Assessing the Truckless Conveying Option in Mines

Related Vendors

DÜPERTHAL Sicherheitstechnik GmbH & Co. KG

Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

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Sinclair Knight Merz

Power Supply For Truckless Conveyors

An IPCC system demands more electrical power to be supplied to the mining face than an equivalent truck and shovel operation. Conveyor drives, mobile equipment and ancillary equipment such as driven hopper cars require a reliable power source that is also suited to being relocated with the system. Demand power can be significant. A rolls sizer capable of handling a 10,000 tonnes per hour throughput of hard but common material such as basalt will require an installed power well over 1 megawatt separate to the sizing rig itself.

Cable reelers are required to manage the cable placement as the system moves along a bench. Whether mounted on the mobile equipment or in stand-alone structures, size limits dictated by cable capacity can require centre-feed points to be installed along the face conveyor. These halve the cable length required on the reeler but introduce an extra step into relocations of the conveyor.

How to Set up Cables and Wires

Power and control cabling must be capable of being fed between different combinations of machines. If a belt wagon is to be used on only the upper and lower benches, power systems must be suited to feeds directly from the face conveyor to the sizing rig or with a belt wagon inserted between the two. An electric rope shovel may require a feed via the sizing rig as a dedicated supply line may be difficult to accommodate.

Some systems introduce further modular conveyors to increase flexibility of the system; these also require power. These connections have be suited to regular changes and be robust enough to operate between moving items of equipment in a pit environment.

Movement of the system during conveyor relocations or from construction pads must also be considered. Managing trailing cable for the movement of a single machine such as a shovel or dragline requires significant planning on its own. Introducing additional machines and then requiring movement on a regular basis can warrant the permanent availability of a truck-mounted generator. Even diesel travel generators on the machines themselves have been considered.

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