For several decades, the leading mining houses in South Africa have gone to great lengths to improve their safety records and minimise hazardous conditions inherent to the industry. De Beers is one of several role players that has taken a pioneering stance in rolling out a Collision Warning System (CWS) supplied by Booyco Electronics. The CWS, developed by Selectronic of Germany and VAK Technical Solutions, will warn both pedestrians and vehicle operators of their potentially dangerous proximity.
“Visibility in any mining operation, whether underground or above ground can be compromised by several factors,” Anton Lourens, Managing Director of Booyco Electronics, explains. “Dust and noise further complicate the situation as does the underground infrastructure and environment. CWS was developed to alert either pedestrians or vehicle operators, or both, of each other’s presence, focused on avoiding impending collisions.”
The current CWS 800 Plus is an upgraded version of an earlier technology, the CWS 500 which was introduced by Booyco Electronics a few years ago. “This technology initially served as a vehicle to pedestrian warning system. A magnetic field is created around vehicles and a low frequency tag is fitted to the miners’ lamps. An alarm is triggered in a first, outer zone if the pedestrian comes too close to the moving vehicle. If the pedestrian continues to approach and penetrates a second, inner zone, the vehicle operator is also warned.”
This technology has now been enhanced by the inclusion of a UHF RFID which allows for vehicle to vehicle alerts, while the VLF on the miners’ lamps provides vehicle to pedestrian alerts.
“Tests conducted over the past six months have been highly satisfactory,” Lourens says. “De Beers has requested roll-out of the technology on a fleet of 24 vehicles and for some 300 underground personnel. The very low frequency allows us to set an accurate warning zone from one up to 12 m. The VLF has remarkable through-rock penetration capabilities that makes it possible for pedestrians to detect moving vehicles approaching even from around corners. The UHF for vehicles enables us to establish a larger range of up to 50 m.”
Should a pedestrian approach too close to a vehicle, a warning light on his cap flashes and a buzzer installed in the cap lamp cable will begin to sound. The vehicle operator also has a visible and audible alarm in the cab. Pedestrians are trained to determine the direction of the approaching vehicle and move swiftly out of harm’s way while vehicle operators are required to stop immediately.
“We are currently installing the CWS 800 Plus equipment at the De Beers’ Finsch mine in the Northern Cape,” Lourens says. “Training of artisans, mine vehicle operators and other affected personnel is also being conducted. It is a very stable and predictable system which we can preset to a specific warning zone whose size is repeatable on the surface or underground, in all weather conditions. It is not affected by surrounding equipment, such as power cables or ventilation ducts as is the case with some UHF systems.”
The CWS technology was designed, developed and patented by Dr Valery Konovov of VAK Technical Solutions and manufactured by Selectronic of Germany. Booyco Electronics is the agent for the equipment and has been rolling it out in South Africa. According to Lourens, considerable interest has been shown in the CWS 800 Plus within all mineral sectors and the system has already been deployed at several mining operations.