MINING AUTOMATION
Control mastery
Paul Moore spoke to Ryan Noden , Business Development Manager – Mining at RCT about its place in the industry as one of the world ’ s leading suppliers of underground and increasingly surface autonomous mining technology centred on its ControlMaster ® offering transition to another piece of equipment and complete a cycle of work in another location . Today transitioning autonomy from one area to another to get the productivity benefits is much quicker and simpler than it was . I would say there has also been a new maturity from mines in understanding what is possible .
Q Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your business model in terms of how you manage your automation technology mining customers worldwide ? A Given the current difficulty mobilising technicians to many of our customer sites around the world , we have put significant investment into what we call our operational technology team . This team is facilitating remote desktop support , for example coming into a client ’ s network and being able to diagnose system issues affecting the operation of their fleet . In addition , this team provides technical oversight to the engineering and maintenance team to enable them to conduct any necessary refinements and repairs . This approach has been widely adopted in the environments we are operating in presently . Our customers understand the situation and accept this kind of support model today , utilising their own technicians to carry out work with our guidance . That aside , RCT does have a significant global presence on the ground now through our branch network . We have operations in all of the major mining jurisdictions with full service centres , sales , parts and specialist engineers in those locations .
Q What type of automation approach are customers taking in today ’ s mining industry ? Is it more a case today of using automation where it fits best in productivity terms rather than trying to automate everything from the outset ? A What we are seeing particularly in the WA market is that our clients are looking to do more from fewer resources . This is being driven in part by skill shortages , allowing the mine to utilise their existing workforce better and do more with their fleet through technology . We have been able to facilitate this through the provision of our Multiple Machine Control solution . This gives one operator the ability to control up to three machines at one time . We have also seen more focus on the digitalisation of the mining environment , allowing a mine to control a piece of autonomous equipment and complete a cycle of work and then quickly
Q Is LTE coming underground in Australia and will that improve things further ? A We are seeing some customers trial LTE technology underground and we have already integrated with LTE for some surface applications . Some are adopting it underground to leverage legacy infrastructure within the mine – being able to put the LTE over legacy infrastructure to help reduce cost and provide a mine-wide network in a more straightforward and costeffective way . However , LTE is not a fix all and does not suit all applications . Many are still opting for 802.11 wireless access points as the best option for them .
Q RCT has won a lot of autonomy retrofit contracts on both new and older machines over and above OEM options – what is your value proposition that has allowed you to win these tenders ? A Primarily , our value proposition is based around our interoperable platform , as well as providing a scalable solution , allowing miners to leverage the technology of today but also providing a roadmap to the “ over the horizon ” in terms of what they may need going forward . We have done our best to design a platform that facilitates a continual upgrade path as technology , features and functionality evolve . Our technology , unlike some other systems has been based on edge-based processing – so on board the machine , which means that the RCT system can operate over a lower bandwidth . If we are introducing ControlMaster ® technology into a mine , which has existing communications infrastructure that is not the latest , we have the ability to configure our system to enable it to work effectively at a lower bandwidth and we have proven this many times . RCT has always designed its systems to be easy to use and fit for the application in which it is working and quickly and simply deployed for use without having to have a long phase in period with specialist ’ s onsite . RCT comprehensive training packages also allow clients to quickly “ own ” our solution and be able to manage it themselves but leverage our support if , and when required . devices that are used to run simulations before and after actual devices are built and deployed – are being used to enable real time supervision , planning , automated reporting and simulation of stockyards , paving the way for fully autonomous operations .
“ Thanks to the industrial internet of things , digital twins have access to vast data sets on the real time status , working condition and location of machines and processes around the stockyard . Gathered by smart components and state-of-the-art software , this data is combined with virtual versions of the machines and their facilities and is used to make informed decisions that optimise performance . ABB Ability™ Stockyard Management System ( SYMS ) is a configurable system that can be used to provide a digital twin of a facility ’ s complete material handling chain . SYMS provides information regarding handled materials , verification of data , and industry-leading support to enable operators to streamline production .”
ABB ’ s advanced digital service , ABB Ability™ Condition Monitoring for belts is designed to mitigate lost time in mines and processing plants by moving to an automated and continuous predictive maintenance schedule , moving away from time-based preventative measures . “ It can offer a complete real time overview of speed , misalignment , damage , thickness and wear , slippage and temperature of conveyor belts . Operators using the service can more accurately anticipate maintenance , avoid unplanned downtime , improve belt reliability and lengthen conveyor belt lifetime .”
For mining companies , it means the ability to more accurately conduct planned maintenance shutdowns , spending their OPEX when it is definitely needed rather than at regular intervals and avoiding costly failures than might normally happen between physical inspections . For personnel , they can also be removed from
potentially hazardous environments based on sensor data .
The technology is based on sensors installed at strategic points within the conveyor belt equipment and data received is displayed on easy access and informative dashboards . Fault trend analysis , event alarms , data logs and reports can all be visualised . Data can be relied on as it comes from equipment able to withstand harsh mining environments . ABB can integrate this service with other digital and automation solutions depending on customer needs or issues .
Hillal also talked about human-machine interfaces ( HMIs ). “ Across process industries as a whole , 40 percent of preventable unscheduled downtime is still caused by human error . Humanmachine interfaces ( HMIs ) are meant to act as data hubs that offer a holistic view of the mine , yet operators often remain dependent on outdated and overly complex HMIs . ABB
74 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2021