Anti-Collision Detection on a Mining Unit

[goldyvb]

Hello All,

I am working on a series of 3 mining units which are not mechanically connected (i.e. about 3m apart) but need to move in together at the same time. They are each about 3 stories high and 50m long and move along on caterpiller tracks and are fully manually operator controlled. The trouble I am having is finding an instrument (an economical one at that) that will detect if the units get too close to each other and trip the caterpillar drives to prevent a collision. Previously I have used small ultrasonics for short range detection on a ship loader to detect if a car was parked on the rails, but that was years ago and I have had trouble finding a similar instrument. As they are not connected, they can also skew over various angles so the system I chose would need to accomodate this.

An additional function (although can be engineered out separately so not essential) would be to detect if they got too far apart so as not to stretch the interconnecting pipework and cables.

Thanks for your input in advance!

Cheers

Goldyvb

 

[budt]

"interconnecting pipework and cables."

If these pipewoorks sag as the units get closer together and raise as the units get farther apart you could ultrasonically sense their position above the surface and you would know if the units are within the parameters you want.


Bud Trinkel, Fluid Power Consultant
HYDRA-PNEU CONSULTING

 

[Newmanite]

Distance meters that builders/carpenters use in their tade can be used along with a cheap detection system from an electronic shop can be made for what you need,as the system is manually controlled the operator can keep an eye on any variation and adjust accordingly.Played with this years ago it should work fine