taking a pulse - murray harcus mining magazine janfeb. 2011

8/18/2019 Taking a Pulse - Murray Harcus Mining Magazine Janfeb. 2011

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19 VEHICLE HEALTH MONITORING

Reducing maintenance costs on haulequipment is one of the primarytargets that mining companies are

focusing on to increase efficiency andmaintain profitability. In order to securehaul-truck availability, it is necessary todetect any symptoms of machine troubleearly on, and have maintenance personneltake suitable measures without delay.

Machine health-monitoring systems canprovide in-depth diagnostic analysis, long-term trending and predictive capabilitiesin real-time to the operator and a centralcontrol station. This gives maintenancemanagers and technicians the informationnecessary to maximise component life,reduce catastrophic failures, minimise

unscheduled downtime and improve themanagement of a mine’s assets.

Original equipment manufacturers(OEMs) install health-monitoring systemsthat collect vital component data andoperational parameters. This includeseverything from the engine andtransmission though to tyre temperatureand exhaust emissions.

Equipment-monitoring systems interfacewith the electronic control modules (ECMs)responsible for data gathering, which theyorganise and process prior to sending itto the control centre (usually via a wireless

network). Real-time data transmissioneliminates the need to physically visit trucksand on-board systems, and providesaccurate feedback to a central pointwhere the entire fleet can be monitored.

These systems collect vast amounts ofdata, but are mainly used to keep track

of key operating parameters, such astemperature and pressure, and alert theoperator with a warning message or alarmof an impending or abnormal condition onthe machine. Depending on the severity,it will recommend an appropriate courseof action. ECMs also alert engineers ofproblems through diagnostics sent to aPC during maintenance. This permits thepreparation of the necessary parts beforea prescribed limit is reached.

Some OEMs produce their own vehiclehealth-monitoring systems, while others

specialise in mobile equipment monitoring.Engine manufacturers produce enginemonitors capable of interfacing with variousOEM systems, while many third-partyfirms offer component-monitoringsystems for individual items such as tyres.

CATERPILLARCaterpillar developed the Vital InformationManagement System (VIMS), MineStarand the comprehensive MineStar Healthsystem. Introduced in 1994, VIMS is nowstandard on 785, 789, 793 and 797 haultrucks, the 854 wheel dozer, and the 991,

992, 993 and 994 wheel loaders.MineStar Health links with on-board

monitoring systems, like VIMS, to providewireless machine health and operatingevent data for processing and analysis.Installed at a mine site, with or withoutMineStar FleetCommander, it can gatherreal-time data over a radio networkthrough download by a semi-automaticsystem at a fuel bay, or manually with alaptop. The benefits of MineStar Healthare claimed to include:

• Extended component life;

• Reduced phantom breakdowns;

• Saved component failures;• Full fleet health monitoring;

• Efficient data analysis; and

• Improved maintenance practices.

The evolution of real-time healthmonitoring has reached newhighs as in-depth diagnosticanalysis, long-term trending andpredictive capabilities becomestandard features on haul trucks,reports Murray Harcus

Taking a

pulse

MEM gives real-timetruck data to thecontrol room andoperator

Cat 793F truckinterior with VIMS

screen on theright and WAVScamera systemon the left

“VIMS

monitors

over 250

machine

functions

and health

statistics”

MineStar Health can help to identifyissues beyond the haul truck itself,including problems within the mine site.When coupled with an optional GPSsystem it can generate reports showingwhere the alerts occur, such as suboptimalhaul roads, which affect machine health,availability and asset life.

In addition, Caterpillar trucks can bemonitored via satellite radio using

Product Link, a web-based application,along with data-management softwareEquipment Manager. The hardware, whileavailable globally, is factory installed formachines sold in North America.

Jimmy McCarty, condition monitoringproduct support consultant for CaterpillarGlobal Mining, tells MM: “By integratingnumerous machine sensors into eachmachine design, VIMS monitors over 250machine functions and health statistics.Essential machine functions are displayedfor the operator via the message centre.

“If a parameter falls outside of the

specification, VIMS sends a warningmessage to the operator and, dependingon the severity of the event, recommendsappropriate action. VIMS can help lower

Below: controllerskeep in touch withoperating vehicles

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2020 VEHICLE HEALTH MONITORING

machine operating costs, improve equipmentutilisation, and, ultimately, help customers achieve thelowest cost per tonne.”

VIMS includes an on-board data recorder, Snap Shot,similar to a flight data recorder, which stores machineand sensor information. This aids troubleshooting by

getting to the root cause of a problem. A chronologicallist of the last 500 machine and system events isretained, providing the date, time and service meterreading when the event began; event duration;operator ID; parameter name; limit value; worst casevalue; warning category; and number of times theoperator acknowledged the event.

KOMATSUKomatsu has developed its own health-monitoringsystem (which, like the Caterpillar systems, isunavailable to other OEMs). The KOMTRAX system

caters for utility to CE class machines,while KOMTRAX Plus (formerly VHMS-– Vehicle Health Monitoring System)caters for production and mining classequipment. Every current utility, CEand Mining class Komatsu machine

sold in North America comes witheither KOMTRAX or KOMTRAX Plusas standard equipment, includingcommunications and data access.

KOMTRAX Plus enables machinedata to be transmitted via the internetfor review by Komatsu personnel. Inmost regions, data is also transmittedby Orbcomm satellites, enabling remote evaluation of the machine’scondition and operations. However, it is not fully real-time data, althoughmachine owners can identify service meter readings, fuel consumption,cautions, operational data, payloads and key component measurementsprovided in the form of trends on a secured web application.

When asked about the availability of real-time data, Kent Fales, product

manager – electric trucks, and Rizwan Mizra, ICT manager for KomatsuAmerica Corp, tell MM : “By utilising products from Modular MiningSystems (owned by Komatsu), customers operating Komatsu haul truckscan currently access some real-time feedback data from the system. In thenot too distant future, as our experience and technology evolves, moredata will be available. The key is to provide usable, important data – not tooverwhelm the operator with lights and warnings.”

Mr Fales and Mr Mizra add: “The most progressive efforts in the area offailure avoidance are being led by Komatsu Distributors using KOMTRAXPlus to plan major component replacement with customers. This ‘beforefailure activity’ not only prevents the catastrophic component failure, butallows the customer to choose when the machines are taken out of servicewhile allowing the distributor to pre-order necessary parts and arrangetechnician availability.”

LIEBHERRLiebherr has developed the Litronic Plus diagnostics system, whichincludes real-time monitoring, fault warning and detection, and numerousmethods for downloading and trending truck component data. Once the datais gathered f rom the ECMs, it can be transmitted via Wi-Fi or remotely viacellular and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. It can also be downloaded on atruck by truck basis with single-point USB access. The T282C 363t truckcomes with Litronic Plus diagnostics as standard, and will be available onfuture models such as the T264 and TI274.

The OEM does not plan to offer Litronic Plus diagnostics to otherequipment manufacturers; yet, with the system having a non-proprietaryCAN Open protocol, any third-party fleet management or dispatch systemcan access the real-time information being captured. This allows the system

to integrate comfortably with existing mine operator infrastructures.A spokesperson from Liebherr Mining Equipment tells MM : “With the

Liebherr Mining Equipment line of mining haul trucks having such a strongemphasis on vertical integration of major components, the ultimate goalof a vehicle health monitoring system is to make the truck as smart aspossible. A truck that can run productively and diagnose itself, based ontrends seen through condition-based monitoring and real-time dataacquisition, is the ultimate goal of the Litronic Plus diagnostics vehiclehealth-monitoring system.”

MATRIKONMatrikon is an independent provider of industrial monitoring solutionsand offers Mobile Equipment Monitor (MEM) as the answer to healthmonitoring on haul trucks. MEM bridges the gap between truck ECM data

and equipment servicing by monitoring operational parameters in realtime, providing indications of developing failures and signifying whenimmediate corrective action may be required to prevent serious failure.

MEM is a fully open system that works by interfacing with the various

Komatsu’sKOMTRAX


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ECMs on OEM trucks. Once datais gathered and buffered on theon-board DataLogger, it is transmittedover the mine’s wireless network tothe central server.

In addition, MEM can be integrated

with various third-party on-boardsystems such as oil, lube, fuel and tyremonitors. Equally important is theability to integrate with enterprisesystems, such as maintenancemanagement (Ellipse, SAP, JDE,Maximo), dispatch systems, GIS andmine-mapping systems, and financial

systems such as SAP. MEM will also merge real-time operating data withmaintenance management, dispatch, financial and other systems to give themost complete view of overall equipment effectiveness.

David Fisk, the company’s regional manager – mining solutions, tellsMM : “It is the comprehensive, analytical, trending predictive and alarm-management capabilities of the MEM system that provide the true value,

rather than just reporting the raw data itself. MEM provides predictiveanalysis capabilities to identify developing faults on the equipment before itactually causes downtime or collateral damage. For instance, air-filterreplacement can be based on real-time measurements rather than time-basedintervals that can be far too long or short, depending on changing conditions.”

Matrikon’s continuous data-logging capability supports detailed analysisof any sensor information for any range of time. For example, MEM makes iteasy to compare fuel-burn rates across a fleet over a six-month period.Longer-term data analysis is critical to addressing repetitive issues toimprove the reliability and availability of the equipment, rather than simplyidentifying a fault that has already tripped an alarm.

It is this long-term prognostic ability that is the future for vehicle healthmonitoring, as many abusive behaviours can be eliminated, thus prolongingthe life of the major components of the truck.

Mr Fisk summarises MEM, stating: “The power is in identifying andaddressing developing faults and optimising maintenance rather thanwaiting for an alarm to go off.”

Matrikon announced in April 2010 that a multinational, publicly-tradedmining company had deployed MEM to a third site among its NorthAmerican mines, with implementation at its remaining sites planned for2011. MEM is also in the process of active marketing and distribution inSouth America, Australia and South Africa.

MODULAR MINING SYSTEMSModular Mining Systems (MMSI), owned by Komatsu, offers MineCare, amaintenance software tool designed to minimise maintenance responsetime, increase planning efficiency, provide critical failure analysis informationand report key performance indicators (KPIs) to maintenance personnel in

real-time. Features include real-time remote diagnostics, asset time trackingand management, alarm event notifications, configurable alarm criticalityand variable OEM interfaces.

MMSI’s first OEM interface was developed in 1989, while MineCare hasbeen on the market for over seven years, including five major softwarereleases and numerous updates. Many of the product features are a directresult of feedback from industry leaders such as Rio Tinto.

Gregory Lanz, manager, sales and marketing services at MMSI, tells MM :“Modular integrates closely with the full Komatsu suite of monitoring systems,although it is an industry leader in providing OEM interfaces, includingconnections to Caterpillar, Hitachi, Liebherr, Bucyrus, P&H, Terex, O&K,Sandvik, Atlas Copco, LeTourneau and Scania equipment health-monitoringsystems.

“These systems are designed to monitor engines, hydraulics, power train,

drive train, electric drives, brakes, cooling systems, air systems and electricalsystems. For tyre monitoring specifically, there are ModularReady interfacesto Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, PressurePro, TireSmart and Rimex.All told, Modular offers over 100 interfaces to OEM systems, including


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2222 HEALTH MONITORING

many specialty inter aces such asour radiation scanner and atiguerisk-management inter ace with ASTiD.”

MMSI works with each manufacturer toidentify their communication protocolsand custom-build the interface to theirOEM specifications. This enables MMSI

to provide the maximum amount ofdata to operators. The MineCare systemincludes the Trending Module, whichis focused on predicting equipmentdegradation based on trends in specificOEM parameters. Trend data is captured,based on con igurable operating conditions,while a truck is loaded or passes a speci iclocation in the mine.

Mr Lanz says: “The key is to alert theuser only when necessary, minimising dataoverload and desensitisation. Once trends

are con igured, they require no additionalmodi ication and will automatically noti ythat action is necessary when thresholdconditions are met.

“Multiple, discrete trends can beactivated simultaneously on a single piece

of equipment using completely differentparameter configurations. For long-termanalysis, different trends can be used forbreak-in or wear stages, and trendperformance data can be analysed overthe entire component life.”

Mr Lanz adds: “Modular products areinherently designed to increase e iciencyand decrease costs. Typically, our MineCarecustomers realise a ROI o months, ratherthan years. At one customer site, werecently identified an average, annualisedsaving of over US$40,000 per truck. Earlylast year we introduced a new MineCare

licensing model to make it moreaffordable for smaller operations, partlyin response to the global financial crisis.

“The MineCare system supportsoperational data integration with theDISPATCH mine-management system.It can also be deployed with other minemanagement systems or at sites without amine-management system.”

Modular’s MineCare is installed at sitesin North and South America, Australia,Africa, Asia and Russia.

WENCO

Wenco International Mining Systems isimilar to MMSI in being majority-owned

by Hitachi Construction Machinery,offering several systems that combine tomonitor vehicle health.

The company’s Maintenance Monitorystem manages repairs assigned to an

individual piece of equipment, allowingevaluation of the time, labour andcomponents spent on each maintenanceactivity.

On-board Insight allows performancedata to be viewed and distributed romthe central control room. Wenco claimsthat real-time observations on oil levels,engine temperature, strut pressure, theperformance of newly-repaired vehicles,effects of long ramps on a specific fleetand the evaluation of new components

can all be monitored.The Eventing System manages exception

messages generated from Wenco Systemdiagnostics, mine-operating practices andOEM health system alarms. When analarm is generated, it is colour-coded anddisplayed according to its severity, thusensuring the right personnel are madeaware and take the necessary action.

TireMax helps to extend the life oftyres by providing real-time monitoring oftheir work rate. Colour-coded bar charts

MMSI’s MineCaredisplaying data

trends on braketemperatures and

engine loading


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HEALTH MONITORING 23

and graphs identify at-risk tyres quickly, sodispatchers can take preventative action.

Messages or alarms generated from OEM

health-monitoring systems are received atWenco’s on-board hardware platform via oneof numerous interfaces (serial, CANbus, digital,ethernet or USB). This information is thenbroadcast over the broadband wirelessnetwork to the centralsystem at themine office.When an eventis generated, amessagedescribing it isdisplayed inEvent Monitor

with detailedinformation suchas the time, sourceand severity. A comment columnis included for the dispatcher orother supervisor to provide additional detailson the event.

Glen Trainor, marketing director for NorthAmerican sales for Wenco, tells MM : “Wenco’son-board hardware and software is designed toprovide real-time interfaces to major OEMhealth-monitoring systems such as Caterpillar

VIMS and Hitachi.“Our on-board hardware has multiple inputs to

receive the information from the on-board OEMhealth system, so the Wenco System can operateover any IP-based network. Our primary marketis with the mine operators, while our customersinclude Teck Resources, Coal India, Alrosa,Anglogold Ashanti, Syncrude Canada, BHPBilliton Diamonds, De Beers Group, Rio TintoAluminum and Cliffs Natural Resources, and

joint ventures with Barrick Gold in Australia,and Newmont Kalgoorlie Consolidated GoldMines,” he adds.

CUMMINS

Cummins, a leading engine supplier to haul-truck

OEMs, offers Advanced Engine Monitoring,which allows the performance of each cylinderto be observed in real time (either throughmine-dispatch systems or over the internet).It can also provide trending chart capabilities forinformed, preventive maintenance tomaximise operation andreduce downtime.

MM spoke to ClintSchroer, off-highwaycommunications spokes-man for Cummins, whostates: “Cummins workswith the OEMs to ensure

its electronic interfaceconnects with truckinterfaces, allowing theengine monitoring systems

to connect to the OEM system, and prevent theneed for independent systems. We install anddesign our own ECMs through our electronicsdivision, which connect to the OEM or othersupplier connections via SAE J1939 vehicle busstandard communications.”

MTU DETROIT DIESEL

Another leading engine supplier, MTU, providesthe Exhaust Gas Temperature Monitoring System

(ETMS), which helps operators detectan abnormal fuelling condition.ETMS monitors individual cylinder

temperatures and determineswhether they are operating

within an acceptable range.Diagnostic codes aregenerated in the event thatthe cylinders are hotteror colder than expected.

This allows the technician toaddress the correct cylinder

effectively the first time.MTU’s Remote Services are another

diagnostic tool for preventive maintenanceand to minimise downtime. Key engine datasuch as hours and diagnostic codes may betransmitted via a cellular telephone network,which can notify maintenance personnelimmediately when fault codes are generated.It can give current engine hours to ensuremaintenance is completed as scheduled.

MTU Tier 2 engines are equipped with aService and Automation Module (SAM), which

provides easy access for OEM installation anddiagnostic codes for technicians who may notbe equipped with special diagnostic tools.

Ran Archer, MTU’s manager for mining sales,tells MM : “MTU installs its own ECMs, but alsobuilds engines to accommodate third-partyequipment that has been installed by the truckmanufacturers.

“We provide an ECM that is essential for controlof all engine functions, designed to communicatewith, and control the functionality of, optionalequipment using SAE standards, such as J1939,and the ability to operate over a CAN bus system.Such components include starters, cold-start

systems and fan control.”He adds: “With the use of ETMS, catastrophic

engine failures have been avoided due to earlydetection of a failing injector and the risk of fueldilution, which typically leads to loss of lubrication

and a seized piston. When consideringthe future of engine health

monitoring, advances inremote diagnostics and a

higher speed cellularnetwork uplink will

enhance the speed oftroubleshooting and

maintenance support

for mining operations.”

Cummins’ QSK50 Tier 2 engine withelectronic control modules

A remote monitoring modulefrom MTU Detroit Diesel

taking a pulse - murray harcus mining magazine janfeb. 2011

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