HIGH PROFILE
Solving mining ’ s dusting problem
A new innovation from DustGuard™ Corp is finally tackling mining ' s engine dusting problem head on . Paul Moore caught up with President and CTO Jason Green
Mines everywhere have been trying to sweat their assets – getting the most out of existing fleets . But a big part of this is also minimising unplanned maintenance related downtime . And here there are still wins to be made with new innovations – one of these which is just being commercially launched is the DustGuard™ Active Engine Protection System . Jason Green , President and CTO of newly formed company DustGuard™ Corp told IM it is a “ revolutionary new technology to provide realtime protection against engine damage from dust ingress .”
DustGuard™ analyses engine induction air using real-time optical sensors and smart technologies to identify harmful particles and alerts operators and remote maintenance supervisors of unsafe conditions . It prevents premature engine wear and catastrophic damage and saves operators money by preventing machine downtime and loss of production .
Background to development
But where did the catalyst to develop DustGuard™ come from ? “ Actually dusting , as it is referred to in the mining world , is a major
Engine turbo damage due to dusting industry issue – and is basically a colloquial word covering dirt and dust ingress to engines . We have spoken to numerous potential mining customers about this issue and came to know that for most large surface and underground mines , these types of events were relatively common for haul trucks but also dozer , blasthole drills , loaders , shovels and other units – any machines that are spending a lot of time in dust clouds . A typical number is the loss of one to five engines per year to dusting so equating to millions of dollars of hardware costs not to mention loss of production .”
Green says the way dusting has always been addressed and largely still is either via a simple visual inspection of ductwork , clamps , turbo hoses etc , during preventative maintenance such as during air filter changes . But the main way has been via oil analysis where dusting shows itself as a spike in silica from the engine taking in ambient dust . “ The limitation of these approaches is that by the time you discover it , if it ’ s a serious dust ingress problem then it may already be too late – the damage is already done .” A small dust issue will cause reduced engine life while a major ingress can cause a failure in a matter of hours .
So as an innovative and independent engineering-based company , DustGuard™ thought it could come with a sensor-based fix to identify if combustion air had been compromised and mentioned the project to several mining customers in regions including China , the US , Latin America and Australia . “ The universal reaction we got was that if you can figure the problem out , we ’ ll buy it .” It was clear it was an across-the-board problem for most hard rock mines and currently taken as an acceptable hit to lose a certain number of engines per year due to dusting as a ‘ cost of doing business .’
Launch installation on 930E truck at surface mine in Wyoming
So why is it not something being addressed by the mining truck or mining engine OEMs ? “ The OEM focus has been on optimising air filtration technologies and engineering more robust induction air systems to assure a clean air supply to their engines . But once these machines are operating in the mining environment , issues can and do arise from both damage to induction system components as well as human error during maintenance procedures .”
Today , attitudes are changing – mines are all about sustainability , efficiency audits and saving every dollar from improved practices including those related to maintenance such as real time analytics with preventative maintenance telematics and the like . All to keep machines running longer .
Lastly on the market – who is the customer for DustGuard™ ? “ It could be the mine itself , the contractor , or the local service company . Also , mining is not the only potential market – the development has started in mining but versions are also going to made available to machinery with engines operating in other challenging environments including agriculture , electrical power generation , forestry , construction , waste recycling and smelting . Some of these will need different versions as they are using smaller horsepower engines .”
The problem and the technology solution
Silicon dioxide ( SiO 2 ) is one of the hardest minerals found in nature . The ingestion of small amounts of SiO 2 particles can cause rapid engine wear and damage as the particles are harder than typical engine metals . Severe mining operating environments can have dust that is up to 70 % SiO 2 . Particles in the range of 2 to 22 microns
10 International Mining | OCTOBER 2021