Abstract
A performance monitoring study of an electric rope shovel operating in an open pit coal mine was conducted. As the mining industry moves toward higher productivity, profitability and predictability, the need for more reliable, productive and efficient mining shovels increases. Consequently, it is critical to study the productivity of these machines and to understand the effect of different operational parameters on that. In this paper a clustering analysis is performed to classify shovel digging effort and behaviour based on digging energy, dig time and payload per pass. Then the influence of the operator on the digging efficiency and productivity of the machine is analyzed with a focus on operator technique during digging. A statistical analysis is conducted on different cycle time components (dig time, swing time, return time) for different operators. In addition to time components, swing and return angles as well as loading rate and mucking rate are observed and analyzed. The results of this study help to understand the effect of different operators on the digging productivity of the shovel and then to set the best operator practice.
Highlights
Loading efficiency has a critical role in the success of the mining process as the loading equipment is the source of ore supply [1] or waste removal
Hendricks [5] monitored the performance of four electric rope shovel operators
4.1 it was shown that there is no relationship between digging energy and loading rate; based on the definition there is no relationship between digging energyisand rate; definition of specific digging energy, digging energy notloading normalized for the based effect on of the loading rate
Summary
Loading efficiency has a critical role in the success of the mining process as the loading equipment is the source of ore supply [1] or waste removal. The electric rope shovel is one type of mining equipment primarily used in most large, high volume operations as a loading unit. The performance of electrical rope shovels may vary with the muck-pile characteristics, operator practice and skills, and machine type and conditions. In addition to muck-pile characteristics, operator proficiency and skill play a significant role in the productivity of loading equipment [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. For an electric rope shovel a normal and productive cycle includes: digging, swinging, waiting (usually for the first pass), dumping and returning back to the face. The system was implemented to improve operator productivity and ensure consistent shovel performance. The operators adjust their digging tactics to current digging condition to achieve the highest productivity
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