huge scope for further development of this kind of system such as incorporation of other equipment such as dragline, dozer, etc. It can also be used for equipment maintenance system and also for inventory control. The program written in C compiler has been written on the basis of GPS data of the time, loading, unloading points in the mine. It gives us the availability, utilization, idle time and breakdown time for the shovel dumper system. The data taken is on the basis of the data selected for a whole shift.