UDD dragline bucket machine and control system

Abstract

A UDD mining machine provided with a control system directs the movement of the bucket within a prescribed carry envelope to limit unequal wearing of the hoist lines. In one construction, the control system directs the bucket within a range of motion where the loads on the hoist lines are kept within a prescribed variance of each other during the carry phase or most of the carry phase of a digging cycle. Movement of the bucket will be controlled by the mining machine with the inventive control system so that, in the carry phase, the loads applied to the front hoist line are within, for example, 5%, 10% or 15% of the loads applied to the rear hoist lines. This general equaling of the loads in the hoist lines results in longer wear life for the front hoist lines, and generally equal wearing of the front and rear hoist lines to enable simultaneous replacement.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention pertains to a machine with a unique control system for a universal dig and dump mining operation.BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION[0002]Universal dig and dump (UDD) mining operations involve the use of dragline buckets that are controlled by UDD mining machines having front hoist lines, rear hoist lines and drag lines, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,705,031 and 6,826,466. While these operations have provided benefits, they have been particularly hard on the front hoist lines; i.e., the front hoist lines tend be damaged or to wear much faster than the rear hoist lines. Such wearing requires frequent replacement of the front hoist lines, which results in the use of more hoist line and in frequent downtime of the equipment. Moreover, the front hoist lines frequently wear at unequal intervals from the rear hoist lines resulting in even increased equipment downtime as the hoist lines are replaced separately. The front hoist motor...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is about a UDD mining machine that moves the bucket during the carry phase of a digging operation within a range of motion that is predetermined based on the expected relative loads on the hoist lines. This results in a more efficient mining operation as the loads on the front hoist line are reduced, while the rear hoist line is protected from excessive wear. The control system for the machine directs the movement of the bucket to predominantly move under a prescribed datum, which can be a bell-shaped curve or a slope that increases in the opposite direction of the pulling of the bucket. The control system can also adjust the carry envelope for a particular bucket based on the expected loads on the hoist lines to maximize the equaling of the hoist line wear. The bottom wall, rear wall, and sidewalls of the bucket are connected to define a front digging edge and a bucket cavity, with connection points for the hoist lines located forward of the rear wall to improve carrying of the bucket during use for certain mining operations."

Problems solved by technology

This general equaling of the loads in the hoist lines results in longer wear life for the front hoist line, and generally equal wearing of the front and rear hoist lines to enable simultaneous replacement.

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