Mining intelligence

JoyConnect highlights:

• Works on all room and pillar equipment
• Sends equipment operational data for analysis

JoyConnect can be fitted to all equipment within a room and pillar mining section. The system allows for machine productivity-related data to be gathered from haulage equipment, roof bolters, feeder breakers, and section conveyors.

Information such as voltages, currents, temperatures, pressures, and flows, as well as some operational information, can be gathered from the system. The data is transferred to the surface, where it is analyzed and transformed into useful information. 

System overview

The Longwall 3D Visualizer is a high-fidelity 3D graphics system which will allow the user to virtually navigate the complete longwall face while the system is in production. This is not a 3D Simulator. The 3D Visualizer augments the longwall equipment and utilizes live data from the equipment underground to show equipment operation in real-time. Major visualized system components include: powered roof supports (PRS), armored face conveyor (AFC), stage loader (BSL), crusher, bootend/tailpiece and shearer. Along with the various pieces of equipment, the visualizer will also include views of the main gate and tail gate ends.

Mine personnel and executives will have remote access to the longwall operation through portable devices giving them unprecedented abilities to monitor the system at any time.

Collecting the data (communications)

Each of the longwall shearer, PRS, and AFC control system utilizes the Faceboss control system to manage critical machine functions and interface with various control modules on the longwall face. The Faceboss control systems communicate with each other and the other longwall control systems through redundant high-speed fiber and wireless communication networks. The typical data collected from each machine includes at least:

Shearer

• Current position on the face
• Haulage direction and speed
• Vertical height of each cutting drum
• Position of each cowl blade
• Pitch and roll angle of the chassis
• Elevation of the shearer

PRS

• Roof support advance position
• Position of each sprag
• Pitch and roll angle of each support
• Pitch and roll angle of each support for the base

AFC

• Power usage and load sharing
• AFC and BSL chain tension control
• TTT/VFD operation
• BSL and crusher status
• Tailpiece status

Visualization of the data

An easy to use interface will allow customized views of the longwall system from any angle. The visualizer tool provides the ability to select specific data points on key pieces of equipment and have them displayed in real time. The interface is customizable to meet the specific needs of the user. Data points are color coded by function and can be organized on the visualizer. This will allow system operators to make better informed decisions improving the overall productivity of the system.

Complete equipment customization

The longwall visualization tool uses the same CAD modeling data that was used to design and manufacture your original equipment to fully replicate the equipment operating in your mine. This will allow operators to rapidly become familiar with key components and operation of the longwall.

Training tool

Longwall visualization also allows for mining companies to provide training to operators in a safe environment that fully visualizes and enhances in 3D the equipment and conditions in which they will be working. Trainees get exposure to the complexities in the operation of the various systems without any impact on productivity or damage to equipment, resulting in trainees who are better prepared to make decisions in an operating environment.

Record and playback ability

The visualization system offers full record and play back capabilities in 3D allowing operators to review and analyze historical data in order to improve productivity and help identify best practices. This replay feature allows the user to select a specific date and time range to replay.

Interface/compatibility with proximity detection

Our longwall visualization system is fully compatible with our longwall proximity detection system allowing system users to not only see the equipment in operation but the location of the operators as well.

Payload 2 highlights

• Maximize truck load without overfilling
• Reduce shovel and truck structural damage and maintenance caused by overloads
• Reduce risk of dangerous, costly spillage on haul roads
• Save production time with automatic calibration
• Get all onboard information on one integrated GUI screen
• Maintain usability in case of primary sensor loss with the backup load estimator

Help your shovel operators hit the truck’s target load every time

Payload 2 is a highly accurate, real-time dipper load weighing system that helps your operators maximize truck load without overfilling. Every truck has its own optimal target load at which you minimize cost and maximize profit. Overloading trucks can be costly due to increased maintenance, early tire failure, increased fuel consumption, spillage, or even rejected loads. On the other hand, underloading trucks severely undermines your productivity. By upgrading your shovel to include Payload 2, you give your operator access to both the dipper load and the current truck load (normally within 5% or better of a scale measurement). When your operator hits the target load every time, you maximize productivity while decreasing the likelihood of structural damage caused by overloading.

Key production metric tracking

Payload 2 supplies the operator and Remote Health Monitor with much more than just the current material weight. It also includes:

• Current and previous dipper payload
• Trended dipper payloads
• Current truck loading time
• Current deviation from target
• Current truck accumulated load
• Current cycle time
• Swing angle
• Total tons this shift
• Tons per hour of operation this shift
• Average truck loading time this shift
• Average truck tons this shift
• Average cycle time this shift

Integrates with Remote Health Monitor

Payload 2 can be integrated with the Komatsu Remote Health Monitor (RHM) to further enhance your ability to optimize loading and manage assets.

Available as an upgrade on P&H electric mining shovels with updated Centurion control system and standard on all 4800XPC shovels. Note that a system audit will be conducted on any field shovel receiving this as a retrofit to verify compatibility.

PreVail remote health monitoring highlights

• Provides timely, efficient machine health and performance knowledge
• Recognizes familiar patterns and deviations from normal control limits
• Makes connections between what is happening and what has occurred before
• Enables you to identify and carry out the right actions at the right times to increase asset utilization, efficiency, and production

Overview

The mining industry is highly innovative in its quest for greater efficiency and safety. And your P&H equipment plays a key role in that quest. Keeping equipment up and running at high reliability and productivity levels is a key factor to sustaining good cost control and profit growth.

The PreVail remote health management (RHM) technology provides your operations and maintenance teams with timely, efficient machine health and performance knowledge. With that knowledge, your teams can focus on optimizing production as well as applying strategies for reliability-centered maintenance. The result is a focused drive towards greater levels of reliability, productivity, and profitability.

Critical indicators monitoring

The PreVail RHM monitors, 24/7, key machine health factors that have the potential to cause costly interruptions or instant and delayed shutdowns, including:

• Main power supplied via high-voltage trail cable
• Motor bearing thermal data
• Brakes analytics
• Dig attachment handle crowd belt tension

Reports and dashboards

The PreVail RHM system taps into the powerful communication, command, and control capabilities of the equipment’s electrical control system, transforming the data it produces into more refined knowledge, including key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards, graphical analysis tools, predictive modeling, and reporting tools. The productivity and reliability information includes:

• Fleet productivity (status, utilization): helps you identify equipment performing less than optimally for corrective action
• Utilization analysis: shows which units are operating, non-operating, or fault sidelined
• Mean time between shutdown analysis: provides reliability benchmarks to identify units requiring increased availability
• Runtime distribution analysis: reveals equipment with lower runtime hours for corrective action, leading to increased availability
• Filtered outage / sub-system analysis: identifies faults and systems requiring corrective action, leading to increased availability
• Filtered outage list: provides analysis of faults using parameters such as parent-child faults by severity or faults liked to operator for faster root-cause findings and more uptime
• System warnings analysis: points to patterns, highlighting potential failure modes
• Alert management: expedites communication of fault alerts by severity for faster response, issue resolution, and more uptime
• Load distribution (load count, average payload, under-loaded count, and over-loaded count): identifies operators who can benefit from making adjustments to operating techniques
• Cycle time performance (average cycle time, dig time, swing time, tuck time, and swing angle): increases productivity by identifying training needs for inexperienced operators
• Operating practices analysis: shows instances and severity of motor stalls, boom jacks, and swing impacts
• Fuel burn visualization: correlates the industry’s lowest wheel loader fuel burn advantage to the tonnage moved
• Mobility analysis: tracks tons-per-hour moved over the percentage of time in propel
• Detailed hole summary: provides details about what occurred while drilling a hole to better plan and execute blast plans, such as final depth, drilling time, and specific energy
• Mobile device alert notifications: contains complete fault information, sent to your mobile communication device to expedite awareness that a fault has occurred

How the system works

1. PreVail RHM uses condition-based equipment monitoring (CBEM) modules to detect certain system data trends that deviate from normal control limits.
2. When real-time data collection and analysis reveals a system data anomaly, the CBEM model recognizes this development and its potential impact on the machine health. It responds by issuing a first-snapshot notification (FSN) to the nearest Komatsu support office.
3. Our prognostic and health monitoring personnel act upon the FSN by checking, interpreting, and verifying the development. They then issue a work order to launch corrective action.

We support several hundred PreVail-monitored machines in service worldwide. Therefore, PreVail RHM systems analysts are able to use this substantial and growing knowledge base to detect and analyse issues with greater speed and accuracy.

In addition, we are investing in an expanded base of prognostic and health monitoring centers worldwide, enabling us to provide you with consistently better machine monitoring, reliability, and productivity. 

Universal shovel interface highlights

• Sends and receives data to and from mine management software
• Compatible with Modular^TM, Jigsaw^TM, and Wenco^TM systems

Overview

Our universal shovel interface works with any P&H shovel equipped with the Centurion electrical control to allow the sending and receiving of data with mine management software. The interface is compatible with Modular^TM, Jigsaw^TM, and Wenco^TM systems.

The interface offers the following benefits:

• Reduces operations cost: quickly integrates the information needed from the shovel, including payload weights, into the customer’s preferred mine management system
• Improved operation data: enables production personnel to use payload and cycle time information to improve operator efficiencies and increase productivity
• Key performance indicators: incorporates key performance indicators into fleet management software for real-time analysis and decision making

The information that is shared back and forth includes:

• Centurion data provided to the shovel interface
  • Shovel faults
  • Payload data, including cycle times and payloads
  • Propel start/stop
• Mine management data provided to the Centurion system
  • Truck information, including capacity, truck ID/model, and material code
  • GPS location
  • Delay codes

With this information, the payload can be configured to match the specific loading conditions of the mine.

The universal shovel interface is just one example of how we are working with third-party software providers to support you with tools that allow you to operate more efficiently and productively.