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20 June 2010 Today’s Drilling Challenges Met With Boart Longyear ® Drilling Technology By Brandon Jaynes Two Rivers Marketing The economic downturn has undoubtedly made its mark on the coal industry. Despite the plummeting prices of most commodities, coal remained viable throughout most of 2009, and in some sectors even increased by a small percentage, primarily due to long-term coal contracts that were initiated during the previous commodity boom. This led many drilling companies that specialized in other mineral commodities toward coal exploration projects — flooding the market with new operations. With an increased number of players in the market and fewer investment dollars to go around, coal drillers have become more cost-focused as they have been faced with unprecedented downward pressure on their margins. Productivity has become more important than ever before. While margins have improved for many drilling contractors in 2010, some experts are saying that full recovery will be slow, and amidst concerns in the United States over current coal legislation, cap and trade and what that could mean for the entire industry, drilling contractors are remaining steadfast and keeping their drills in the ground. In addition to a new, more competitive market and lower contract margins, drilling contractors are still faced with many traditional challenges. <strong>Coal</strong> can be found in highly varied ground conditions throughout the globe — in the United States it is most prevalent in the Appalachia region and the soft ground of the interior Midwestern states — and even with a high degree of specialization, these varied conditions lead to difficulty for drill crews. While challenges vary tremendously from region to region, it is common for surface exploration crews worldwide to encounter hard seams when drilling in soft ground. “These hard lenses invariably tear up traditional surface set drill bits,” explains Monika Portman, corporate communications manager for Boart Longyear. “The crew then has to trip out the rod string to replace the bit — this causes costly downtime, and can have a significant impact on the profitability of an operation.” As a 120-year-old global mineral exploration company, Boart Boart Longyear Drill Rig Longyear has been heavily involved in the soft ground market — coal, limestone, sandstone — for many years in the United States, Europe, South Africa and Australia, and has encountered surface coring challenges firsthand, as well as through their customers across the globe. Traditional surface set coring bits weren’t holding up to the needs of today’s drilling contractors, so in March of 2010, Boart Longyear introduced the new Surface Set XP bits. This new generation of coring bits is unlike anything in the industry, and has the capacity to redefine the surface-set category and set a new benchmark for productivity in soft and sedimentary applications. Traditional surface set bits are composed of a hard matrix with a single layer of natural diamonds on the surface. This single layer of natural diamonds struggles to perform when faced with a hard seam or other abrupt change in ground conditions. Throughout the development of the new bits, the world-class metallurgical engineers at Boart Longyear designed a patented Ultramatrix, which is capable of holding multiple layers of large synthetic stones in place throughout the life of the bit, increasing productivity and bit life, which yields better penetration and reduces rod tripping and costly downtime. Boart Longyear tested these bits with a key customer in West Virginia, among several other regions throughout the globe. The Customer’s crews on site were impressed at the penetration rates, and the new bits were far exceeding expectations. It was here that the Boart Longyear Ultramatrix was perfected. Where a traditional surface set bit would average about 1500 feet, drillers on the testing site were reaching depths up to 4500 feet with a single bit — three times longer life in the ground than a traditional surface set bit. Throughout the testing phase, the new bits delivered superior cutting and deeper penetration than anyone on site had ever seen, and when met with hard lenses that often destroy traditional surface-set bits, the bits were proven to have a strong “push-through” capability, often pushing through the seam with little to no impact on penetration rates, preventing unnecessary rod trips and enabling the drillers to keep their rod string in the ground longer. The bits also proved to be highly versatile, yielding similar results with both low-powered, high-torque rigs and high-powered, low-torque rigs. <strong>Coal</strong> is a crucial industry that is faced with many challenges. Advances in drilling technology will play an essential role in meeting those challenges, and Boart Longyear will continue to contribute to the future of coal production. Boart Longyear Launches Flyable Rig Boart Longyear® Limited, the world’s leading integrated drilling services and products provider, released the new flyable SC11 rig, the only compact and modular rig in its class that offers 5456 Nm of torque and can manage PQ-size rods. The drill is a surface exploration rig targeted at the 1300- to 1500- meter NQ market, and can be broken down into compact flyable modules. “The SC11 is built from Boart Longyear’s proven LM® technology and designed for use in surface applications where access is limited and drill footprint is a critical consideration,” said Craig Mayman, Boart Longyear global product manager for capital equipment. “It’s extremely flexible — conveniently assembling and disassembling in flyable, compact modules — while delivering best-in-class power at a cost-competitive value. And, in colder regions, its compact size enables operation inside a drill shack.” The SC11 delivers large-diameter Boart Longyear Drill Rig is Flown In and deep-hole drilling capacity with a 132 kN pullback rating and PQ handling capacity. The rig features a variable-speed motor that provides a low-end torque output of 5456 Nm at the head for tri-cone drilling and a 1230-rpm speed for diamond drilling. Whether low or high-torque applications, the SC11 features high-efficiency hydraulics to easily make or break rod joints and transport rods safely. Hydraulic actuators also control the rig’s rod handler, providing smooth and efficient movement in three dimensions. The rod handler utilizes proven LM rod-handling technology and features proximity sensors to protect the operator by preventing rod drops when operators are nearby. A laser beam system positioned between the helper and Drill Rig in Use rod handler control panel stops movement when drillers enter the operating area. Once the beam is interrupted, the rod handler immediately stops and can only be restarted when the driller resets it. In addition, the rig utilizes the patented Boart Longyear Nitro Chuck ® with gas-charged springs that actuate the jaws holding the rods to provide fail-safe operation. The control panel also utilizes lifttoshift rotation and feed levers to deliver constant speed and protect the operator against accidental actuation. The SC11 has been designed to easily break down into flyable modules, with the heaviest lift being only 680 kg. Lifting points are easy to identify and are positioned at the module’s center of gravity to provide a balanced load, while quick-connect hydraulic couplings further accelerate assembly and disassembly and prevent oil spills. All modules utilize easy-to-see guides to help operators quickly align and assemble the rig, speeding up the landing process. Pressed steel framing with malefemale joints help the modules drop into position and highly visible jacking and lifting points make assembly and disassembly safe and easy. To learn more contact the local Boart Longyear sales representative or visit www.boartlongyear.com/sc11.
June 2010 21 Joy OPTIDRIVE Technology Available on Feeder-Breakers Few innovations in mining machinery technology have been as widely adopted and enthusiastically accepted as has Joy Mining Machinery’s OPTIDRIVE AC variable frequency drive. In less than two decades, OPTIDRIVE has grown from inception to being universally applied to Joy’s underground mining equipment, most recently as an option on the company’s STAMLER PROD- UCTS of Feeder-Breakers. “There have been variable frequency drives (VFDs) on feeder-breakers for a number of years,” offered Mike Chizmar, Global Product Manager Feeder-Breakers, “but nothing to compare with the advanced integrated capabilities Joy’s OPTIDRIVE brings. “Additionally, with OPTIDRIVE our customers have a single interchangeable drive control system for JOY underground mining machines: Shuttle cars, continuous miners, flexible conveyor trains and, now, feederbreakers,” he said, noting that each piece of equipment still retains the software unique to its application. What OPTIDRIVE does is integrate the electrical and mechanical systems and each unique piece of software. Where the motors and drive in the OPTIDRIVE system are designed for each other, Joy controls the technology to ensure a compatible system that maximizes utilization of both components, as opposed to using industrial off-the-shelf components modified for underground mining. OPTIDRIVE equipped feeder-breakers are available for both underground and surface applications. Interest in VFD with underground feeder-breakers is on the increase and, currently, about 60% of the units going into surface applications are so equipped. All STAMLER Feeder-Breakers with electro-mechanical conveyors are capable of accepting VFDs. Worldwide, more than 1,000 STAM- LER Feeder-Breakers are currently in use making Joy the market leader for feeder-breakers in both the U.S. and globally. The origin of OPTIDRIVE dates back to 1992 when Joy adapted AC variable frequency drives to two existing continuous miners, with redesign and retrofitting following in 1996 and 1997, the same year when Joy installed a similar VFD on a longwall shearing machine; the same basic unit in use today, upgraded along the way to improve and increase overall performance. The major advantage of AC drives is that more power can be provided to drive a machine within the same space previously occupied by DC motors. Additionally, because AC motors are brushless, the time-consuming and maintenance expense of brush replacement associated with DC motors is eliminated, as is the possibility of contaminants entering the motor during replacement. In 2001, the next generation VFD system was fitted to continuous miners and, two years later, to Joy’s flexible conveyor train (FCT) continuous JOY STAMLER Feeder-Breaker with Joy OPTIDRIVE haulage system and shuttle cars. By 2004, Joy introduced OPTIDRIVE, the bringing together of the interchangeable hardware and the software unique to each machine under a single brand name. “Since then,” Chizmar noted, “its success has been exceptional and the reason for this unparalleled success is OPTIDRIVE’s proven increased performance, reliability and availability. In addition to offering the universal benefits of interchangeable parts and reduced inventories, reduced maintenance costs and lower costs per ton of coal mined, OPTIDRIVE also brings individual benefits to each piece of equipment, such as increased longwall shearer motor capacities and new software that provides increased current limit of the drive at slower motor speeds, improving both performance and reliability. “With shuttle cars,” he continued, “OPTIDRIVE resulted in a significant increase in power, speed and productivity, as well as in improved operator comfort that in itself promotes productivity. With continuous miners, this gave Joy the ability to design physically smaller machines for low seams without sacrificing the power and mass essential to mining the coal in the most productive and efficient way possible. Also, OPTIDRIVE made it possible to increase the maximum tramming speed of the continuous miner to more than 85 feet per minute (25 metres per minute) and, in the instance of the JOY 14CM27 continuous miner, to 90 feet per minute (27 metres per minute). This means less time moving place-to-place and more time doing what a continuous miner is designed to do, mine coal.” The key to the effectiveness of the identical OPTIDRIVE hardware and machine-specific software is no better demonstrated than in its application to Joy’s flexible conveyor train. OPTIDRIVE matches the speed of the traction and belt systems between the outby and inby ends of the machine, enabling the operator to tailor the belt speed to match the production rate of the continuous miner. This helps reduce belt wear that, together with the system’s soft-start capability, results in longer belt life and lower costs per ton of coal mined. “This is similar to what OPTIDRIVE brings to STAMLER Feeder-Breakers,” Chizmar noted. “While the function of the feeder-breaker is the same regardless of application—to break/size material, to convey it and discharge it—its final design may not be as we take into consideration the hardness of the material to be processed and the potential detrimental effects, if any, on the conveyor related components. Other design concerns include customer preferences and associated maintenance.” According to Joy, the OPTIDRIVE system programming controls the conveyor by two means. Either the conveyor speed can be varied manually through the VFD or the breaker motor amperage readings can slow the conveyor automatically to facilitate breaking of the material being conveyed to the discharge end of the unit. Prior to OPTIDRIVE, with electro-mechanical conveyors the only way this could be accomplished would be to physically install retarding chains or to change sprockets or electric motor RPM, neither of which is really feasible unless the change is to be permanent. OPTIDRIVE allows an operator to control 25% to 100% of the feederbreakers rated conveyor throughput capacity, which is particularly important in handling hard materials. By slowing down the flow of material through the breaker, there is less impact and shock load on the breaker components, prolonging life and reducing maintenance. In one instance, in converting from an electro-mechanical conveyor machine to an OPTIDRIVE AC-VFD unit, an operator reported reducing the number of shear pin failures by more than 50%. “With OPTIDRIVE,” Chizmar continued, “these advantages are accomplished with less hydraulic circuits while requiring less than typical hydraulic maintenance. When you can increase efficiency, decrease wear, decrease maintenance and the time it takes to perform it, you allow the operator to spend more time in the coal. When you do that, you have made a major contribution to lowering costs per ton, improving production and productivity, and increasing profitability.”
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Page 19: June 2010 19 Atlas Copco “Sustain
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Page 27 and 28: Thursday, June 17 The Resort at Gla
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