Sandvik builds drill technology platform
Staff reporter, 21 June 2012
SANDVIK Mining has moved to match the resounding success rival Atlas Copco has been having with its drill rig automation system by introducing a new 3D navigation system for its surface drills.
The TIM3D system, designed for Sandvik Mining’s DPi and DX series surface top hammer drill rigs, uses satellite navigation to guide drill-hole location and angles in accordance with a mine plan.
Sandvik Mining product line support manager for surface drills, Michael Zirbel, said the TIM3D “3D machine automation” improved rig navigation, feed alignment and drilling accuracy and consistency.
“The TIM3D navigation system improves hole quality and hole position accuracy, translating into better fragmentation due to straighter holes, less fines, shot rock and oversize,” he said. “This results in increased efficiency further in the production process, both in crushing and loading and hauling.”
The system also removes the need for surveying and hole marks – and therefore also the risk for marking errors – increasing drilling speed.
TIM3D has a simple, easy-to-use interface, integrating all views into the drill rig control screen, while controls are located in the operator’s armrest. Based on multi-satellite RTK GNSS navigation, TIM3D is compatible with both the US GPS and Russian GLONASS satellite systems, and can use drilling plans made either with standard office-based survey programs or with the system itself.
Drilling plans are imported to the rig with a USB memory in IREDES standard format, containing the target co-ordinates in three dimensions. Local base station or VRS correction ensures drill hole and navigation accuracy is within 100 mm.
“Sandvik Mining’s TIM3D makes the drilling process easier for the operator,” said Zirbel.
“The system compares the actual position of the drill bit with the planned hole position and guides the operator to the correct starting point of the chosen hole.”
During drilling, the operator can follow the penetration rate and hole depth, distance to target, number of required rods and current feed alignment. Once the targeted depth is reached drilling stops automatically. The system also shows the status of the holes with colour codes.
“In addition, TIM3D allows the operator to manually deviate from the drill plan if needed, for example due to a planned starting point that may not be achievable due to terrain, rocks or other physical obstacles,” Zirbel said.
“Despite the change in starting point, the hole bottom remains as planned: the TIM3D system automatically calculates a new course based on the actual starting point of the hole.”
All drilling data – the actual holes drilled, their location, depth and angles – are stored in the system memory,and are transferable to external systems in IREDES format, from where they can be imported to various programs for review.
The data includes a quality report, position and depth of the drilled holes, drilling time, and start and end points.
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