Modelling of electric vehicles for underground mining personnel transport

Abstract

Personnel transport vehicles in underground mines are used to transport miners and light equipment within the mine, and are generally driven by diesel engines. To reduce the emission, the eco-friendly electric vehicles (EVs) have been introduced in underground mining. This EV consists of a wheel/axle, final drive, traction motor and energy storage. The model of this vehicle is developed based on the ADVISOR platform, where the model mainly focuses on the low speed and heavy load driving cycle (with steep gradients and bumpy roads) which is designed with variable rolling resistance and variable gradients to simulate the real road condition in underground mines and a four wheel drive (4WD) vehicle is adopted by modifying the EV model in ADVISOR. Given current commercial EV batteries with the main concerns of the safety in underground mining, the LiFePO4 battery is chosen for this vehicle. The extra weight added over that of a conventional battery and motor systems to enhance the antiexplosion performance is considered in the model. The simulation is conducted to evaluate the operation performances of the proposed vehicle (i.e. acceleration, gradient, motor performance, energy storage). The results show that the vehicle is suitable for the low speeds and steep roads under the specific driving conditions in underground mines.