Engineering & Mining Journal

JUN 2012

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HAULAGE ETF, combined with 950-mm of suspen- sion travel, almost completely eliminates the chassis torsion and sudden tire over- loads experienced by conventional haulers when operating on uneven surfaces. ETF said it has developed a unique steering system in which all wheels are steered when operating at low to medium speeds, while at higher speeds the last two axle units gradually lock in position for bet- ter stability. Also unique is the company's claim that each of its mine trucks can be joined in a 'Haul Train' in which two, three, four or the typical mine-site haulage and support fleet to include property-wide traffic situa- tions such as employee transport routes, for example. In a recent application of SAFEmine technology at Hecla's Greens Creek mine on Admiralty Island, Alaska, the company needed a way to augment its existing radio call-out procedures to increase driver awareness of approaching traffic and improve safety on a 19-km-long, single- lane access road that is used by employees traveling to and from the mine, as well as ore haulage and freight trucks. System requirements included the ability to alert drivers to an approaching vehicle beyond line-of-sight and as far away as 300 m in order to provide time to react. No data com- munications infrastructure was available along the road, thus requiring the use of peer-to-peer notification between vehicles. The SAFEmine system selected provid- ed two main functions: traffic awareness that shows where other vehicles are locat- ed; and collision warning that predicts if the paths of two or more vehicles will con- verge, resulting in audible and visual warnings to the driver(s) causing the dan- gerous situation. To provide advance notice of another vehicle ahead, SAFEmine also enabled voice announcements. At a preset detec- tion distance of 300 m, an announcement is given in the cab indicating the type of vehicle that is approaching. LED indicators show the position of the other vehicle and indicate distance by changing color: green for 300-100 m, red for 100-10 m, and flashing red closer than 10 m. Because vehicle speed control along the access road is critical to safety, the system also pro- vides audible and visual alarms to drivers when speed limits are exceeded. "Geo-fences" or zones are implement- ed to allow different alarming schemes in 86 E&MJ; • JUNE 2012 more individual trucks are linked together by steel arms carrying an enclosed armored data cable. Only one driver is required to control a train, as data from the lead, oper- ator-driven truck is transmitted via the cable link to the following trucks, control- ling engine power, steering direction and brakes. When arriving at the dump point, each unit in the train can be unloaded indi- vidually or all can be dumped simultane- ously, either to the left or right. It should be noted that the company was unable or unwilling to provide a pho- tograph of an actual truck for this article; particular areas. For instance, voice and collision alarms are not activated near the mine maintenance shop due to the pres- ence of numerous vehicles in this area; however, traffic awareness indicators func- tion the same in all areas. Portable Protection Optalert Ltd., a company based in Melbourne, Australia, has developed a fatigue detection and alerting system for drivers that employs a unique set of driving glasses. Optalert's system uses infra-red light to measures a driver's levels of alert- ness continuously in real time. The glass- es—connected to a small computer processor in the vehicle—emit and detect low levels of infrared light to sense move- ments in the eyes and eyelids. Data regard- ing these movements are fed into the com- puter, which calculates a driver's level of drowsiness. The system sounds an alarm when eye and lid movements indicate the driver is becoming drowsy. to date, it appears that all depictions of the units released to the public have been computer generated. And, it remains to be seen whether any units actually enter reg- ular service or if the concept itself gains traction with mine operators used to a completely different technology and busi- ness model. Nevertheless, the company should be credited for distilling the fea- tures, functions and accessories that would likely appear on the most fanciful haulage wish-lists of OEMs, owners and operators into what appears to be a plau- sible design concept. Optalert recently demonstrated the product at the port of Bunbury, Western Australia, where haulage and logistics con- tractor Bis Industries delivers copper con- centrate by truck 150 km from a customer inland. The latest version of the product, according to Optalert, is fully portable, pro- viding the ability to switch the unit between vehicles while the driver still retains his own uniquely calibrated glass- es. The system's processor, modem, repeater and speaker are packaged in one compact case. "With soft or hard mount options avail- able, users now have the choice of whether they want the system temporarily connected to the vehicle or hard mounted via a permanent base. The install time is now also significantly reduced, improving vehicle down time during installation," said Optalert Managing Director John Prendergast. Optalert monitors driver-fatigue signs. Portability allows the fatigue risk-reduc- tion capability of the system to be extend- ed beyond the workplace. "Many of our customers are very concerned about the journey home for their drivers. That drive home, which can be anywhere up to two hours for some operators, has been risky for tired drivers who've just completed a long and grueling shift, often at night. The Portable System allows the driver to gain direct feedback on their alertness levels, up to half an hour before the driver feels any drowsiness," said Prendergast. The company also recently updated its Fatigue Risk Profiler, a tool to help man- agers and drivers understand the com- plexity of drowsiness by accurately meas- uring and displaying a driver's alertness score and then translating that as an impact on safety across the mine site. The updated profiler, according to Optalert, resulted from work carried out for the Australian military. www.e-mj.com

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