Strip Mining Waste Movement via Excavator-Dozer Coordination
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost of moving waste material in strip mining operations, particularly due to limitations in spoil room, leads to increased operational costs and reduced commercial viability, as conventional methods like truck/excavator combinations are expensive and dozer operations are limited by available spoil room.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of a combination of excavators and dozers, where the excavator lifts material to a higher level for the dozer to push it away, creating additional spoil room and extending the dozer's reach, allowing for more efficient waste material movement by optimizing the angle and alignment of the excavator and dozer paths to maximize spoil room and reduce costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If truck/excavator combinations are used to move waste material, then spoil room limitations are overcome and material can be hauled to alternate dump locations, but operational costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensionality change by utilizing the vertical dimension (height) to create additional spoil room. Excavators deposit waste material at elevated positions on the high wall, effectively using vertical space to expand the available disposal area without requiring additional horizontal spoil room. This allows dozers to continue pushing material economically while overcoming the horizontal spoil room limitations that would otherwise require expensive truck/excavator combinations.
2Ease of manufacture
If dozers push waste material uphill, then material movement cost decreases compared to truck/excavator methods, but productivity declines as uphill angle and distance increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the waste material movement into two distinct phases: (1) excavators deposit material at elevated positions on the high wall, creating segmented disposal zones at different heights and locations, and (2) dozers push material to these segmented zones. This segmentation allows dozers to operate on more favorable, shorter, and less steep push paths while still achieving effective waste removal, thereby maintaining higher productivity without sacrificing cost advantages.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses excavators as an intermediary device that bridges the gap between the waste source and final disposal locations. Excavators deposit material at strategic elevated positions on the high wall, creating intermediate spoil zones that reduce the distance and steepness of subsequent dozer pushes. This intermediary action optimizes the dozer's working conditions, maintaining productivity while preserving cost effectiveness.
3Productivity
If more expensive truck/excavator combinations are employed to overcome spoil room limitations, then waste material can be removed more effectively, but commercial viability of the mining operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by exploiting the vertical dimension through high wall utilization. Excavators deposit waste material at elevated positions on the high wall, creating three-dimensional spoil storage that maximizes the use of available space. This vertical utilization enables dozers to continue performing cost-effective pushes while maintaining high waste removal productivity, thereby preserving commercial viability without sacrificing removal effectiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of moving waste material from a mining site using at least one excavator and a plurality of dozers, including excavating material with the at least one excavator from a dig area, said at least one excavator moving along an excavator path that is parallel with the dig area, transferring the excavated material to a plurality of slots, each of said slots are positioned at an angle to the excavator path, and pushing the transferred material by one of said plurality of dozers along the slot and away from the excavator path; wherein each slot allows each of the plurality of dozers to move between a proximal position and a distal position relative to the excavator path.