The Metso Fleet Management system is now available across all new Lokotrack crushing plant and can also be retrofitted to old machines. The system consists of the Lokotrack process control system, Metso IC, a satellite uplink, and the Metso “DNA Report portal” – a web-based portal that contains reporting and analysing tools for Metso’s plant.
“Without this system, collecting operating hours and other data manually is time-consuming,” Metso Mining and Construction project manager Julius Mäkelä explained. “There are also delays before the numbers are at your fingers and the data can be inaccurate. Metso Fleet Management provides daily operating data automatically wherever you are, saving time and enhancing the accuracy of information.”
Fleet data that is continuously collected by the Metso IC process control system is sent from the Lokotrack uplink via satellite and presented in the web portal as a daily operational overview that includes useful information such as the fleet’s effective operation hours, fuel consumption and the location of each unit.
“Maintenance, ordering the spares and wears and re-fuelling can be organised in a more effective way when you know the exact fuel consumptions and operating hours of individual units,” Mäkelä said. “Here, the fleet management tool can provide valuable assistance.”
Developments in plant control
In addition to providing operational information, the fleet management system incorporates alarms that indicate problems, improper equipment use and upcoming maintenance. It also allows users to make changes to the crushing plant’s parameters remotely through its interaction with the Metso DNA automation system.
Metso DNA offers complete mobile plant automation and features full process controls for feeders, crushers, conveyors, screens and hoppers. Operators can set automatic controls for feed rate, material recirculation rate and crusher load.
“Target values for automatic controls are given in a control room and they are gathered as production recipes that can be easily created, edited and uploaded by operators,” Metso explained in the press release. “The Metso DNA control cabin with its displays provides real-time process information and camera images.”
Metso has also improved operator safety and comfort by introducing the Metso ICr wireless information and control system into its mobile crushing range. Metso ICr allows the user to control the plant from the cabin of the excavator feeding the crusher, meaning the operator doesn’t need to leave the excavator as frequently.
At the time of publication, a Metso spokesperson told Quarry that the Metso ICr system had been installed at one site in Australia – Boral’s Peppertree hard rock quarry, located in the Southern Tablelands in New South Wales.
He added that the first local installations of the Metso Fleet Management system were expected to be commissioned by January 2015, including two machines in Australia and six machines – comprising both new and retro-fitted plant – in New Zealand.
Metso, which is headquartered in Finland, operates across 50 countries, providing equipment, services and intelligence to the mining, construction, oil and gas, and pulp and paper industries. Its Lokotrack range includes jaw and cone crushers, impactors and mobile screens.