Pictured here is a driverless truck driving in the Jungar open-pit coal mine. Courtesy of Junneng Group
Communications: Visiting a driverless project in a well-known open-pit coal mine in China: "black collar" becoming white collar is not a dream
China News Network Ordos, January 4 Title: Visiting the unmanned driving project on China's well-known open-pit coal mine: "Black collar" to become white collar is not a dream
China News Network reporter Li Aiping
In the cold winter wind, several "Big Macs" -- mine trucks weighing more than 7 meters high and weighing more than 500 tons - drove on the Heidaigou open-pit coal mine.
There are no drivers on these trucks, and the path is completely controlled by technicians several kilometers away with computers.
Recently, a reporter from China News Service rushed to The Zunger Banner in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to visit the current situation of these unmanned trucks.
The visit found that as the location of the largest open-pit coal mine in China and even In Asia, the minecart drivers on the Jungarqi open-pit coal mine are changing from "black collar" to white collar.
"These trucks are completely autonomous in loading, marching, unloading and so on, and even if there are people on these trucks, their mission is to ensure safety, and their unified identity is security officer." He Jingru, a field technician at the Heidaigou open-pit coal mine, which belongs to the National Energy Group Junneng Group, introduced it.
According to official information, the Heidaigou open-pit coal mine focused on promoting unmanned driving projects in April 2020, and completed the unmanned transformation of China's first 290-ton mining dump truck in August of that year, and realized the coordinated operation of a single truck and electric shovel in December of that year. In August 2021, the mixed operation test of unmanned truck and manned driving was completed. At present, industrial trial operations of unmanned truck marshalling are underway.
Wang Shilei, deputy manager of the information center of Zhunneng Group, told reporters that the most obvious change in the implementation of unmanned trucks in open-pit coal mines is that drivers working in coal mines will gradually be transferred to other positions, and the staff operating these trucks will become technicians.
He Shi, an unmanned R&D personnel from Aerospace Heavy Engineering Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Aerospace Heavy Industry), told reporters that in the past two years, Aerospace Heavy Industry and Junneng Group have jointly developed an open-pit mining card unmanned driving system, and took the lead in successfully realizing the mixed operation and marshalling trial operation of 300-ton unmanned mining trucks in China.
"More importantly, it also took the lead in realizing the multi-face multi-face of unmanned mining trucks for 24 hours continuous multi-group operation in China, which has accumulated valuable experience for the follow-up comprehensive industrial application of unmanned mining trucks." He Shi said.
As the first unmanned mining dump truck scientific research project with the largest tonnage, the largest number, the most brands and the most models in China, what are the differences of the unmanned mining dump truck project of Zhunneng Group?
He Shi introduced: "This project is not only the unmanned operation of open-pit mining trucks, but also aims to completely replace manned transportation operations and overcome the characteristics of changeable open-pit coal mine roads, changeable discharge sites, and harsh dust environments." ”
In He Shi's view, the main thing is that "the project is based on 5G network data communication, high-precision positioning based on Beidou, collaborative management of various operating equipment, big data cloud computing, equipment health diagnosis management and a series of advanced technologies, which can be copied and promoted, and after the completion of the project, it will achieve unmanned, safe and efficient." ”
The unmanned truck project will also become an important part of the intelligent coal mine technology of the Ordos open-pit coal mine in the future.
The reporter learned from the Ordos Jungar Economic Development Zone that the first 5G unmanned new energy mining vehicle project in Inner Mongolia has been officially put into operation in the economic development zone, and the biggest significance of the project is to better help the construction of local green and smart mines.
According to reports, the 5G unmanned new energy mining vehicle project with a total investment of 1 billion yuan (RMB) can achieve accurate and smooth automatic loading, transportation, docking, autonomous obstacle avoidance and other functions in the mine scene. At the same time, the vehicle is also equipped with an environment-aware system, behavior control, positioning system and high-precision maps, which can complete high-precision circular operations in accordance with mine dispatch instructions without human operation.
The latest news from Zhunneng Group shows that in 2022, the group will achieve 100% coverage of intelligent coal mine technology and construction, 100% intelligent coal preparation plant, and 100% unattended fixed posts.
Cao Yong, deputy general manager of Zhuneng Group, said that in 2025, all the coal mines under the group will be intelligent, and the intelligent technology of open-pit coal mines will lead the level of intelligence in the industry, and finally achieve the intelligent linkage control of the whole coal industry chain, making new contributions to the construction of "smart national energy". (End)