Mining shovel with compositional sensors
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A mining shovel bucket comprising:
- a first side wall;
a second side wall opposite the first side wall;
an upper wall portion;
a first in-cheek sensor positioned on the first side wall and facing towards the second side wall and configured to collect data related to the chemical composition of material contained within the bucket;
at least one down-looking sensor positioned on the upper wall portion and facing an interior of the mining shovel bucket and configured to collect data related to the chemical composition of material contained within the bucket;
a control enclosure mounted relative to the mining shovel bucket; and
a signal processing system housed within the control enclosure and configured to receive the data related to the chemical composition of material contained within the bucket collected by the first in-cheek sensor and the at least one down-looking sensor and at least partially process the data such that the chemical composition of the material is determined locally by the signal processing system.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mining shovel with compositional sensors comprises a bucket having various inward looking sensors positioned throughout the bucket. The bucket can also have disposed thereon a control enclosure that houses processing equipment that receives and analyzes the data collected by the inward looking sensors. The mining shovel with compositional sensors can be used as part of a system to manage a mining field, including generating and transmitting instructions directing where to deposit material located in the bucket based on the data collected from the inward looking sensors positioned in the bucket.
41 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A mining shovel bucket comprising:
-
a first side wall; a second side wall opposite the first side wall; an upper wall portion; a first in-cheek sensor positioned on the first side wall and facing towards the second side wall and configured to collect data related to the chemical composition of material contained within the bucket; at least one down-looking sensor positioned on the upper wall portion and facing an interior of the mining shovel bucket and configured to collect data related to the chemical composition of material contained within the bucket; a control enclosure mounted relative to the mining shovel bucket; and a signal processing system housed within the control enclosure and configured to receive the data related to the chemical composition of material contained within the bucket collected by the first in-cheek sensor and the at least one down-looking sensor and at least partially process the data such that the chemical composition of the material is determined locally by the signal processing system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
6. A method of classifying and sorting mining material comprising:
-
collecting data related to the chemical composition of material contained within a mining shovel bucket by sensing mining material loaded in the mining shovel bucket using at least one in-cheek sensor mounted on a side wall of the mining shovel bucket and at least one down-looking sensor mounted on a top wall portion of the mining shovel bucket; processing the data related to the chemical composition of material contained within the mining shovel bucket using a signal processing system housed within a control housing mounted relative to the mining shovel bucket to thereby identify the composition of the mining material locally at the signal processing system; and providing an output signal to indicate depositing the mining material in a specific location based on the composition of the mining material. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification