How IoT/Sat technology optimizes mining efficiency
March, 11 2021
The challenge of white zones in the mining sector
Several of our mining operator clients wish to implement predictive maintenance, in order to reduce its operational costs. One of them is located on a copper mine site in Chile and as the site is located at high altitude and in an area without network coverage, the IoT/Sat solution is the most adapted to digitalize mining operations.
The priority is to plan the maintenance operations of the electric cable excavator. Initially carried out every two months by an external service provider, it requires the total shutdown of the worksite for 48 hours, representing a loss of production (1 to 3 million dollars per day).
As many sites are located in white zones, it is not possible to manage the fleet of vehicles and monitor the equipment by analyzing essential data such as the routes, fuel consumption, tire condition, maintenance alerts, etc…
At last, to comply with the current regulations, equipment for measuring environmental parameters must be deployed throughout the site and its surroundings.
Implementation of HIoTee solution
To address this issue, we created an IoT/Sat network based on HIoTee technology.
For predictive maintenance of the electric cable excavator, about 50 temperature and vibration sensors were installed at different critical points of the machine. A fixed OmniTee station ensures the radio coverage of the mine, and the communication between the sensors and the satellite.
MobiliTee mobile stations connected to different vibration and temperature sensors are installed on mobile assets to also ensure predictive maintenance.
To manage a fleet of dumpers, HIoTrack solution (direct satellite link) enables tracking, geofencing, fuel consumption control and monitoring of downtime/waiting time before loading, on and off site.
At the same time, the installation of HIoSense (direct satellite link) on the surroundings of the mine provides environmental parameters monitoring (such as air, water and soil quality).
Results
Thanks to LiberTee, our ergonomic and user-friendly interface based on IoThink Solutions, users are able to :
- Get an overview of the IoT/Sat network equipment, as well as their condition
- Retrieve temperature and vibration parameters and visualize them in graphs to extract critical information
- Remotely monitor equipment to trigger alerts and emergency shutdowns
- Collect environmental parameters for regular monitoring and reporting
- Manage the fleet of vehicles and define precise geofencing zones
- Monitor different kinds of equipment
Our monitoring interface: Libertee
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