One-click start, observe the production in the mining area in real-time through the screen with a mouse click; one-click mining, remote control of the mining area can be achieved from the office; one-click solution, optimize analysis to provide the best production plan. The production model of "5G+" characterized by 'normalized unmanned operations, big data dynamic analysis inspection, and remote intelligent unmanned operation' has now become our mine's new production model... When talking about 5G mining, Zhang Xince, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Henan Energy Jiao Coal Group Qianye Cement, said proudly.
With the acceleration of 5G technology, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Everything have opened a new era. How can enterprises catch the 5G intelligent fast train and gather high-quality development momentum? The exploration of 5G technology application by Jiao Coal Group has never stopped...
Staff at the intelligent control information center of Qianye Cement remotely operate mining production.
Yan Yinchun, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Henan Coal Supervision Bureau, Wang Xiaoping, Secretary of the Jiaozuo Municipal Party Committee, and Xu Yixian, Deputy Secretary and Mayor, successively visited Jiao Coal for investigation and research. Leaders at all levels have put forward clear requirements for the green and intelligent mine of Qianye Cement, urging to vigorously promote the pace of green and intelligent construction, utilize the open-pit intelligent control system and unmanned driving system to achieve remote operation and intelligent control, ensuring sustainable development of enterprises. Repeated encouragement and motivation have strengthened Jiao Coal Group's confidence and determination to accelerate the construction of unmanned mines.
To achieve the integrated goal of "management, control, and operation" that is "safe, green, intelligent, and efficient" for Qianye Mine, with the guidance and support of various levels of government in Henan Province and cities and counties, as well as investigations of typical enterprises in the industry, Jiao Coal Group follows the construction principle of "comprehensive launch, key breakthroughs" and "overall planning, phased implementation" to fully realize green intelligent unmanned mining, jointly creating Henan Province's first safe, green, intelligent, and efficient 5G unmanned mine project.
Strong cooperation to enhance "safety".
Implementation is the strongest responsibility. On November 1, 2019, Jiao Coal Group signed a 5G strategic cooperation agreement with China Mobile. As the construction unit of the 5G mine, Qianye Cement seized the opportunity and joined forces with Henan Mobile, Huawei, and Henan Yuexin Intelligent Machinery Co., Ltd. in November of the same year to apply 5G technology and unmanned mining technology to limestone mining, jointly building Henan Province's first 5G+ intelligent unmanned mining project.
It is reported that the project is divided into two phases, with a total investment of 14 5G base stations, which can achieve unmanned driving of 60 unmanned vehicles, 13 excavators, and 10 drilling machines with 5G remote control, realizing full unmanned operation of loading, transporting, and unloading in the open-pit mining area. After more than half a year of construction, the information center building, green electric centralized wind supply station, pure electric mining vehicle charging station, and intelligent monitoring system in the mining area have been completed, and the main transportation road in the mining area has achieved 5G signal coverage, with intelligent excavators and pure electric intelligent mining vehicles successfully completing heavy vehicle trial operations.
Unmanned control, safe and efficient. Based on this, according to the safety production requirements of open-pit mines, Qianye Cement has developed a production intelligent control system. The construction of this system integrates the mining production plan, ore blending operation plan, loading, transportation, unloading production scheduling, and automatic measurement and management of transportation volume, achieving real-time data collection, judgment, display, control, and management of the loading, transportation, and unloading production process, real-time monitoring and optimization of the operation of electric vehicles, excavators, and other equipment, and real-time monitoring and control of mining production data, thus forming a new type of modern open-pit mine digital production management decision-making platform that is information-based, intelligent, and automated. Currently, the application of 5G+ has enabled unmanned remote operation in all aspects of the operation site except for loading and unloading explosives, including crushing, excavating, transporting, and monitoring, truly achieving mechanization replacing manpower, automation reducing manpower, and intelligence improving efficiency. At the same time, for high-risk operations in the mining area, unmanned control can maximize production safety, achieving zero accidents and zero casualties, greatly enhancing the safety of mining operations.
Diverse promotion, making good use of the "5G" tool.
To maximize the advantages of 5G technology and truly achieve the goals of unmanned safety and efficiency in Qianye Mine, Qianye Cement utilizes the ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency characteristics of the 5G network and the high-precision mobile monitoring technology of the Beidou navigation system, ensuring intelligent precision, stability, and reliability, improving the accuracy and stability of unmanned mining equipment on-site operations, and achieving full unmanned remote intelligent operation of breaking, loading, transporting, and unloading in the mining area. The intelligent scheduling system can automatically group transportation vehicles, online control of vehicle power, speed, angle, driving, and multiple states of the vehicle's body, with no angle restrictions on the designed driving road, and the actual driving route deviating no more than 5 centimeters from the pre-set route according to the system program.
"We are currently cooperating with Henan Mobile to apply 5G+ Beidou high-precision positioning technology to unmanned vehicles, which can control the accuracy within 1 centimeter," said Zheng Bo, Deputy General Manager of Qianye Cement.
At the same time, Qianye Mine vigorously promotes the development concept of environmental protection and energy saving, replacing all excavators and transport vehicles in the mine with unmanned pure electric vehicles, and using pure electric air compressors instead of traditional diesel air compressors for drilling, which can reduce diesel consumption in the mine by 85%, approximately reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 21,400 tons per year. In addition, the energy management of unmanned pure electric transport vehicles adopts large current bidirectional inverter energy recovery technology, which can utilize the energy feedback from downhill and compensate for the energy consumed uphill. During vehicle braking or coasting, kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy and stored in the battery, achieving the goal of extending the vehicle's service life and range. Taking an annual production of 13 million tons as an example, unmanned mining is expected to save 10 million yuan in labor costs annually compared to traditional mining methods; by replacing diesel with electric drive, it is expected to save 18.9 million yuan in material costs annually.
Green as the foundation, adding color to mine development.
Qianye Cement aims to "build green mountains and replace them with golden mountains" and orderly promotes low-carbon clean production and develops a circular economy, investing more than 30 million yuan to implement mine environmental restoration and governance projects. From the quarry to the crushing material warehouse, the transportation channel is hardened with cement concrete according to the standards of a tertiary highway, reducing dust while minimizing vehicle wear. During production, the entire mining area adopts a dust suppression method mainly using spraying and supplemented by water trucks, with collected wastewater filtered through sedimentation tanks and reused in the water storage tank. Through the cooperation of pressure-boosting pumps, main pipes, branch pipes, and parallel nozzles, the road surface is effectively kept clean, moist, and dust-free, preventing dust pollution during transportation.
On this basis, the re-greening project covers the mining platform and the sides of the transportation road with planting soil, planting plants such as torch trees, climbing vines, cypress, cotton, and ivy. At the same time, to prevent soil loss on the platform, stone retaining walls are built along the platform. The lawn is established through a combination of direct purchase and accelerated growth of grass seeds with familiar soil, fully utilizing the benefits of green space. Considering the terrain of the factory area, easy-to-survive flowers and suitable evergreen tree species (including fruit trees) for the local climate and environmental conditions are selected, planted in layers and regions to form regional orchards, ensuring appropriate density, varied heights, clear layers, rich colors, and orderly combinations. In addition, to ensure the survival rate of green plants, a unified sprinkler irrigation maintenance system is established, and the production wastewater from the mining area is fully utilized, completely eliminating wastewater discharge, so that the mining area ultimately achieves a garden-like landscape effect of "evergreen in all seasons and fruit-bearing in three seasons." In December 2019, Qianye Cement was included in the national green mine directory by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The digitalization of resources and mining environments, the intelligence of technical equipment, the visualization of production processes, the networking of information transmission, and the scientific management and decision-making of production make 5G technology the main artery for future development. Qianye Cement Company is experiencing a wave of high-quality development and the industrial revolution 4.0.
The construction of unmanned mines, safe mines, and green mines has paved a new path for development and ecological harmony. The enterprise presents a new atmosphere of coexistence between development and environmental protection, innovation and efficiency, achieving a win-win situation for economic and ecological benefits. Qianye's 5G unmanned mine has also become a benchmark and model for non-coal mining in Henan Province...□
Website editor: Gong Li