IM 2016 September 2016 | Page 124

SURFACE AUTOMATION
autonomy components or complete “ private label ” solutions . Larsen said ASI participates in a number of OEM autonomous solutions . IM ’ s recent comprehensive haul trucks article highlighted how many players there now are in the ultraclass mining truck space , all of whom will want to be able to offer autonomous options . Not to mention key mining contractors that run huge haulage fleets .
On the types of machines mines look to apply autonomy to , haul trucks have been the initial focus and remain the holy grail due to this application having the largest potential productivity gains . “ But it is a major challenge for secondary adopters and requires a lot of capital . We see a lot of ambition to get to autonomous haulage but often mines start with smaller applications such as blasthole drills or teleop applications . These smaller applications allow mines to focus first on smaller RF networks and isolated areas such as drill benches . As stated , haulage is just one of several autonomous modules that ASI can offer mines and Mobius offers extraordinary flexibility , but also long term scalability .”
Larsen summarised the options ASI offers mine operators seeking to automate . The first is a retrofit model . The mine gets to leverage existing assets by retrofitting autonomy onto existing machines . Obviously the newer the machines , such as trucks with drive by wire , the better , but even older vehicles can be automated . Mines which are faced with purchasing new equipment as part of automating may find the business cases too difficult to justify . Conversely , automating existing assets can dramatically improve the financial justification for automation .
The second advantage mentioned is to offer a full basket of modules ; such as teleop , but leveraging Mobius to allow scaling to higher autonomy levels . This might mean a mine automating drills first then haulage , or even starting with semi-autonomous dozers or driver assist . It could also mean automating a few trucks in an isolated area of the pit , as was initially done by some of the Tier 1 players . “ Ultimately if a mine opts for a modular approach , they are in a better position by integrating different ASI modules through Mobius , than separately implementing individual off the shelf solutions .”
Finally , on the impact of the downturn on autonomy , ASI believes that its distinctive nature has given it a market edge . “ While many mining operations have autonomy aspirations , it is more difficult in the current climate to get large new autonomy projects approved . This even applies to the large Tier 1 miners . The industry doesn ’ t have the appetite for risk or capital expenditure for big deployments that it once did . The early adopters such as those in Australia ’ s Pilbara have been
very helpful in proving the business case for autonomy and pioneering the concept . With proven productivity benefits , we believe a majority of mining operations are now interested in some form of autonomy and are including it in their long term plans . This is where ASI can really help by offering smaller steps towards full autonomy ; ultimately scaling into a fully integrated autonomous mining operation .”
Other players also making headway
Other manufacturers are also progressing with OEM solutions . Hitachi ’ s AHS system in use at Meandu coal mine , and due to be commercialised in 2017 , has been described in detail before in IM . It recently entered its next phase , which includes the integration of the autonomous trucks with the standard fleet .
Likewise , Liebherr ’ s development program towards autonomous haulage is currently underway . Initial prototype testing is on-going in 2016 in its proving grounds and it plans to begin field trials in 2018 . It is Liebherr ’ s intent to provide an open architecture allowing customers flexibility with respect to the level of third party content and integration from Liebherr . This approach will allow the customer to use Liebherr products along with other OEM equipment and choose the most suitable suppliers for third party solutions . In this way , Liebherr says it will “ offer the most flexible and cost effective way to achieve an autonomous haulage solution .” Full scale production is planned by 2020 and retrofit kits could be made available for existing haulage equipment .
VIST and Intelligent Mine
VIST Mining Technology LLC is a 100 % -owned affiliate of the VIST Group company , created to develop the Intelligent Mine project . The main point of the project is the development of the first technology for unmanned open-pit mining in Russia and CIS countries .
The project consists of the development and testing of autonomous vehicles for mining
enterprises , including the software and package of design documentation for the end customers . The system is intended for realising unmanned work from the whole surface mining equipment spectrum ( excavators , dump trucks , loaders , dozers and other equipment ) in both autonomous and remote control modes . “ The solutions will make it possible to optimise the process from the economic point of view by increasing productivity by 15-20 % owing to the increase in the time of productive work , reductions of costs of operation owing to the operation condition optimisation , staff reduction and the reduction of capital expenses in connected infrastructure , as well a possible decrease in safety requirements because of eliminating immediate human participation in the mining work zone .
The system consists of the following components : n The Program Platform ( including the Control Centre and collision prevention software for autonomous vehicles ) n The dump-truck autonomous and remote control module n The excavator remote control module n The loader remote control module n The dozer remote control module n The drill autonomous and remote control module n Module of optimisation and automatic dispatch n Design documentation .
The innovative character of the autonomous and remote-controlled dump truck modules is found in the “ unique algorithm ” of the dump truck automated movement which is " trained " by a pilot driver . The algorithm takes into consideration the specific features of the mining machine and adapts it to the real mine conditions . As a rule , VIST states that autonomously operated vehicles currently run more slowly than those being operated by a human being . This is due to various reasons ,
122 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2016