DRILLING AND LOADING
means more holes every year, and at lower cost. Another benefit of the automated features is that less-experienced operators can now drill at a more predictable level.”
Sandvik‘ i’-series drills, such as the Sandvik DR461i, feature the proven Sandvik Intelligent Control Architecture( SICA) CAN bus system. This common platform across all Sandvik‘ i’- series surface drills provides customers with advanced diagnostics to minimise time to repair, plus scalable automation that can be added at a later date.
Atlas Copco new Pit Viper and cabless PV 275
Recently introduced was the next Pit Viper in Atlas Copco’ s wide range of surface blasthole drilling products. Building on the successful PV- 230 series, which is operating in over 15 major mining markets, Atlas Copco has unveiled the Pit Viper 231.
The PV-231 builds upon the innovation and proven success of the PV-235,“ while maintaining the highest levels of productivity and reliability.” Growing Atlas Copco’ s single pass offering, the drill will achieve a 16.2 m clean hole, from a single pass tower on a rugged engineered mainframe, capable of drilling a hole between 171-250 mm. The company said that one customer base specifically looking to get as much value out of a single pass surface drill is the gold market. Atlas Copco says it has worked together with many gold mining companies to make the drilling process more productive and efficient with the PV-231.
The drill showcases the latest in Atlas Copco technology, while focussing on ways to reduce the total operating costs with features such as the Atlas Copco patented hydraulic wet clutch and its latest version of Autodrill.
Under the theme of The Future of Mining is Now, Atlas Copco has also unveiled a fully autonomous and cab-less Pit Viper 275 blasthole drill. Known as the PV-275 CA( C = cabless and A = autonomous) for now, the drill includes the full suite of Atlas Copco products required to run an autonomous drill. While the PV-275 CA was designed and built as a concept for the MINExpo 2016 show, it is fully operational and the technology on display is identical to the technology that Atlas Copco has been using for years on semi- and fully autonomous drills. At the heart of the autonomous Pit Viper is the Rig Control System( RCS) launched first by Atlas Copco over a decade ago. This CAN-bus system provides the building blocks for a fully autonomous, and now cab-less Pit Viper.
Semi and fully autonomous drills with the operator sitting remotely tend to have higher utilisation than machines with operators in the cab.“ Seeing this, many customers have asked if a cab is necessary with an autonomous drill. As the Atlas Copco autonomous technology continues to demonstrate success and reliability, the question becomes more relevant with the cab being used less. A cab-less drill also shows Atlas Copco’ s clear commitment to the future of automation in blasthole drilling.”
In place of the cab is a terminal with an RCS display, controls, a stool, and a table. At some point during the drill’ s life, some troubleshooting or maintenance will require some operational control from the deck and this terminal accommodates those rare occasions.
The PV-275 CA was designed to have as much commonality with the PV-275 as possible. The location of the terminal wiring makes it simple to select a cab or terminal without sacrificing lead time. This also demonstrates the ease of removing a cab in the field for those who want to transition their own PV-275 to cab-less, fully autonomous operation.
A cabinet within a PV-275 cab houses several RCS components such as the GPS radios, safety system, network hardware, Common Communication Interface data platform( CCI), etc. In the PV-275 CA, these components have all now been moved to a ground level cabinet. The cabinet is lit and easily accessible.
The drill rig at also has other options that are available for the entire Pit Viper series of drills to enable automation such as a safe to board system; high precision GPS system; spinning lasers for obstacle detection; and RF personnel detection system.
Tyler Berens, Product Line Manager, Automation at Atlas Copco Drilling Solutions told IM:“ Atlas Copco continues to place high strategic importance in blasthole drill automation as tangibly shown in our product releases and global projects. Over the last year, we have delivered intelligence systems that were market firsts including a cabless- fully autonomous Pit Viper drill, revolutionary AutoDrill system and a Remote Operations Centre package. At MINExpo 2016, the cabless- Pit Viper debuted to very positive feedback showcasing the fact that autonomous drills are very much real and providing value globally. Additionally, the Remote Operations Centre provides the distant supervisor a complete system to efficiently manage a fleet of autonomous drills. Last December, a completely redesigned AutoDrill system was released that transforms how drilling is accomplished. AutoDrill 2 was designed with two main objectives. To improve drilling performance, and provide a simple and intuitive setup process. The performance transforms the way drilling is accomplished by matching the power of the Pit Viper drill, the capability of the bit, and the intelligence of listening to the ground through patent pending algorithms. Unparalleled hole quality is maintained from collar to cleaning. AutoDrill 2 will ensure high penetration rates without sacrificing bit life, reducing overall drilling cost. In the two years of development, we saw 20-80 % gains in productivity over manned drills and existing AutoDrill systems. We see the Autonomous Pit Viper growth continuing over the coming years as many new projects are underway globally to make autonomous drilling the norm and not the exception. Looking forward, we continue to put new projects in the pipeline and remain focussed on optimising drills in the mining process, increasing safety and lowering TCO.”
Latest on FLANDERS FREEDOM automation
ARDVARC ® is the drill control system from FLANDERS Inc that is compatible with all OEM rotary drills. The company states that it is one of the few systems that allows for complete automation, as opposed to remote control, of the drilling process. After positioning the drill manually or autonomously over the collar using precision GPS, the ARDVARC system levels the machine; collars the hole; drills to the desired bottom-hole elevation; retracts the drill string; and resets the jacks in preparation for moving to the next hole.
ARDVARC has been successfully installed on over 60 drills worldwide and has drilled millions of blast holes in the last ten years. It has provided measured improvement in overall operating costs in coal, copper, iron, platinum, and gold open pit operations. The system was covered in detail in an award winning ISEE paper from January 2017 by Eric Gerst, FLANDERS Global Business Development Specialist, Drill Automation.
Of the available FREEDOM platforms, One- Touch is the most popular option. It requires a driller be on board the machine but controls the entire drill sequence. Drill hole parameters are entered into the system wirelessly and once the driller positions the machine over the hole collar the drilling sequence is started at the touch of a button on the HMI screen or purpose built operator’ s chair.“ ARDVARC offers the only true automated drilling process in the world today. The unique Dynamic Hole Quality Algorithm monitors the drill performance and dynamically adjusts rotation, down pressure, and air pressure each foot of hole drilled to maximise penetration rates, according to geologic conditions.”
The Dynamic Hole Quality Algorithm also clears stuck or clogged bits, finishes the hole, and frees hung drill strings during retraction without intervention from the operator. In addition, each power system on the drill is kept
58 International Mining | APRIL 2017