Dynamic Working Area

• US 20130332875A1
• Filed: 06/06/2013
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sandvik Mining and Construction OY (Sandvik AB)
• Original Assignee: Sandvik Mining and Construction OY (Sandvik AB)
• Inventors: Heikkila, Tommi, Lassila, Juha, Suvanen, Henri
• Granted Patent: US 11,379,096 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/022 Control of the drilling operation; Hydraulic or pneumatic means for activation or operation control circuits for drilling masts E21B15/045
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/025 Rock drills, i.e. jumbo drills
• CPC Class Codes: E21D 9/006 by making use of blasting methods explosive compositions C06B; blasting per se F42
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

Abstract

A method for defining a working area of a rock drilling rig including the steps of determining at least one current input parameter, determining a working area that defines a reach of the drilling unit in a control unit on the basis of the at least one current input parameter and at least one fixed reach parameter, displaying a graphical representation of the working area on a display, and re-determining the working area and updating the graphical representation of the working area dynamically in response to a change in the input parameters. The current input parameter may be, for example, an orientation of the rock drilling rig or a hole parameter.

Claims

1. A method for defining a working area of a rock drilling rig, the rock drilling rig including a movable carrier;

at least one boom pivoted to the carrier;

a drilling unit arranged on the boom;

at least one control unit and at least one display device connected to the control unit, the method comprising the steps of;

determining at least one of the following current input parameters;

an orientation of the rock drilling rig and a hole parameter;

determining a working area that defines a reach of the drilling unit in the control unit on the basis of said at least one current input parameter and at least one fixed reach parameter;

displaying a graphical representation of said working area on the display; and

re-determining said working area and updating said graphical representation of said working area dynamically in response to a change in said at least one current input parameter, wherein the at least one display is configured to display the working area by indicating one or more holes that can be drilled from a current position of the rock drilling rig.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the position of the rock drilling rig and using it as a further input parameter for determining said working area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one hole parameter comprises at least one of the following:

a hole inclination, a hole direction and a hole position; and

wherein the working area is displayed by indicating one or more holes that can be drilled from a current position without moving the rock drilling rig.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing a kinematic model of a boom as a fixed reach parameter, the kinematic model including information of at least the dimensions, joints and movement ranges of the joints of the boom that affects its reach, and using the kinematic model information as a basis for determining said working area.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the movement range of at least one joint of the boom and using the movement range as the at least one fixed reach parameter for determining said working area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the drilling unit comprises at least one rock drilling machine and a tool, and further comprising the step of determining the orientation of the tool and using it as a current input parameter for determining said working area, wherein said graphical representation of said working area comprises displaying the position of the tool in relation to the working area.

8. The arrangement of claim 6, further comprising means for storing a kinematic model of a boom as a fixed reach parameter, the kinematic model including at least the dimensions, joints and movement ranges of the joints of the boom that affects its reach, and using the kinematic model information as a basis for determining said working area.

7. An arrangement for a rock drilling rig, the arrangement comprising

means for determining at least one of the following current input parameters:

an orientation of the rock drilling rig and a hole parameter;

at least one control unit configured to determine a working area defining a reach of the drilling unit in the control unit on the basis of said at least one current input parameter and at least one fixed reach parameter and to re-determine said working area and to update said graphical representation of said working area dynamically in response to a change in said at least one current input parameter; and

at least one display configured to display said working area of the rock drilling rig as a graphical representation, wherein the at least one display is configured to display the working area by indicating one or more holes that can be drilled from a current position of the rock drilling rig.

9. The arrangement of claim 7, wherein the drilling unit includes at least one rock drilling machine and a tool, wherein the arrangement further comprises means for determining the orientation of the tool and using it as a current input parameter for determining said working area;

and wherein the display is configured to display said graphical representation of said working area by displaying the position of the tool in relation to the working area.

10. The arrangement of claim 7, wherein the at least one hole parameter comprises at least one of the following:

a hole inclination, a hole direction and a hole position.

11. The arrangement of claim 7, wherein the means for determining the orientation of the rock drilling rig comprise at least one of the following:

an inclination sensor, an angle sensor and/or a linear movement sensor.

12. The arrangement of claim 7, wherein at least one of the control unit and the display is located remotely from the rock drilling rig.

13. A user interface of a rock drilling rig comprising at least one display, wherein the display is configured to display a working area of a rock drilling rig as a graphical representation determined on the basis of at least one of the following current input parameters:

an orientation of the rock drilling rig and a hole parameter, and to update said graphical representation of said working area dynamically in response to a change in said at least one current input parameter.