China’s XCMG says it has successfully tested its XKY270E rotary blasthole rig, which it says is the first remote control capable and ‘intelligent’ surface mining drill rig developed in China.
The company states: “The research and development of the XKY270E represents a breakthrough for XCMG after several years of technology accumulation and refinement. Drilling as the start of the process that continues to blasting, digging and loading, transportation and crushing is a key part of the mining process, so the quality of the machinery itself directly affects operational efficiency and the quality of the subsequent links, so there are extremely high requirements for the blast hole drilling process.”
The drill hole diameter of the rig can reach 251-270 mm, with a drilling angle of 60-90° and a maximum drilling depth of 53 m. A double output motor is used to improve heat dissipation effect, and XCMG says it has all the functions of competitor rigs including automatic levelling, automatic drilling, fault diagnosis assistance, remote driving, hole guidance, plus simulation and analysis capabilities, to ensure the safety and high efficiency of the mining area operation. At the same time, it is equipped with XCMG’s 70-ton mining excavator chassis, “which has been verified by the market for decades and has both strength and a reputation for being robust, stable and reliable.” It adds: “In addition, multiple intelligent capabilities can meet customer needs such as fault monitoring and diagnosis, including recording anomalies in real time, helping to extend the service life of the equipment.”
XCMG says that the XKY270E drill has accumulated more than 7,000 m of drilling metres so far, with stable operation throughout and gaining the approval of the mining customer. A drill operator at the mine stated: ”We were working in the field, with a lot of dust and noise, and a high risk factor. Now in the control room we can remotely operate this drill, greatly improving our working environment, but also giving us a lot of real time intelligence on the machine.”
Together with a 5G low latency network, XCMG adds that the XKY270E can makes full use of information and digital sharing to achieve near real time remote interaction between high resolution field images from cameras and operations and operator instructions, including remote control driving. “The response time from instruction to equipment action is less than 50 milliseconds, providing an accurate and fast remote control system, and helping to create an unmanned mining environment.”
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