2D & 3D VAULT SCAN
Norway Orepass
A 1D iLDR-H radar sensor under a primary crusher measures the level of a 200 meter long ore pass in an iron ore mine in Norway. The system shows the continuous changes in the level, allowing the customer to control the crushing and conveying.
In addition, the information on ore pass volume and changes in the ore pass allows informed decisions to be made to ensure that the ore pass is not worn or blocked.
Vessel in Australia
A custom iBerth solution is utilized on a vessel in Australia to detect rolling, trimming and bowing during loading operations. This ensures that the vessel is loaded correctly, while providing the crew with the necessary information to monitor the loading process and the vessel’s movement. This contributes to avoiding any damage to the ship’s structure.
iBerth On Vessel
A vessel that travels usually short distances and docks once or twice per day was equipped with an iBerth system to have all the information that iBerth provides, independent of the harbor infrastructure.
This information helps the crew to navigate and dock the vessel faster and safer – especially in difficult weather situations where visibility is limited, at night times, in narrow ports or during berthing in thick fog.
Ship drift in Australia
In Australia, at a place where the highest tidal changes can be found, the solution supports operations in two ways:
- It provides a drift detection of the vessels at berth. This provides a massive improvement in safety for daily operations. The picture on the left shows a measured ship drift of 89 cm, causing an alarm.
- Besides this, the solution provides data about the position of the incoming vessel – which supports docking activities.
Unique data for harbout management systems
A port in Brazil uses the iBerth solution as an asset to their harbour management system. indurad provides data:
- distance of Bow
- distance of stern
- speed
- approach angle
In combination with further datapoints such as:
- vessel type and loading
- wind speed
- tide
the system provides a full set of information to the operators, increasing efficiency and safety in daily operations as well as in special conditions where operations are more difficult to perform (e.g., high tide, low tide, strong rain and thunderstorms etc.).
System upgrade from Laser to Radar
Performance deficits and constant cleaning efforts were the main drivers in 2012 to turn to Out Indurad for an update of the existing loading automation.
Particularly fast changing material properties (mostly driven by wet/dry material) as well as residual material were, besides the rainy environment, the main challenges.
indurad replaced the existing system based on PE cells and 2D laser sensors with a pure radar approach. The results exceeded all expectations. The customer reported:
- Increase of the capacity of the car rail up to 3 tons
- Increased homogeneity of load distribution on each wagon.
- Increased rail availability
- Increased operational safety.
A major consulting firm involved in this project reported an annual value contribution of $50 million.
Performance Improvements Iron Ore Loadout
In this project for a major Australian iron ore mine in the Pilbara region, Indurad implemented a reclaimer and loadout solution as a turnkey supplier.
The main objectives were to improve the reclaim rates in order to more consistently deliver the right quality material to the loadout:
- 4.3% improved net reclaim rate
- 75% reduction in bucket wheel overtorque
This results in a more consistent production and quality mix to the loadout. The loadout itself was equipped with several iLoadout and iBelt modules for archiving:
- Train loading accuracy, allowing higher car set points without overloading
- 30% more train speed (from 0.9km/h to 1.2km/h)
- >1 ton less standard deviation (from 3.7t to 2.3t)
indurad was able to deliver the project at warp speed. It took 5 months and 2 days from order to acceptance.
Iron Ore Rollout Australia
indurad has partnered with a major iron ore company in Australia and has equipped 14 TLOs in Australia with the Autonomous Train Load Out System (ATLS). The rollout has been ongoing since 2012.
Depending on the site, the loadout is fed by an iReclaimer controlled iron ore stockyard and the bin above the railcar loadout is measured by an indurad iSilo solution. The loadouts are equipped with radar based speed measurement, ore car positioning systems and 2D radar chute automation.
Lime Producer
Fast and easy installation
The compact iSilo solution, consisting of a single scanning 3D radar (iSDR-P) and a combined processing and connectivity unit (iRPU-F), provides a complete surface model of the silo.
By knowing the capacity and deriving the current fill level, loading, unloading and truck dispatch times are significantly improved. The result is significantly reduced cueing times and more customer deliveries per day. One factor in particular improves the overall dispatch process, as a loading truck no longer has to wait for an unloading truck to finish its work. The system now allows the silo to be loaded and unloaded simultaneously.
Aluminum Plant
Inventory information & Safety
The customer is an aluminium plant in Iceland. The material (alumina) they receive to feed the operation must be dispatched well in advance as it is delivered by vessels from distant suppliers around the globe.
The alumina is received into a large silo from which it is drawn into operation.To maximise production, it is vital to ensure the silo is close to empty when a ship arrives so that the maximum-sized shipment can be received without halting production.To achieve this, precise knowledge of the volume of material in the silos is critical to make the optimal dispatching decisions in a long lead-time environment.
The customer also encountered operational challenges during vessel unloading due to the inability to adjust the silo’s 17 filling points individually, which resulted in uneven material distribution during loading. To address this, operators were only able to slow the loading process to allow the material to redistribute more evenly. By observing this process during the ship unloading, the operators were able to adjust the filling points to achieve a more uniform distribution, ultimately leading to a reduction in unplanned and costly berthing times for the customer.
