Spotlight Feature Articles Joy Global Drilling & Loading Apr17 | Page 3

DRILLING AND LOADING
means more holes every year, and at lower cost.
Another benefit of the automated features is
that less-experienced operators can now drill at
a more predictable level.”
Sandvik ‘i’-series drills, such as the Sandvik
DR461i, feature the proven Sandvik Intelligent
Control Architecture (SICA) CAN bus system.
This common platform across all Sandvik ‘i’-
series surface drills provides customers with
advanced diagnostics to minimise time to repair,
plus scalable automation that can be added at a
later date.
Atlas Copco new Pit Viper and
cabless PV 275
Recently introduced was the next Pit Viper in
Atlas Copco’s wide range of surface blasthole
drilling products. Building on the successful PV-
230 series, which is operating in over 15 major
mining markets, Atlas Copco has unveiled the
Pit Viper 231.
The PV-231 builds upon the innovation and
proven success of the PV-235, “while
maintaining the highest levels of productivity
and reliability.” Growing Atlas Copco’s single
pass offering, the drill will achieve a 16.2 m
clean hole, from a single pass tower on a rugged
engineered mainframe, capable of drilling a hole
between 171-250 mm. The company said that
one customer base specifically looking to get as
much value out of a single pass surface drill is
the gold market. Atlas Copco says it has worked
together with many gold mining companies to
make the drilling process more productive and
efficient with the PV-231.
The drill showcases the latest in Atlas Copco
technology, while focussing on ways to reduce
the total operating costs with features such as
the Atlas Copco patented hydraulic wet clutch
and its latest version of Autodrill.
Under the theme of The Future of Mining is
Now, Atlas Copco has also unveiled a fully
autonomous and cab-less Pit Viper 275
blasthole drill. Known as the PV-275 CA (C=cab-
less and A=autonomous) for now, the drill
includes the full suite of Atlas Copco products
required to run an autonomous drill. While the
PV-275 CA was designed and built as a concept
for the MINExpo 2016 show, it is fully
operational and the technology on display is
identical to the technology that Atlas Copco has
been using for years on semi- and fully
autonomous drills. At the heart of the
autonomous Pit Viper is the Rig Control System
(RCS) launched first by Atlas Copco over a
decade ago. This CAN-bus system provides the
building blocks for a fully autonomous, and now
cab-less Pit Viper.
Semi and fully autonomous drills with the
operator sitting remotely tend to have higher
utilisation than machines with operators in the
cab. “Seeing this, many customers have asked if
a cab is necessary with an autonomous drill. As
the Atlas Copco autonomous technology
continues to demonstrate success and
reliability, the question becomes more relevant
with the cab being used less. A cab-less drill
also shows Atlas Copco’s clear commitment to
the future of automation in blasthole drilling.”
In place of the cab is a terminal with an RCS
display, controls, a stool, and a table. At some
point during the drill’s life, some
troubleshooting or maintenance will require
some operational control from the deck and this
terminal accommodates those rare occasions.
The PV-275 CA was designed to have as much
commonality with the PV-275 as possible. The
location of the terminal wiring makes it simple
to select a cab or terminal without sacrificing
lead time. This also demonstrates the ease of
removing a cab in the field for those who want
to transition their own PV-275 to cab-less, fully
autonomous operation.
A cabinet within a PV-275 cab houses several
RCS components such as the GPS radios, safety
system, network hardware, Common
Communication Interface data platform (CCI),
etc. In the PV-275 CA, these components have
all now been moved to a ground level cabinet.
The cabinet is lit and easily accessible.
The drill rig at also has other options that are
available for the entire Pit Viper series of drills
to enable automation such as a safe to board
system; high precision GPS system; spinning
lasers for obstacle detection; and RF personnel
detection system.
Tyler Berens, Product Line Manager,
Automation at Atlas Copco Drilling Solutions
told IM: “Atlas Copco continues to place high
strategic importance in blasthole drill
automation as tangibly shown in our product
releases and global projects. Over the last year,
we have delivered intelligence systems that
were market firsts including a cabless - fully
autonomous Pit Viper drill, revolutionary
AutoDrill system and a Remote Operations
Centre package. At MINExpo 2016, the cabless -
Pit Viper debuted to very positive feedback
showcasing the fact that autonomous drills are
very much real and providing value globally.
Additionally, the Remote Operations Centre
provides the distant supervisor a complete
system to efficiently manage a fleet of
autonomous drills. Last December, a completely
redesigned AutoDrill system was released that
transforms how drilling is accomplished.
AutoDrill 2 was designed with two main
objectives. To improve drilling performance, and
provide a simple and intuitive setup process.
The performance transforms the way drilling is
accomplished by matching the power of the Pit
Viper drill, the capability of the bit, and the
intelligence of listening to the ground through
patent pending algorithms. Unparalleled hole
quality is maintained from collar to cleaning.
AutoDrill 2 will ensure high penetration rates
without sacrificing bit life, reducing overall
drilling cost. In the two years of development,
we saw 20-80% gains in productivity over
manned drills and existing AutoDrill systems.
We see the Autonomous Pit Viper growth
continuing over the coming years as many new
projects are underway globally to make
autonomous drilling the norm and not the
exception. Looking forward, we continue to put
APRIL 2017 | International Mining