Booyco Electronics celebrates 15 successful years of supplying its fire detection systems to the South African mining industry, boasting some of the largest systems installed for leading industry players. One of its most recent contracts was awarded by a gold mine and calls for full time on-site maintenance of one of the company’s systems. Under the new contract Booyco Electronics will also take responsibility for all new installations at the mine, as well as maintenance of all sensors and equipment underground. The company first entered the fire detection market in 2007 through a technology and distributorship agreement with Des-Pro Technology. Following a major methane explosion in one of its shafts, a large gold mining company in Welkom approached Des-Pro to design an IS compliant fire detection system. This equipment was designed to work in conjunction with a centralised blasting system, also developed by Des-Pro for the mine. Booyco Electronics subsequently developed its own fire detection technology offering from this initial design.
“Our REMCON fire detection system was developed to meet the requirements of the mining industry for monitoring multiple gasses at specific locations,” says Booyco Electronics’ Jaco du Plessis. “Although the heart of the system has stayed the same over the years, we’ve added a smart sensor range that allows for local view of gas levels. A ‘plug and play’ sensor makes system maintenance faster and easier, because sensors can be replaced underground without the need for recalibration. This controller can also accommodate up to 15 different gas types.”
The company’s robust sensor enclosures are made of steel and the system is modular, making it adaptable to the specific requirements of each client. All components are designed and manufactured locally, which ensures that the system is appropriate for South African operating conditions. A major benefit of the design is that the system can be used for more than fire detection purposes, since the monitoring units have various input and output channels. For example, monitoring of ventilation fan status, ventilation door position and ventilation door control as well as pump status and dam levels.
Booyco Electronics’ REMCON system uses a standard interface protocol called Modbus RTU that can be used over a serial-copper, serial- fibre optic or Ethernet backbone. This system also caters for equipment with a Profibus interface.
“These protocols are universal and are used by most of the large control system manufacturers, making it possible for our customers to make use of other compatible equipment with the REMCON system,” du Plessis says. “The equipment used for the fire detection system uses open wire modem technology and can be run over long distances of up to 5 km on a four core cable. The control room system is able to use any industrial type Scada software package such as Adroit, iFix, Citect, InTouch and Wincc. The level or main controllers are standard controllers without certification, while the remote controllers are multi-channel devices supporting up to eight analogue and eight digital inputs as well as eight digital outputs. These remote controllers can be controlled from the Scada PC or by programming the level controllers.
“All levels identified as marshalling areas are fitted with a high speed programmable communication controller with a serial to modem converter for each level dedicated to the marshalling controller. This combination makes it possible to run local alarms and functions, even if the computer on surface is turned off.”
All panels come standard with 8 A hour battery backup and can be used as a remote interface to acquire data from remote I.O. devices at regular intervals. Up to 64 devices can be connected to a single level controller.
“We’re currently developing Ethernet based units that will enable the system to tie into the mine’s expanding Ethernet network without having to install expensive Ethernet switches and media converters,” du Plessis adds. “By running a fibre cable up the monitoring unit we’re able to reduce the requirement for expensive copper cable installations.”
Booyco Electronics deploys dedicated technicians to look after the product range where required, but the system is so simple that most customers are able to conduct their own maintenance after undergoing training.