MINING ENGINEERING
Automation, artificial intelligence, safety solutions and improved handling are concepts being brought together to create innovative operational realities in the mining sector. Leading the charge in this space is a team of dedicated engineers at Lewis Australia.
For the past 50+ years, the company has developed an impressive worldwide client base and their success has been driven by their commitment to deliver specific solutions. Working closely with their clients, Lewis designs and builds its equipment to suit the operational and environmental requirements and always with operator safety as a priority.
Importantly, these are homegrown solutions! Designed and built in Australia and delivering the highest quality.
Of late, there are three main products which have delivered innovative solutions to mining companies – all of which have delivered a collective improvement in terms of handling, safety, productivity and quality.
Marcel Geelen is the Sales and Marketing Manager on the Lewis team. He cites these following three products as being game changers in delivering effective improvements in productivity while also improving safety and handling for operators.
Lightening Bolt Ultra Light Weight Tools
As the name suggests, the Lightening Bolt tools have been designed to replace heavy extension tools currently being used for aiding in the removal of Heavy Vehicle wheel nuts.
Traditionally, these tools have been cumbersome to use and are heavy due to the high torques that they must handle.
This results in fatigue and injury for those operating them.
In addressing the problem presented by these heavy tools, Marcel said the Lewis team came up with a solution based around FEA – Finite Element Analysis. That modelling, teamed with "exotic" materials, as Marcel describes them, led to a range of lightweight tools. These tools are safer, easier to handle and attach to the standard guns in the same way as their heavier counterparts.
This meant the team were able to provide extension tools which reduce the weight by around 75%, depending on the torque range. For example, their LB1600, which is used on trucks like the CAT 793 and Komatsu 830E drops the weight from around 32kg to 6kg.
“Once developed, the prototypes were then put through extensive workshop testing to ensure the tools could handle the required torque,” Marcel said. It paid off, with the tools now being used throughout the Pilbara and in the Oil Sands in Canada.
On the receiving end of the greatest benefits of the tool – the improved handling and safety – are the operators on site.
"The operators love it," Marcel said. "They can move the extensions off the workbench and around the Haul Truck wheels with ease.”
Due to the lightweight nature of these extensions, they can be used in pits for retorques, rather than requiring the trucks to come back to the maintenance bays, which minimises downtime and increases production.
Another benefit of being lightweight is that the torque reaction arm can be placed at the nut rather then on the outer rim. This keeps fingers well away from the crush zone.
“It reduces the risk of shoulder and back injuries, fingers being pinched or injured. It also gave the operator more flexibility and control over the movement of the extension,” Marcel said.
Marcel said the range of Lightening Bolt tools was virtually endless.
"The range is infinite, because while we have a standard range, we can easily adapt them to suit a new truck or loader,” he said.
Mobile Fluid Transfer System
This is a system which delivers a dual benefit for mining companies with an acute focus on safety while enhancing productivity.
Marcel was at the time one of the main project engineers in the development of the Mobile Fluid Transfer System, so this product represents a labour of love.
Blast hole drill rigs require regular filling up with water. For safety reasons, while operators are with in the vicinity of the drill rig, it is locked out. This means the drill is losing drilling time during this refilling procedure. There is the time taken to drag the hose over to the rig, pump the water into it and then drag the hose back, undo all locks and then resume drilling.
This is where Lewis Australia come in.
The robotic Mobile Fluid Transfer System can be fitted to a standard water truck and automatically transfers the water.
Instead of stopping operations, the driver of the water truck remains in the air conditioned cabin, drives up to the rig and starts pumping water.
"These are multimillion-dollar drills, so you want to be able to keep them going to make full use of the asset," Marcel said.
As more and more trucks and drills are becoming autonomous, it is becoming more important to keep operators away from these tasks.
The robot does all the hard work. It scans the surrounds to ensure there are no hazards, and then scans for the filling point on the drill rig. The robot then extends out the water boom, and once connected, the water is pumped.
Aside from the obvious fitting of the robot to the water truck, retrofitting the drill to enable the system's smooth operation is relatively minor, with only a small modification to the filling point.
In the cabin of the truck there is an HMI screen which enables the driver to view the process and see what the robot sees, via a series of cameras mounted to the unit.
The Lewis team have thought about everything, even down to the vibration isolation mounts. The robot base and electronic system are then attached to it. This protects it from the impacts of driving around the rough terrain of a mine site. The mount itself uses low frequency springs and then inside the electrical cabinet there are extra high frequency vibration mounts, so this enables the full spectrum of vibration to be accounted for.
The robot controllers are mounted inside a secondary box which is dual layered and airconditioned to protect against the dust and heat.
"We have special equipment that can deal with that sort of environment," Marcel said. "It's a cost that no one sees but it will make sure the product lasts and can withstand the harsh conditions it operates under."
Testing for these conditions was conducted in real-world settings, enlisting the site operators as well as gyroscopes and accelerometers for data collection. This would ensure the robot could withstand the vibration, G-Forces, heat and other environmental conditions compatible with what the robot would be subjected to in day-to-day operations.
Now, the system is being recalibrated to explore its application for use in fuel delivery and customers the world over have their eyes fixed on Lewis Australia to see what's next in this space.
ScOREpion: Mobile Blasthole Sampling
This beast of a machine takes automation, high-end design and artificial intelligence to a new level.
Using all three of these concepts to maximum advantage, Lewis Australia has developed a world-leading robot which is retrofitted to an operator-driven truck, and deployed to collect, crush and bag samples from blastholes.
The ScOREpion's two models are mindblowing bits of gear – and even Marcel is in awe of the capabilities. The Lewis team have other concepts to build on these products.
The machine is a bringing together of reliable traceable sample collection, crushing, bagging, AI-driven scanning, safety measures and precise accuracy.
The current process, which involves operators using a hand-held auger (or sometimes shovels) to collect the ore, is not random and does not provide a true representation of the blast hole cone.
"If you're an operator, doing this all day, every day there is a high risk of shoulder and arm injuries, and exhaustion in the 40° plus conditions,” Marcel said.
“On top of that there are numerous tripping hazards near a large hole.”
Operators usually only take one sample from each blast hole which does not provide a true representation of the blast hole cone. Rather than taking one sample from each blast hole, the ScOREpion takes a number of randomised samples, puts them through a crusher and splitter and then into a bag. The bag is weighed and labelled with a barcode or RFID tag for accurate tracking and traceability.
“The amount of dirt going back to the lab is the same, but it is now a true representative of the blast hole cone. As it’s already been through a crusher, it saves time in the lab as well,” Marcel said.
The ScOREpion has an automatic bag collection carousel that can hold up to 24 bags before the operator has to remove them and place in a storage tote on the truck. In terms of accuracy, the ScOREpion collected samples were tested and compared to samples collected using the existing process and a full cone split.
The robot's samples were almost identical to the full cone split sample.
The ScOREpion can use different augers, depending on the type of Ore being sampled. It can even deal with wet samples, by bypassing the crusher. The auger attachment has a series of sensors on it to enable it to stop and relocate if it hits a rock and the robot can ascertain the depth of the cone it is extracting samples from.
"This prevents the robot from digging below the cone and protects the augers from damage," Marcel said.
“It also operates on a two-metre slide to enable it to move and position itself as needed and provide an extended reach."
Just like the Mobile Fluid Transfer System, the electronic systems are all mounted inside double skinned insulated enclosures which are mounted to the vibration isolation system.
Likewise, the operator completes the task from the safety and comfort of the cabin in the truck. Multiple CCTV cameras relay back to the HMI screen in the cabin so the operator can see what is going on.
Photos of the sample and blast hole cone are kept in a database for tracking and training purposes.
There are a number of safety systems on the ScOREpion, including safety switches in the doors that shut down the robot and crusher if they are opened.
Additional technology and AI included on this machine are the use of smart programming and sensors which can identify any human movement or presence in the vicinity of the robot. With detection, the robot will automatically cease operation.
Understandably, a robot as intelligent and intuitive as the ScOREpion was a project years in the making. Its development grew from a need for consistent sample qualities at the laboratory end of the process.
It was a process in line with Lewis Australia's standard way of operating.
"That is what we do – we are here to deal with issues and find solutions," Marcel said. "We don't have a catalogue as such. We build to meet a customer's specific needs and to their exact specifications.”
Marcel added “Lewis Australia’s innovative skills lead to the automation of manual processes thought to be too hard.” True enough for a company which has built a reputation for "making technology work" for 50+ years.