MechChem Africa July 2018

⎪ Products and industry news ⎪

Remote control for underground loaders whenpersonnelarenotsafelypermittedin thework area, for examplewhen themine has not yet been adequately ventilated or when there is a substantial risk of falling debris after blasting. The operator can make swift transitions from manual to automatic mode to quickly adapt to the situation at hand.

infrastructure alterations,” says Sysoev. The automation package includes cam- eras, sensors and safety modules that are mounted onto the Scooptram as well as a safety system that is easily installed in the mine. If a person or another machine should enter the Scooptram’s work vicin- ity while the safety system is enabled, the Scooptram will automatically shut down to avoid causing potential harm. “Productivity and workers’ well-being go hand in hand,” says Vladimir Sysoev. “An automated loader from Epiroc works to protect both.” www.epiroc.com

For greater safety and efficiency in under- groundmining, Epirochas releasedseveral automation features for the Scooptram underground loader. The Scooptram Automation Regular package allows the Scooptram to be controlled through an operator station from a remote location. “With the newScooptramAutomation Regular package, the operator can control the loader even while it is out of sight from a safe stationary or mobile control station”, explainsVladimir Sysoev, product manager of automation at Epiroc. “The automationpackagealsomakes it possible for our customers to quickly and easily transitionfrommanualtoautomaticmode, which is crucial in mines with a dynamic environment or quick advancements. The automationpackage is aneffectiveway for our customers to boost their productivity in today’sworld, wheremining operations have to contend with a variety of compli- cated production issues.” To minimise environmental impact and keep personnel out of harm’s way while production proceeds quickly and smoothly, automation is key. Production and the efficient utilisation of machinery cancontinueevenduringshiftchangesand

“The Scooptram Automation Regular packageallowsourcustomerstoautomate a single loader without having to spend lots of time and money making extensive

Digital manometer records pressure peaks LEO 5 is export- able for detailed analysis via the included USB interface. In standard

Instrotech is now supplying Keller’s first generation high-resolution digital mano­ meters, the LEO5, which features precise sensor technology, fast, high-resolution signal processing, peak recordinganddata storage with a time stamp. Designed for deployment in hostile environments, the LEO 5 features a robust stainless steel housing, safety glass front, a 16mmback- lit display and capacitive touch controls. Undetected pressure spikes are one of the common causes of premature wear and untimely failures in pneumatic and hydraulic systems. In freshwater systems, thisphenomenaissometimescalled ‘water hammer’.TheLEO5,withitspressurepeak analysis mode, will sample and record system pressure at a rate of 5.0 kHz and with 16 bit resolution, enabling trouble- shooting topositively characterise system behaviour. With storage capacity for over 50000peakvalues,includingtemperature and a dated time stamp, data from the

measurement mode, the LEO5

samples are obtained according to a random starting point and fixed periodic intervals; and multistage sampling where samples are obtained through a combination of the above-mentioned types, in stages. Once a technique/s has been identified, suitable equipment is then required to con- duct the trials and finalise the test method. Thereafter, the equipment remains a key component in the sampling process of that product/material. DG Lab Services is a level 1 B-BBEE sup- plier of sampling systems, which include dis- posable samplers; powder samplers; liquid samplers; semi-solid samplers; environmen- tal samplers and sampling accessories such as bottles, containers and labels. www.dglabservices.com operates at a sampling rateof 2.0kHzwith anA-to-D resolution of 20 bits. The LEO5 line-up includes seven standard full-scale pressure ranges between three and 1 000 bar. In the temperature rangeof 0 to50 °C, the total error band (TEB) for pressure is ± 0.5 % full scale and when temperature conditions are stable, the LEO5 is capable of achieving a TEBaccuracy of ±0.01%FS. With high resolution for accurate measurement, pressure peak analysis and measurement data recording, the LEO5 is being rapidly adopted as an indispensable tool by pneumatic and hydraulic system technicians. sales@instrotech.co.za

The Epiroc Scooptram with its new automation package.

The science is in the sample: if it is representative Current sampling practice is a result of the combination of statistics with scientific knowledge about the product/material be- ing sampled. Such knowledge is acquired throughexperimentationand theuseof vari- ous sampling techniques until reproducible results, from representative samples, can be obtained. need to conduct a fewtrials todetermine the most suitable sampling technique. Sampling techniques can be classified as probability sampling and non-probability sampling. The former makes use of random unbiased sampling, allowing for an equal chance of all particles in the population to be selected and is the technique employed in obtaining a scientific sample.

Two key questions that need to be asked prior toa sampling campaignare: “Howmany samples are needed for a viable study? and how should they be selected?” Inmost researchand testing facilities that utilise and test repeat products, these ques- tions have already been answered and are documented in the formof a test procedure. However, for new or untested products/ materials, the researcher or technician will

Probability sampling can be further classified into: simple random sampling, samples are obtained completely at random; stratified sampling, random samples are obtained from groups or strata into which the population has been divided; cluster sampling, random samples of clusters are obtained from clusters intowhich the popu- lationhas beendivided; systematic sampling,

44 ¦ MechChem Africa • July 2018