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Penetrating Dust: our FMCW Distance Sensor Prototype Tested
in the Real Field Conditions in Nickel Mine
For
years, mines have used laser distance sensors to detect the
level of ore in ore passes. The accurate measurement of the
ore level in an ore pass is important for many reasons. Proper
ore pass level
information
is required to maintain the viability of the ore pass and to
maximize production. In order to prevent a “hung pass” or a
“sloughing pass” a method to reliably monitor the ore level is
required. As well, timely and reliable ore pass level is
required to plan production.
In order
to resolve the problem, laser rangefinders have been used but
with limited success. The principal problem associated with
laser sensors is that they cannot penetrate the dust that is
so common in ore passes. Another problem is that they require
ongoing cleaning. Thus, a millimeter wave sensor was tried as
the most likely option.
To find
out if the millimeter wave sensor could really work well in
their mines,
Inco's Mines Technology
Department (Copper Cliff, Ontario, Canada) ran a
comparative experiment in collaboration with ELVA-1 Millimeter
Wave Division and
Soquelec
Telecommunication,
our reps in Canada. A low power 10 mW, 94 GHz (3mm wave length)
sensor was chosen.
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Fig.1
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During
the experiment, a laser sensor was tested side to side with
the ELVA's FMCW Distance Sensor prototype (Fig.1). To simulate
an opaque dust cloud, a bag of cement and ore dust was
disseminated in a mine tunnel by compressed air and powerful
fans (Fig.2). A huge underground vehicle that was 50m distant
from the sensors played a target role (Fig.3).
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Fig.2 |
Fig.3 |
The
experiment showed that ELVA's FMCW Distance Sensor prototype
easily penetrated the cement dust and that the target echo was
clearly visible on the data collection PC (Fig.4). At the same
time the laser sensor lost sight of the target as soon as the
dust cloud reached the sensor beam.
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Fig.4 |
For more
info and additional comments on using ELVA's FMCW Distance
Sensor prototype during the experiment you can contact Philip
Ivanov (ivanovph@nnz.ru),
ELVA's Project Manager on radar technics.
Our reps in
Canada:
SOQUELEC Telecommunications.
E-mail:
telecom@soquelec.com
http://www.soquelec.com
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