SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REMOTE MONITORING OF DRILLING EQUIPMENT

• US 20130197737A1
• Filed: 01/30/2013
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joy Global Surface Mining Inc. (Mitsui & Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Harnischfeger Technologies Inc. (Mitsui & Company Limited)
• Inventors: Rikkola, Michael J., Malayappalayam Shanmugam, Saravana Manickam
• Granted Patent: US 9,657,567 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 3/30 with a dipper-arm pivoted on a cantilever beam , i.e. boom
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 3/46 with reciprocating digging or scraping elements moved by cables or hoisting ropes ; Drives or control devices therefor E02F3/205, E02F3/905 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/264 Sensors and their calibration for indicating the position of the work tool
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/267 Diagnosing or detecting failure of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 44/00 Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions
• CPC Class Codes: E21C 47/00 Machines for obtaining or the removal of materials in open-pit mines obtaining peat E21C49/00
• CPC Class Codes: E21F 17/18 Special adaptations of signalling or alarm devices for mine lifts B66B; gas-sensitive devices per se G01N
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A system and method for capturing information related to mining machine performance and making the information accessible to remote maintenance staff. The information can be used to generate alarms, determine a state of the machine, determine performance statistics for the machine, and identify problems with the machine that may require attention. The information can be provided in a state message and the data can be packaged as XML data or in a string format. The data associated with a message can be particular to the current state or context of the mining machine. That is, in the case of a rope shovel, different data may be included in a message generated in a swing state versus a message generated in a tuck state. In some instances, a message is generated when progress thresholds are satisfied, such as for each foot of drilling performed by a mining drill.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a mining machine, the method comprising:

determining that the mining machine is operating in a first operation state of a plurality of defined operation states of the mining machine;

detecting a transition of the mining machine from the first operation state to a second operation state of the plurality of defined operation states;

monitoring mining machine parameters of the mining machine;

generating a state exit message indicating an end of the first operation state, wherein the state exit message includes a first set of the mining machine parameters associated with the first operation state; and

generating a state start message indicating a start of the second operation state, wherein the state start message includes a second set of the mining machine parameters associated with the second operation state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the state exit message includes structuring the first set of the mining machine parameters as markup language data, and generating the state start message includes structuring the second set of the mining machine parameters as markup language data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation state is one of a jacks-up state, propel state, level state, jacks-down state, pre-drill state, drill state, and retract state, and the second operation state is a different one of the jacks-up state, propel state, level state, jacks-down state, pre-drill state, drill state, and retract state.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation state is one of a dig state, swing state, and tuck state, and the second operation state is a different one of the dig state, swing state, and tuck state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mining machine is one of a drill, a rope shovel, dragline, wheel loader and dozer, conveyor, continuous miner, longwall shearer, longwall mining roof support, shuttle car, flexible conveyor train, and mobile mining crusher.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mining machine is a drill, the method further comprising generating a plurality of drill context messages while drilling a hole with the drill, each drill context message being generated based on a depth of the drill in the hole.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mining machine is a drill, the method further comprising:

drilling a hole with the drill;

monitoring progress of the drill in drilling the hole;

determining when the drill reaches a plurality of progress thresholds while drilling the hole; and

generating a drill context message each time the drill is determined to reach one of the progress thresholds.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the drill context message includes values for a third set of the mining machine parameters associated with a drilling context.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing calculations, with a pre-processor on the mining machine, on a series of data values collected over a period of time for a parameter of the mining machine parameters, the calculations generating calculated data;

generating a processed-data message including the calculated data; and

outputting the processed-data message to a remote device via a network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the calculations include at least one of an average computation, maximum determination, minimum determination, root mean squared (RMS) calculation, and a Fourier transform.

11. A mining machine monitor for monitoring a mining machine, the mining machine monitor comprising:

a monitoring module that monitors mining machine parameters of the mining machine;

a state machine module that

determines that the mining machine is operating in a first operation state of a plurality of defined operation states of the mining machine, and

detects a transition of the mining machine from the first operation state to a second operation state of the plurality of defined operation states; and

a message generating module that

generates a state exit message indicating an end of the first operation state, wherein the state exit message includes a first set of the mining machine parameters associated with the first operation state, and

generates a state start message indicating a start of the second operation state, wherein the state start message includes a second set of the mining machine parameters associated with the second operation state.

12. The mining machine monitor of claim 11, wherein the state exit message includes the first set of the mining machine parameters structured as one of markup language data and string data.

13. The mining machine monitor of claim 11, wherein the first operation state is one of a jacks-up state, propel state, level state, jacks-down state, pre-drill state, drill state, and retract state, and the second operation state is a different one of the jacks-up state, propel state, level state, jacks-down state, pre-drill state, drill state, and retract state.

14. The mining machine monitor of claim 11, wherein the first operation state is one of a dig state, swing state, and tuck state, and the second operation state is a different one of the dig state, swing state, and tuck state.

15. The mining machine monitor of claim 11, wherein the mining machine is one of a drill, a rope shovel, dragline, wheel loader and dozer, conveyor, continuous miner, longwall shearer, longwall mining roof support, shuttle car, flexible conveyor train, and mobile mining crusher.

16. The mining machine monitor of claim 11, wherein the mining machine is a drill and the message generating module further generates a plurality of drill context messages while drilling a hole with the drill, each drill context message being generated based on a depth of the drill in the hole.

17. The mining machine monitor of claim 11, wherein the mining machine is a drill and the message generating module further:

drills a hole with the drill;

monitors progress of the drill in drilling the hole;

determines when the drill reaches a plurality of progress thresholds while drilling the hole; and

generates a drill context message each time the drill is determined to reach one of the progress thresholds.

18. The mining machine monitor of claim 17, wherein the drill context message includes values for a third set of the mining machine parameters associated with a drilling context.

19. The mining machine monitor of claim 11, further comprising a pre-processor on the mining machine, the pre-processor

performing calculations on a series of data values collected over a period of time for a parameter of the mining machine parameters, the calculations generating calculated data;

generating a processed-data message including the calculated data; and

outputting the processed-data message to a remote device via a network.

20. The mining machine monitor of claim 19, wherein the calculations include at least one of an average computation, maximum determination, minimum determination, root mean squared (RMS) calculation, and a Fourier transform.

21. A method of monitoring a mining drill, the method comprising:

drilling a hole with the mining drill;

monitoring mining machine parameters of the mining drill;

determining when the mining drill reaches a plurality of progress thresholds while drilling the hole, each progress threshold representing a depth of the hole; and

generating a drill context message each time the mining drill is determined to reach one of the progress thresholds, the drill context message including a first set of the mining machine parameters associated with the mining drill.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the drill context message includes the first set of the mining machine parameters structured as one of markup language data and string data.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the first set of the mining machine parameters includes at least one of the depth of the hole, pull down force, rotational speed of a drill bit of the mining drill, torque of the drill bit, rate of penetration of the drill bit, weight on the drill bit, air pressure of the drill bit, feed rate, horizontal vibration, and vertical vibration.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining that the mining drill has completed drilling the hole; and

generating a hole end message indicating that the hole has been drilled, wherein the hole end message includes a second set of the mining machine parameters different than the first set of the mining machine parameters.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining that the mining drill is operating in a new operation state; and

generating a state start message indicating a start of the new operation state, wherein the state start message includes third set of the mining machine parameters associated with the new operation state.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

performing calculations, with a pre-processor on the mining drill, on a series of data values collected over a period of time for a parameter of the mining machine parameters, the calculations generating calculated data;

generating a processed-data message including the calculated data; and

outputting the processed-data message to a remote device via a network.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the calculations include at least one of an average computation, maximum determination, minimum determination, root mean squared (RMS) calculation, and a Fourier transform.

28. A mining machine monitor for monitoring a mining drill, the mining machine monitor comprising:

a monitoring module that monitors mining machine parameters of the mining drill;

a state machine module that determines that the mining drill is operating in a drill state; and

a message generating module that

monitors progress of the mining drill in drilling the hole,

determines when the mining drill reaches a plurality of progress thresholds while drilling the hole, each progress threshold representing a depth of the hole, and

generates a drill context message each time the mining drill is determined to reach one of the progress thresholds, the drill context message including a first set of the mining machine parameters associated with the mining drill.

29. The mining machine monitor of claim 28, wherein the drill context message includes the first set of the mining machine parameters structured as one of markup language data and string data.

30. The mining machine monitor of claim 28, wherein the first set of the mining machine parameters includes at least one of the depth of the hole, pull down force, rotational speed of a drill bit of the mining drill, torque of the drill bit, rate of penetration of the drill bit, weight on the drill bit, air pressure of the drill bit, feed rate, horizontal vibration, and vertical vibration.

31. The mining machine monitor of claim 28, wherein

the state machine module determines that the mining drill has completed drilling the hole;

and

the message generating module generates a hole end message indicating that the hole has been drilled, wherein the hole end message includes a second set of the mining machine parameters different than the first set of the mining machine parameters.

32. The mining machine monitor of claim 28, wherein

the state machine module determines that the mining drill is operating in a new operation state;

and

the message generating module generates a state start message indicating a start of the new operation state, wherein the state start message includes a third set of the mining machine parameters associated with the new operation state.

33. The mining machine monitor of claim 28, further comprising a pre-processor on the mining machine, the pre-processor

performing calculations on a series of data values collected over a period of time for a parameter of the mining machine parameters, the calculations generating calculated data;

generating a processed-data message including the calculated data; and

outputting the processed-data message to a remote device via a network.

34. The mining machine monitor of claim 33, wherein the calculations include at least one of an average computation, maximum determination, minimum determination, root mean squared (RMS) calculation, and a Fourier transform.

35. A method of monitoring a mining machine, the method comprising:

monitoring mining machine parameters of the mining machine;

determining that the mining machine is operating in a first operation state of a plurality of defined operation states of the mining machine;

generating a first state message indicating the first operation state and including a first set of the mining machine parameters associated with the first operation state;

determining that the mining machine is operating in a second operation state of the plurality of defined operation states; and

generating a second state message indicating the second operation state and including a second set of the mining machine parameters associated with the second operation state.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

detecting a state transition from the first operation state to the second operation state; and

,

in response, generating a third state message indicating the second operation state and including a third set of mining machine parameters associated with the state transition.

37. A mining machine monitor for monitoring a mining machine, the mining machine monitor comprising:

a monitoring module that monitors mining machine parameters of the mining machine;

a state machine module that

determines that the mining machine is operating in a first operation state of a plurality of defined operation states of the mining machine, and

later determines that the mining machine is operating in a second operation state of the plurality of defined operation states;

a message generating module that

generates a first state message indicating the first operation state and including a first set of the mining machine parameters associated with the first operation state, and

generates a second state message indicating the second operation state and including a second set of the mining machine parameters associated with the second operation state.

38. The mining machine monitor of claim 37, wherein

the state machine module further detects a state transition from the first operation state to the second operation state;

and,

in response, the message generating module generates a third state message indicating the second operation state and including a third set of mining machine parameters associated with the state transition.