Systems and methods for designing a haul road

• US 20090099708A1
• Filed: 10/12/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Inventors: Liu, Yang, Greiner, Jonny Ray, Vyas, Bhavin Jagdishbhai
• Granted Patent: US 8,078,441 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: E21C 41/26 Methods of surface mining machines for obtaining, or the removal of, materials in open-pit mines E21C47/00; Layouts therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A method for designing a haul road based on machine performance comprises receiving one or more haul road parameters and identifying at least one type of machine to be operated on the haul road. The method also includes selecting at least one target operating parameter associated with the at least one type of machine and simulating performance of the at least one type of machine to predict an operating value corresponding with the at least one target operating parameter. If the predicted operating value is not within a threshold range of the corresponding target operating parameter, one or more haul road parameters are adjusted.

Claims

1. A method for designing a haul road based on machine performance, the method comprising:

receiving one or more haul road parameters;

identifying at least one type of machine to be operated on the haul road;

selecting at least one target operating parameter associated with the at least one type of machine;

simulating performance of the at least one type of machine to predict an operating value corresponding with the at least one target operating parameter; and

adjusting the one or more haul road parameters if the predicted operating value is not within a threshold range of the corresponding target operating parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, further including outputting the simulated performance data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more haul road parameters include one or more of a location of a haul road start point, a location of a haul road end point, a haul road grade, and a haul road rolling resistance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes one or more of a fuel consumption level, a route completion time, a component lifespan, a rolling resistance, a total effective grade, an engine speed, or a machine groundspeed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein simulating performance of the at least one type of machine includes:

generating an initial haul road design based on one or more of the initial haul road parameters and the at least one target operating parameter;

simulating performance of the at least one type of machine based on the initial haul road design to predict an operating value corresponding with the at least one target operating parameter; and

generating a second haul road design if the predicted operating value is not within the threshold range of the corresponding target operating parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein simulating performance of the at least one type of machine includes simulating performance of the at least one type of machine based on actual performance data associated with the at least one least one type of machine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein simulating performance of the at least one type of machine includes simulating performance of the at least one type of machine based on design performance data associated with the at least one type of machine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one type of machine to be operated on the haul road includes identifying one or more particular machines to be operated on the haul road.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein simulating performance of the at least one type of machine includes simulating performance of the one or more particular machines based on actual performance data associated with the one or more particular machines.

10. A method for customizing an actual grade of a haul road based on performance data associated with one or more machines to be operated on the haul road, the method comprising:

defining a target operating parameter for the at least one machine;

simulating performance of the at least one machine by varying a total effective grade value associated with the at least one machine to generate a predicted operating value for the target operating parameter based on the simulation;

identifying a total effective grade value that causes the predicted operating value to fall within a threshold range of the target operating parameter;

determining an actual grade associated with the total effective grade value; and

generating a haul road design summary that includes one or more of simulated performance results and actual grade data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes a fuel consumption level.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes a route completion time.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes a lifespan associated with one or more components of the at least one machine.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes a rolling resistance.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes an engine speed.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes a machine groundspeed.

17. A haul route management system, comprising:

an input device configured to;

receive one or more haul road parameters from a subscriber;

receive performance data associated with at least one type of machine to be operated on the haul road;

a performance simulator communicatively coupled to the input device and configured to;

establish a threshold range corresponding to at least one target operating parameter for the at least one type of machine;

generate an initial haul road design based on one or more of the haul road parameters and the at least one target operating parameter;

simulate performance of the at least one type of machine using the haul road design to predict an operating value corresponding with each of the at least one target operating parameter; and

adjust the one or more haul road parameters to produce a second haul road design if the predicted operating value is not within the threshold range of the corresponding target operating parameter.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the performance simulator is further configured to provide one or more of simulated performance results and the adjusted haul road parameters to the subscriber.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more haul road parameters include one or more of a location of a haul road start point, a location of a haul road end point, a haul road grade, and a haul road rolling resistance.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one target operating parameter includes one or more of a fuel consumption level, a route completion time, a component lifespan, a rolling resistance, a total effective grade, an engine speed, or a machine groundspeed.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the performance simulator is further configured to:

simulate performance of the at least one type of machine using the second haul road design; and

update the predicted operating value corresponding with each of the at least one target operating parameter based on the second haul road design.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the performance simulator is configured to simulate performance of the at least one type of machine based on actual performance data associated with the at least one least one type of machine.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the performance simulator is configured to simulate performance of the at least one type of machine based on design performance data associated with the at least one type of machine.