Case Study: Collision Awareness Solution for Komatsu 830E
Customer: Alinta Energy – Leigh Creek Coal Mine
Background
Interactions between heavy mobile equipment and light vehicles on a mine site are necessary – but every movement comes with the risk of an accident that could result in damage, injury or even death.
In 2015, a 240-tonne Komatsu 830E haul truck collided with a light vehicle at Alinta Energy’s Leigh Creek Coal Mine in South Australia. The truck was moving forward from a parked position when it hit the light vehicle with its off (right) side.
While nobody was injured in the incident, the near-miss highlighted just how easily things can go wrong when you mix large blind spots with inactive warning systems. Unfortunately the Leigh Creek example is far from an isolated incident – 79% of all open cut mining accidents involve large machines, while 69% occur during low speed or reversing operations.
But there are solutions that can help lower these worrying statistics.
In the wake of the incident at Leigh Creek, Alinta Energy turned to APS Lighting and Safety, searching for a system that would ensure future vehicle interactions were less likely to become accidents.
Project Scope
APS was engaged to facilitate an on-site trial involving collision awareness devices, with an integrated camera and monitor configuration.
The system needed to provide obstacle detection on the right hand side of the truck out to a maximum distance of 5m; with the coverage area extending forward 5m on the front right of the vehicle.
A second coverage area was needed to assist with reversing, extending 2m past the extremity of the tray along the entire rear of the truck. The front right hand corner of the vehicle was the most critical area for coverage.
Our Solution
APS recommended the use of PreView Sentry. This all-in-one blind spot detection, active warning and visual clarification system was developed specifically for the harsh environments found in the mining industry and provides consistent blind spot coverage up to 32ft/10m in distance.
Download our sample solutions
Feel free to click our PDF sample solutions below, which are a simplified representation of the harness and wiring schematic. For more detailed wiring and component details, please contact your local APS sales manager.4 PreView Sentry sensors (1 rear, 1 right, 2 front), 3 cameras, 1 display
PDF Download: Click Here
Customised Implementation
Limited mounting points on the side of the vehicle made it impossible to cover the entire right hand side of the truck without extending past the 5m zone as a result of the beam patterns of the PreView Sentry.
But, the critical front right hand side of the truck was able to be comprehensively covered with sensors and integrated cameras/monitor.
At the back of the truck, one sensor was utilised to cover the 2m zone to the rear. While this sensor was set at 6m to facilitate Alinta Energy’s requirements, it could be increased to 10m to give greater coverage to the sides, although this would provide detection up to 6m past the last point of the tray.
Results
After trialling the PreView Sentry on site, its effectiveness in a range of situations was praised by machine operators:
“A brilliant tool to assist in operating a truck when dumping and checking if there is an obstacle behind you, it eliminates any risk whilst reversing – should be fitted to all of our trucks.”
“I found myself using them especially taking off from park to check blind spots.”
Leigh Creek’s maintenance personnel were also impressed with the system’s ease of installation.
“The customer service provided by APS Lighting and Safety was very good, with the sales manager delivering the system to site himself and bench testing this onsite prior to installation to ensure that our maintenance personnel were familiar with the system. The plug and play installation was very simple and was easily completed in one shift.”
The trial system was purchased by Leigh Creek and after a successful installation and testing period, the PreView Sentry was set to be rolled out to all Komatsu 830Es on site.
To minimise the chances of vehicle collision and to give your operators the tools required to see where their eyes cannot, please contact your APS Sales Manager.