High Amperage Power Cabling Between Mobile Mining Machines

[goldyvb]

Good Evening fellow engineers and intellects,

I am currently working on a project where I have 3 large mining machines which process mineral sands. These are about 4 stories high and weigh about 400 tonnes each, running on caterpillar tracks (I have attached a picture to give you some idea). Each of the units has a diesel engine which allows them to be driven around independently. The drives on each unit are powered externally from a power source fed in on unit 1 and transformed from 6.6kV to 415VAC. Unit 2 is then connected to unit 1, and unit 3 to unit 2. I am trying to determine a way to connect up the units together and allow the 3 to move in "almost" syncronism without disconnecting the interconnecting power supply. This requires each unit to separate by up to 5m without disconnecting the interconnecting power cables. As unit 2 has a load of about 1500A and unit 3 of about 500A, there will be some fairly large 415V interconnecting cables. I am not too keen on cable chains as this will be an agressive environment. I am currently looking at festoon/catenary type arrangements, but am keen to hear any ideas that some other people may have worked on that worked out in a similar situation. I am also trying to steer clear of 6.6kV interconnections and cable reelers due to the associated costs. I would greatly appreciate any ideas (trialled or not).

Thanks in advance.

Goldyvb

 

[gepman]

I won't claim to be an intellect and I haven't performed any work quite like what you have shown although it looks similar to some cement quarry work that I have seen.

I don't quite understand why you don't want to disconnect the power cables while mobile unless you are running the drives at the same time. There are some good high amperage plug and receptacles use for marine ship to shore power like Russellstoll.

If you don't want to disconnect while mobile then I have used the festoon system in fixed equipment that had mobile electric devices with good success. For your application I would use a separate wire that had pull switches on it so if it the separation between equipment was too great that either the equipment would stop moving or the power to the interconnecting cables would be removed or both. It would be similar to a safety pull cable on a mining conveyor. This would prevent separation of the cables while moving and energized.

You should also be able to use the open air ampacity of the cable (depending on the cable type) so the cable size can be reduced.

 

[burnt2x]

If the units are driven independently, there will always be large discrepancies when these equipment are moved. If only the units are electric motor-driven, they could be moved at synch!

However, there are flat reel cables that could be used. The advantage of using reeled-cables is that the cable do not have to experience much tension as units move from the other!

Gepman also has a good point in proposing power plugs that will be disconnected during moving.

Hope this helps.

 

[ScottyUK]

Check out

http://www.cavotec.com

for top quality connectors designed for severe service at LV and HV. I think they also do cable reels but I've never had any dealings with those.


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