Company insight
Smart systems for safe and accurate drilling
Data collection is key to ensuring mining operations are safe, accurate and efficient. With that in mind, J.H. Fletcher & Co offers a wide range of drill jumbos that incorporate graphic operator angle display systems designed to improve accuracy and data collection abilities.
.H. Fletcher & Co offers a complete line of drill jumbos. The product line includes models that operate in heights as low as 4in up to larger carriers that allow for coverage in headings up to 60in wide by 35in high. Fletcher’s wide variety of carriers also offer the option for either single or dual booms.
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The Fletcher GOAD System Fletcher’s Graphic Operator Angle Display (GOAD) is offered as an option on all Fletcher Drill Jumbos. The system is available in varying levels, dependent on the customer’s needs. Each system utilises sensors on the boom and feed mechanisms that display hole angles and depth of drilling on an in-cab monitor. This ensures accurate boom and feed alignment for precise hole placement and direction. The system is designed for use with both burn patterns and V-cut patterns. In operations using burn patterns, the drill round can be optimised, or longer rounds drilled due to precision drilling. In operations using V-cut patterns with variable hole depth, the system automatically calculates the proper depth for a flat blasted face and retracts the rock drill when the correct calculated depth is reached.
The GOAD system in operation, has seen a 30% improvement in the tonnage blasted along with a significant savings in fuel, blasting agents, drill steel and bits.
The GOAD system is available in a series of different options that includes increasing levels of automation with each tier. The most recent and advanced addition to the GOAD system is the Automated Entry Driver (AED). This version includes all previous functions and brings full automation to the drilling process with automatic drill entry.
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Fletcher’s GOAD system in action. The Fletchbus System
The latest in development for Fletcher Drill Jumbos is the Fletchbus system. The Fletchbus system works as a smart hub for machine operations and data collection, a port of communication between the operator and machine.
The system incorporates and refines previous features offered through the GOAD system. However, previously manually hydraulic operations now function through electrically actuated hydraulics. This refinement translates to fewer wires, hydraulic logic, hoses and valves. With the Fletchbus system, customers will receive more interlock features, safety features, diagnostics, flexibility and an increase in performance.
The system is equipped with a home screen display specific to the machine. Through this screen, the operator can perform machine functions and view an active dashboard for machine statistics. The operator also has the ability to review schematics, circuits and feedback information through the home screen display. The most actively used Fletchbus feature for drill jumbos, is the drilling screen that graphically represents the drilling performance. The system automatically
controls the drilling, and adjusts the drilling parameter for different strata and drilling conditions. This includes the ability to limit the drilling rate when drilling through contrasting strata layers and will help prevent acceleration when encountering voids and/or soft layers. The Fletchbus system also aids in preventing rotation stalls, issues resulting from voids, and plugged steels. All of these drilling functions are simultaneously displayed on the drilling screen, allowing the operator to monitor machine operations.
Safety is increased by the ability to incorporate a variety of interlocks into the system. This feature makes the state of functions mutually dependent. Interlocks aid in preventing the machine from harming its operator or damaging itself by preventing one element from changing state due to the state of another element. While Fletcher offers options for various interlocks and configurations, a basic example is the boom swing interlock. This limits the machine from allowing the boom to swing without a stab jack in place to stabilise the machine. The Fletchbus system is also equipped with advanced built-in diagnostics. When a failure occurs, the operator is prompted with an error message. With the Fletchbus system, error messages are programmed to display specifics, alleviating time spent trouble shooting. Overall, the system minimises down-time in the case of failure in the field.
The capabilities of this system are determined by customer specifications. This allows Fletcher to program the system specific to each machine, and accommodate any additional options. Because the system can be programmed in-house or on-site, adding and/or updating features has never been more flexible. ●
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