Autonomous Inspection Unit Seaham Quarry Site Contact: Richard Tomkins - Quarry Manager Phone:

Background  Preventative Maintenance inspections are key in running a successful and reliable quarry operation. The benefits of properly operated preventative maintenance are; -Equipment downtime is decreased and the number of major repairs are reduced -Better conservation of assets and increased life expectancy of assets, thereby eliminating premature replacement of machinery and equipment -Reduced overtime costs and more economical use of maintenance workers due to working on a scheduled basis instead of a crash basis to repair breakdowns -Timely, routine repairs circumvent fewer large-scale repairs -Improved safety and quality conditions for everyone -Accurate records of inspections and completed tasks enables trending for predictive maintenance activity.  A significant quantity of preventative maintenance inspections require equipment to be isolated and personnel to enter a space not designed for human occupancy.

Concern  Preventative maintenance inspections in screens and chutes require personnel to engage in high risk activities, particularly; -Confined Space  Manual handling and movement tasks associated with screen and chute inspections can cause strains  Length of time required to complete the inspections – what is acceptable?  Preparation of documentation for maintenance activities is time consuming  Record keeping of accurate inspections are not detailed enough.

Cause  The operational, maintenance and management team asked themselves “Why do we need personnel to enter a confined space to conduct an inspection?”  The answer being “Because that is how the industry has historically done it”  From this the team set a task to find a solution and eliminate the risks associated with conducting screen & chute inspections, improve the time required to conduct inspections and provide accurate records of inspections

 Together the team identified an opportunity using remote camera technology to eliminate the need for personnel to enter the confined space.  The camera system can take photos and video recordings which can be saved on a computer and referred to at a later date.  The need for high risk permits and confined space training is no longer necessary to conduct screen inspections. Solution – Remote Camera Inspection Unit

 The unit can identify; -Missing bolts -Wear on screen media -Worn centre & side rails -Chute wear -Material build up -Pegging

 The original application lacked the flexibility of being able to turn and focus on issues. Together the team identified an opportunity using RC vehicles to excel the capability and application of the system.  Extensive research was undertaken to find the most appropriate lighting and RC build to ensure the vehicle was robust and provided quality film and photos. Further Development – Autonomous Inspection Unit

The unit worked so well in the screens we went one step further sending it into chutes and under crushers where we have our most tightest confined spaces. Again giving us a great view and taking the strain of the inspector. Image on right shows the inspector 12 meters deep under the 3 rd crusher in making the retrieval extremely difficult if needed to be performed.

Future Developments  The team has begun work to setup a pivot control system on the camera. This will allow them to drive the unit to a specific location then use the camera controls to look around adding even more flexibility and investigative power to the system.

Benefit Analysis  After implementing the autonomous inspection unit for screen inspections the maintenance team have; -Eliminated the risk of working in a confined space -Eliminated the risk of manual handling and moving -Reduced inspection time by 1 hour -Reduce documentation preparation (SWMS, High risk permits) -Accurate and detailed inspection records  Using the autonomous inspection unit ; Screen inspection time is now 1.5hours and 1 person compared to 2.5 hours with 2 people. Screen inspection hours have now gone from 36hours down to 18hours per month reducing the hours checking the screens by 50% and taking the manual labour strain off the operator. The unit also gives a clear visual record for some extra advice if the screen cloth needs to be changed or there maybe more life in them. We have been saving around $3500 on cloths a month by maximising their life span.

® Build something great™ (BCM NSW/ACT Country Quarries (North) – Seaham Quarry) Richard Tomkins March 2015