Automatic Production Statistics for Mining Excavators

Background Materials

The global mining industry is undergoing a new transformation. As a pillar industry for nations, mining faces challenges such as diminishing mineral resources, declining ore grades, and increasing extraction difficulties. Consequently, mining enterprises are increasingly eager to pursue high-quality development. To enhance efficiency and safety, the integration of IoT technology with mining operations is becoming ever closer, bringing smart mines gradually into the spotlight.

Many mines still rely on manual truck counting, which leads to numerous issues:

Gradually increasing labor costs,
Frequent counting errors and omissions due to human oversight,
Inability to automatically generate reports,
Difficulty for management to obtain real-time production data,
Disconnected supervisory system data, inability to cross-reference data, and lack of evidence when problems occur;
Irregular weighing times for incoming/outgoing vehicles, traffic congestion due to high vehicle volume, posing potential safety hazards,
High weighing volume with low efficiency,
Numerous manual intervention points, requiring drivers to have multiple offline contacts with cargo owners and mine personnel, sometimes leading to disputes or corruption.

Currently, there are various measurement systems, such as weighbridges and onboard weighing systems. Weighbridges have high construction costs, cannot operate unattended, and can impact production efficiency to some extent. They also require frequent calibration during use, have high failure rates under harsh conditions, and demand significant maintenance. Onboard weighing systems similarly face high installation costs and substantial maintenance workload, while also struggling to guarantee weighing accuracy. For most mining enterprises, accurate production truck counts are sufficient to meet operational requirements.

Customer Case Study

A system integration company utilized West-HN's ZigBee positioning products and gateway transmission products to implement a complete solution, developing an unattended measurement system for mining use. This system can directly replace traditional manual counting (saving labor costs), while also outputting accurate measurement data for transport trucks and loading equipment. Furthermore, it supports various statistical analysis functions such as blended ore grade calculation (useful for auxiliary ore blending), equipment hourly output, and driver production statistics, featuring powerful report generation capabilities.

A serial port card reader WE-RW01 and a 4G DTU are installed on the excavator. Solar-powered electronic tags WE-T78 are installed on the dump trucks. When a dump truck approaches the excavator for loading (typically not less than 10 minutes), the excavator automatically identifies which dump truck received the loaded minerals based on the card reading information. Relevant data is reported in real-time to the platform software via the DTU.
After the dump truck leaves the excavator and reaches the weighing point, the weight of the mineral load is obtained through weighing and uploaded to the platform. Thus, it becomes clear which dump truck received each excavator load and what the weight was, naturally clarifying the day's total workload.
Automated statistics can avoid errors inherent in manual counting, reduce opportunities for fraud, and yield more accurate results.

Application Diagram

Automatic Mining Truck Weighing System — Schematic Diagram

Technical Challenges

When multiple dump trucks are near the excavator, correctly identifying which truck is currently being loaded is crucial. Methods include:
1. Installing card reader antennas on both left and right sides of the excavator, ensuring relatively accurate distance readings regardless of which side a dump truck approaches from.
2. Judging based on the dump truck's dwell time, ignoring trucks that merely pass by. A truck requiring loading typically stays for over 10 minutes.
3. Adding manual confirmation: Equip the excavator with a small terminal with a screen, displaying nearby dump trucks and their relevant information (e.g., license plate, driver name) from nearest to farthest, allowing the excavator operator to manually select and confirm.