Spotlight Feature Articles Joy Global Surface Loading & Drilling April 16 | Page 12

SURFACE DRILLING AND LOADING

Inside a FLANDERS ARDVARC autonomous
drilling command centre
less than the ability to drill 99.5% of all holes
without human interaction with the machine. The
FLANDERS automated drill system, ARDVARC®,
was developed more than 10 years ago and has
drilled well over a million holes to date. The
recently launched Version 5.0 is the 5th
generation of the software, built from the ground
up. This version includes enhancements of auto
drill functionality and increased real-time drill
operator feedback, reducing downtime as a
result. The advantage of ARDVARC is also that it
is OEM agnostic and so can be installed on a
fleet of drills made up of various OEM machines.
This provides a consistent operator interface
across all makes and models, even older models.
Mixed drill fleets are actually very common in
large mines, as mines change hands and as new
models are trialled and older ones maintained.
Jim Elkins, Global Business Development
Manager, Mining Automation Flanders told IM:
“ARDVARC can be retrofitted on any drill make or
model. It requires a wireless Ethernet network
but can utilise a variety of existing machine
network protocols, or FLANDERS can wire and
sensor a machine if required.” The hardware
includes HMI touch screen, replacement operator
chair with controls (joystick, buttons, etc), PLC,
remote I/O blocks, sensors, and GPS. The
ARDVARC Command Centre communicates via
Ethernet, therefore there is no distance
limitation. The ARDVARC Command Centre can be
installed on a mobile vehicle, or most commonly,
in the mine’s facility.
In terms of integration with wider mine
planning systems, he adds: “ARDVARC, like other
drill data collection systems, has long supported
efforts to measure and correlate ‘actual’ drilled
data verses ‘planned.’ ARDVARC was one of the
first systems in mining to provide high quality
MWD (Measured While Drilling) or down-the-hole

International Mining | APRIL 2015

data for both direct and cross systems utilisation.
The open architectural model used in FLANDERS
systems has allowed for direct integration into
the various fleet automation systems, fleet
optimisation systems, blast planning systems,
and fleet machine health systems. As the use of
continuous fragmentation measurement systems
grows, the FLANDERS data, such as Drill Energy
Index, also continues to serve as a foundation for
fragmentation optimisation efforts.”
Elkins said of the market for these systems
that despite the downturn, in the last two years,
it has sold more Fully Autonomous ARDVARC
systems than One-Touch ARDVARC systems.
“This trend has reversed from years prior in that
we are seeing more Fully Autonomous systems
sold than lesser automated options.” The
company confirmed that is has Fully Autonomous
fleets in operation rather than just single
machines. Elkins added that customers have
been seeing payback periods of between one and
three years with the majority of the mines that
have purchased one system going on to buy
multiple systems.
The motivation to switch to full drill
automation is a mix of safety and productivity.
Some locations with dangerous geological
conditions want to remove personnel from the
environment as a way to protect their employees.
Other mine operations are looking for increased
and predictable production.
The installation of a FLANDERS ARDVARC
automatic drilling system on a fleet of drills at
Freeport McMoRan’s Dos Pobres copper
operation near Safford provides GPS navigation
to each hole through the operator, auto-levelling
and auto-drilling from collaring the hole to
finishing the hole and machine monitoring and
fault notification. The system also produces a
quantitative Drill Energy Index value. This value is
determined from an algorithm accounting for
rotary torque and speed as well as hoist down
force and speed which is then averaged over the

amount of time it takes to drill 0.3 m, scaled for
typical drilling conditions and displayed onboard
the drill as well as stored in a database. The main
factors considered in drill pattern design are rock
hardness, water table information, ground
conditions and dominant structural direction.
Once the hardness zones are developed for an
existing bench, they are forecasted down to
predict rock hardness on new benches. This
forecasting allows for patterns to be planned
with the correct burden and spacing for the type
of material expected. Once a pattern is drilled,
the Drill Energy Index numbers for that pattern
can be compared and reconciled with the
forecasted hardness shapes.
For example, i