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Remote Real-Time Tire Monitoring in Open Pit Mines

Joel T. Werner and Kim Barrowman

Keywords maintenance, mining, remote condition monitoring, tire, real-time, mine management system

ABSTRACT
Tire costs represent one of the highest controllable costs in open-pit mining, accounting for approximately 10% of mining costs. Tire monitoring technology has evolved rapidly in recent years and is emerging as a viable tool for extending tire life and reducing costs. The majority of the major tire manufacturers and several independent companies are in various stages of developing monitoring systems that capture and store vital tire data. Previously this information had only been accessible when the vehicle passed a fixed point in the mine, or when mine personnel manually downloaded the data. Integrating this technology with a mine management system enables remote collection and management of trend and alarm data. Mine personnel can now monitor a tires health parameters at any time, anywhere on site, regardless of the vehicles location. Anomalous tire conditions can be detected early and corrective actions taken. This information can then be integrated with other major onboard systems, operating conditions, and geographical information. Tire monitoring no longer exists as a stand-alone technology, but has evolved into an important integrated tool for mine operators. This paper will review the current status and benefits of integrating this emerging technology with a real-time mine management system.

INTRODUCTION
The current trend in the mining industry is towards larger haulage and loading equipment in a continuous push to improve productivity and decrease the cost per ton. Commodity prices and general economics are driving the mining industry to continually push the envelope of performance of its operators, equipment and therefore its tires. Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) manufacturers are increasing the capacities and performance characteristics of their off-highway trucks to meet these demands. As trucks size has increased their performance characteristics are often limited by the capabilities of their tires. It then becomes crucial to have as much control and monitoring capabilities over the tires as possible. Haulage costs in an open pit mine typically account for 30% to 55% of the total mining costs (Knights, 2001). Of this amount 15% can be attributed to tire costs, which translates into approximately 10% of total mining costs. Tire monitoring technology has become commercially viable in the giant OHV tire market over the past few years. Advancements in this sensing technology have had a significant effect on extending tire life. Some mines have realized a 2-5% reduction in tire costs through the use of a tire monitoring system interfaced to Modular Minings Intellimine system (which includes the powerful Dispatch utility). (Hughes, 2001) From an operators perspective, this technology has yielded very useful data, but it is often difficult to gather and is often only for diagnostic purposes. Tires are typically the largest consumable cost. Until recently, this major expense has been occurring without any "real-time gauges" to provide insight into how the tire is performing. Tires are typically run until failure occurs. Tire monitoring systems provide a "window" into the tire the same as dashboard gauges do for an automobile's engine. This allows the mine operator to assess performance and condition

during operation prior to severe tire damage occurring. A mine can now operate its tires at the peak of their "operating envelope," maximizing the tire's performance, which leads to reduced tire operating costs.

REVIEW OF CURRENT TECHNOLOGY


Many different tire Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have developed and marketed tiremonitoring systems. In the late 1990s Michelin became the first OEM to offer this technology. Since then both Goodyear and Bridgestone have subsequently introduced tire-monitoring systems. These systems measure and record several parameters such as air pressure, air temperature, and tire ID on a regular basis. All of these manufacturers continue to face varied technical issues as these systems mature. In addition to the tire manufacturers, several independent companies have brought tire-monitoring solutions to the OHV tire industry. One of the most successful has been Fuller Brothers. This section provides a brief review of the major tire-monitoring systems. It covers the functionality of each system and the methods that they employ to handle the gathered data. Information from tire-monitoring systems is gathered in different ways. A technician in close proximity to a truck can download the information using a handheld gun. Another common method is to establish fixed points in the mine that gather the onboard tire information whenever a truck passes by. While methods such as these are adequate for gathering tire data there is often a significant time delay between when the data is generated and when it is gathered. This does not allow the mine to respond in real-time to changing tire conditions. This historical data is often under-utilized and its full potential is never realized. Michelins Earthmover Management System (MEMS) was designed around three criteria: increase tire life, increase the availability of the truck, and improve operator safety. There are two main components to MEMS. The first is a tag located inside the tire. This tag contains electronics that monitor inflation pressure and internal temperature. This information is transmitted to the second component, an on-board receiver. This receiver is the heart of MEMS: as it receives data from all the tires on the truck it relays this information to the mine operator. (Potts, 2001) MEMS is able to send event-based messages that indicate when a tire is operating outside of its designed parameters. MEMS comes with a hand-held unit that allows for external monitoring up to 400m away. There are limitations to using these hand-held units since they are suitable for spot collection, but are not a sustainable method of capturing and recording the date. When MEMS is interfaced to a mine management system the hand-held device becomes redundant. MEMS has been linked to Modular Minings Intellimine system since May 1999 and has been operating at different sites since that date. MEMS is continuing to evolve, and future versions will have improved durability and employ more sophisticated tire tags, which will be lighter and easier to install. Plans are also underway to create a more sophisticated interface to Modulars Intellimine system, to provide the mine operator with increased functionality. MEMS will also be able to pass onboard tire information directly to a tire tracking/management system. Goodyear is marketing a complete solution to meet the needs of OHV tire monitoring. They have tools to help the mine operator track past tire performance, monitor current performance, and predict how a tire might perform in the future. Goodyears Intelligent Off The Road (OTR) tire monitoring system was released shortly after MEMS. OTR employs tire tags that are attached to the inside of the tire and are used to measure pressure and temperature. This information is transmitted to a central on-board processor every few minutes. The onboard processor can store data and interface to the vehicle and mine operations through the Intellimine system. Extensive testing has been performed to ensure the robustness of this system. Goodyear is planning to tailor its products to better manage tire temperature and build models that will help mines protect their tire assets from overheating. Currently, Bridgestone is marketing a tire monitoring system that can be read at fixed points gates in the mine. While this setup is an improvement from having to stop the truck and manually download the data, it

is still unable to communicate with a mine management system. Bridgestone plans to develop a system that will be able to store tire information onboard and upload it to a mine management system. Fuller Brothers, which has a long history of manufacturing tire care products, has recently developed a tire monitoring system called Tire Analysis System (TAS). This is a generic system in the sense that it is not biased to a brand of tires. Fuller Brothers developed this product to help a mine determine the optimal tire for its operation and achieve maximum performance from it. The mine operator is able to use the same system to measure the performance of different tire brands and therefore has a baseline to compare them to. TAS is marketed as a fully integrated reporting system, tracking pressure, temperature, and tire conditions from "cradle to grave," resulting in a complete history of the tire's operating conditions and calculating its final cost. (fullerbrothers.com, 2002) TAS measures Contained Air Temperature (CAT) and Contained Air Pressure (CAP) in the tire and transmits the data via radio telemetry to a receiver stationed on the truck. This receiver converts the transmitted radio signal into a usable data stream. The data stream is sent to an onboard data storage device so that relevant information can be uploaded to a mine management system, the cab of the truck, hand-held data capture units or a station receiver positioned on site. The case study presented in the later half of this paper goes into more detail about integration of this system with Modular Minings Intellimine system at Fording River Coal. Many mines around the world have welcomed this technology with demand exceeding supply as the technology has evolved and been introduced to the sites in stages. One issue that many mines have faced is that there are no common standards between the different OEMs with respect to the radio frequencies and data formats that the tire tags use to communicate to the onboard receiver. A mine cannot use a common receiver to gather information from different types of tire tags. A mine site is therefore faced with significant costs if they wish to monitor multiple types of tire tags. While these systems employ different technological solutions, they are all trying to achieve the same objective, which is to reduce tire costs by extending tire life. The introduction of tire monitoring technology has been the first step along the critical path to properly monitoring large OHV tires. Many of the manufacturers of tire monitoring systems have taken the logical step to integrate with mine management systems that allow mine operations to integrate real-time informationThe next step was then to develop the technology to be able to continuously access this information on a real-time basis.

REMOTE MONITORING
Tire monitoring systems are mounted on large pieces of mobile mining equipment, making it a continual challenge to monitor the systems. It is not always feasible to stop a piece of equipment so that the tire data can be manually downloaded. Accordingly, an alternate means of data exportation is required. As discussed in the preceding section, the system data is usually accessed via a handheld unit or at a fixed location in the mine. The next logical step in the evolution of this technology has been to integrate these tire monitoring systems with mine management systems. When a tire monitoring system is integrated with a mine management system, data is first captured onboard the truck by the central receiver for the tire-monitoring system. The data then passes through a cable to the mine management systems onboard hardware. Finally, the information is relayed to the mine management systems wireless communication network and sent to the central computer for interpretation, display and storage. Users can then generate event notifications and reports from the stored data, as shown in Figure 1. The integration of these two systems allows event-based messages (such as alarms) generated by the tire monitoring system to be sent to mine personnel in real-time. Knowing the temperature and pressure of a tire in real time during its operation allows the mine operator to make choices that can extend the life of a large OHV tire. For example, this might mean switching a truck from a long haul to shorter haul to allow its tires to cool down. This technology helps the mine operator to begin to utilize the full potential of the tire data. Event-driven information that is received in real time allows for proactive decisions that translate

into a cost savings due to a quick reaction by mine operations to onboard conditions. To illustrate this, if a sudden drop in tire pressure is noticed the truck can be stopped immediately. This will often allow the tire to be salvaged and repaired instead of being completely destroyed. Modular Mining has currently developed and implemented interfaces to three different tire management systems: Michelin MEMS, Goodyears OTR Intelligent Tire, and Fuller Brothers TAS system. Each of these interfaces exchanges similar types of information but with slightly different functionality. MEMS data is polled by Modular on a regular basis; OTR data is sent to Modular at a fixed frequency; and the TAS interface sends event driven messages and supports the functionality to poll for tire data.

Figure 1 Continuous remote real-time tire monitoring Once a mine can access its tire monitoring data in real time, it is logical to associate this data with the environment in which the tires are operating.

INTEGRATION WITH A REAL-TIME MINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM


Tire monitoring technology was originally created to help the tire OEMs to better understand how their products were performing and to meet mine customer requests. Mining companies then started applying this technology to help control tire costs. Tire monitoring systems allow mines to monitor and protect their tire assets on a daily basis when they are integrated with a mine management system. They can then practice more efficient scheduling to regulate tire temperatures and wear and make proactive decisions before serious tire damage occurs. There are many benefits that arise from integrating tire-monitoring data with a mine management system. These benefits go much further than just providing the mine with real-time access to the data. The first step is to no longer view the data as isolated information, but to look at it as a component of a much more complex system. In this global system each component interacts with the others. To properly understand how one component is working and how it interacts with its environment, the information that is gathered from it must be associated with information gathered from all of the other systems (Figure 2).

The mine operator can then combine tire information with other onboard systems, operating conditions, and geographical information. From a large-scale perspective, this provides insight into the different relationships that exist between these systems. Understanding these types of interactions will help the mine operator determine if the actual tires being used are best suited for the mine. Below are some examples of how a mine will be able to use this integrated information: The user will be able to see the relationship between payloads, vehicle speed, haul distance, and tire temperature. By combining payload information and tire temperature, the mine will be able to gauge how well its haul trucks are being loaded and the effect that load distribution is having on tire performance. By logging where certain tire alarms occur, the mine will be able to see the relationship between haul road designs, tire life/performance, tire position, etc. A recent study has determined that whenever it is possible, the precise locations of tire failure should be recorded and displayed using geographical information systems, such as Modular Minings Intellimine system. (Knights, 2001)

Figure 2 Integration of tire monitoring information at a mine site Integrated tire data can also be used to determine the effect haul road design has on tire temperature. By monitoring tire temperatures in relation to the haul road the truck is operating on, heat indexes can be assigned to each haul road segment. Therefore, at the beginning of each haul a total heat index can be calculated for that run. When the heat index exceeds the rated level for the tires on the truck, the truck can be reassigned to a different haul route. Typically, an event like this would be automatically brought to the dispatchers attention and would require approval before the truck is rerouted. It must always be kept in mind that there is a point where it is more important to be putting ore in the crusher than extending tire life. (Hughes, 2001) A useful productivity measurement, which is closely correlated to tire life, is Ton Kilometer Per Hour (TKPH). As discussed above, there are many factors that influence tire temperature, such as tire brand, type, construction, wear percentage, payload, road conditions, speed, and amount of use. TKPH is an industry standard measurement and an integral part of Modulars Intellimine system. TKPH is continually calculated for each run and compared to the threshold value for that truck. When a calculated value exceeds the threshold an exception is posted to the exception screen to notify the dispatcher. These calculations

have been historically based on truck speed, payload, and rated capacity. By incorporating actual tire temperatures into this calculation, a more accurate TKPH will be obtained. It is important to note that this is only an indicator of tire endurance. Future developments by Modular Mining in this area will include using TKPH to aid in dispatching truck assignments. When the correlation made between tire temperature, load, speed and haul distance this information will also be used to help a mine meet its production objectives while minimizing costs associated with tires. More sophisticated TKPH calculations will utilize actual payload data, tire health calculations and TKPH limits on a per tire basis. Modulars Intellimine system will be able to predict when a TKPH threshold will be exceeded and enable the dispatcher to act proactively to avoid the actual event and unnecessary rerouting time. The end result of all this work to integrate the various systems is to realize a reduction in tire costs, which translates into reduced haulage costs.

CASE STUDY TIRE MONITORING AT FORDING RIVER COAL


Fording River Coal is a large open pit coal mine located in southern British Columbia near Elkford. Its waste loading equipment comprises seven shovels with loading capacities ranging from 12 m3 to 43 m3. Coal is loaded with five different loaders ranging from 15m3 to 38m3. The waste truck fleet comprises of 39 haul trucks, consisting of both mechanical and electric drive power trains. These trucks range in size from 220 tons to 290 tones. These fleets move over 250,000 BCMs of rock and coal every day. (Barrowman, 2001) Fording River Coal uses Modular Minings Intellimine system to handle their dispatching and vital signs monitoring requirements. Haul distances have continued to increase in the past few years. As a result, tire overheating has become a serious issue, as outlined in Figure 3. The mine began experiencing numerous tire failures due to heat separations in 1997 (rubber separating from the belt package). Initially, to combat this, trucks were rotated every shift from long to short haul, to allow the tires to cool. In the summer, however, this was not enough of a proactive action. The first tire monitoring solution that was employed consisted of temperature probes (inserted through the valve stem) and a pressure-sensing device. The truck needed to be stopped twice per shift to measure the contained air temperature and pressure. This resulted in consuming a persons time 24 hours a day in order to check the tires of the entire truck fleet twice per shift. This system has worked well on front tires, but the probes have been difficult to maintain on the rear tires. As a result of the deficiencies of this system, Fording looked to remote tire monitoring technologies.

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Figure 3 Average tire temperature as a function of haul distance (Barrowman, 2000)

Fording has been integrating tire-monitoring systems with its mine management system for the past two years. It has employed two different remote tire-monitoring solutions. The first system that they started using was Goodyears OTR Tire System. The functionality of this system has been described above. As the data was uploaded to the central computer a dispatcher was monitoring the screen. If temperature increased beyond a certain threshold, then the truck was sent on a short haul. As temperature increases so does pressure, so if the pressure appeared low compared to the temperature a tire technician was sent to inspect the tire. Fording currently is using mainly Michelin and Bridgestone tires and has therefore decided to phase out use of Goodyears tire monitoring system. At the same time they decided to look to another supplier for their remote tire-monitoring requirements. To meet these needs, Fording has turned to Fuller Brothers generic tire monitoring system, TAS. As described above, TAS measures contained air temperatures and pressures. It also calculates the required adjustment to the pressure. Initially, this system was installed on the front tires of the mechanical drive haul truck fleet. When this system was first installed, readings were taken and stored in a handheld unit. This method of monitoring tire data was not efficient so the next step was to interface the TAS system with Fordings Intellimine mine management system. Fording laid out several goals that needed to be met through the development of this interface: Receive only tire alarms at Intellimine, not a continual stream of information. An important consideration as they have an older generation Intellimine radio network. Detailed information needed to be made accessible upon request. The data must be retrieved using telemetry to the central computer without stopping the truck.

Once the data is received at central Intellimine, the dispatcher will need to handle this information. Fordings primary concern is determining an overall tire status for each truck. The hottest tire on that particular truck would determine this status. Correspondingly, the contained air pressure of the least inflated tire would determine the pressure alarm status of this truck. All status changes need to create an exception at the main Intellimine computer so that the appropriate personal are immediately notified of what is happening onboard the trucks. Fordings interest in this technology then justified the initiation of a project to interface TAS with Modulars Intellimine system. Fuller Brothers and Modular Mining initiated development of this interface in a manner that would meet Fording s expectations and those of future mine sites who would decide to employ this technology. This interface has basically two components: an alarm notification screen and a data polling utility. As alarm events occur onboard a truck, they are sent from TAS to Intellimine. Each alarm message carries the following information: tire position, current temperature, pressure and pressure deviation, and the alarm codes. These codes indicate whether the event is a high or low value warning or alarm. TAS is also able to recognize when the internal tire sensor is faulty. The polling utility enables a mine site to query any truck for the current tire data. All of this information is stored in a central database and can viewed at any time. Intellimine also enables the mine operator to associate the tire data with other information that has occurred at the same time, such as truck operator, geographic location, and payload. Development of this interface has recently been completed and beta testing is currently under way. The order of installation onsite at Fording will be the large electric drive trucks, electric drive trucks with a 28:1 gear ratio, mechanical drive trucks, and then remaining electric drive trucks. (Barrowman, 2001) Fording has realized many benefits from utilizing remote tire monitoring technology: When a tire goes flat it is immediately noticed. If the truck is able to stop quickly then the tire can be saved in many cases. Fording has been able to save 8 rear tires during the first two months of 2002. These were cases where valve stems had broken and a low-pressure reading was transmitted. The truck was stopped immediately and quick repairs made by a tire technician. A small cut or broken valve stem can be repaired at a much lower cost then replacing the entire tire. When tire-monitoring data is not collected in real time the data is used primarily for diagnostic purposes, signifying when the tire failed. In most cases, the tire would be destroyed as the truck continued to operate for a period of time.

Very heavy or unbalanced loads will be noticed immediately by looking at payload and tire temperature data. This enables the dispatcher to send the truck on a short haul to quickly dump its load. By continuously monitoring tire temperature throughout a shift the threshold values can be increased. By doing this Fording hopes to be able to increase the threshold values for the contained air temperature from 73 to 80 degrees Celsius. This will result in fewer trucks being sent on short hauls, which will lead to increased productivity, compared to previous tire monitoring practices. Historically, in order for a truck to be taken off a short haul, a technician would have to visit it and manually check to see if the tires have cooled sufficiently. This action is no longer required, as the tires can be remotely checked to see if they have cooled down. Whenever a truck is down it can be polled for all six cold inflation pressures. This allows a tire technician to visit the machine and make any needed adjustments without incurring additional downtime. Remote tire monitoring eliminates the need for a technician to roam the pit every shift to manually download tire data. This reduces manpower requirements and increases availability for the haul truck. All six tires can be monitored on a continuous basis--not just the front tires on a periodic basis, as was done in the past. The dispatcher now has sufficient lead-time to efficiently switch trucks to a shorter haul.

Fording plans to continually push the envelope for long haul high speed tire performance. As waste hauls will average 3.4 kilometers one way in year 2002, many long high-speed hauls will greatly exceed the TKPH rating of the tire and heat buildup is a certainty. Without tire telemetry technology, the only other way to eliminate tire heating is to slow the trucks down or reduce the size of the payload and this is not a viable option. Tire monitoring technology has enabled tire life to improve every year from 1997 to 2002, even with an increasing haul distance each year. The mine has already realized many benefits from investing in this technology and will continue to do so in the future as the technology evolves.

CONCLUSION
With tire costs representing a significant portion of total mining costs, large open pit mining operations are becoming increasingly interested in tire monitoring systems. Tire monitoring technology is clearly beginning to play an important role in extending the life of haulage tires, which translates directly into a cost savings for the mine. The strength of this technology is demonstrated when the tire data can be continuously monitored on a real-time basis. Valuable data can then be obtained when this information is integrated with other vital signs data and operational data captured by a mine management system. This data can then be used to modify operating and maintenance procedures to further extend tire life. Where can this technology go from here? Certainly, it will not stand still for long. The near future will yield further advances and more intelligent, interactive tire monitoring systems. Data that is gathered by a mine management system will be fed directly into tire tracking and management software. The main objective of this technology, which is to increase tire life and truck productivities and thus reduce costs, will not change.

REFERENCES
Barrowman, K. (2000), Fording River Operations Tire Telemetry Barrowman, K. (2001), The Effects Of Sensing Technology On Tires In The Mining Industry, Hughes, M. (2001), Conversations about tire monitoring at Phelps Dodge Chino mine Knights, P.F. (2001), Statistical correlation of off-highway tire failures with open pit haulage routes, Mining Engineering, August, 2001, pp. 51-56 Potts, A. (2001), Keep em running, World Mining Equipment, May, 2001, pp. 20-21

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