Freeport-mcmoran Corporation

Hung Jung Lu

Mary Amelia Walker

Robert Catron

Brian Vaughan

Nicholas Hickson

Methods and systems determine at least one production constraint for a material loading system and a material processing system; estimate an effect of entropy on a cycle time of a material conveying system to produce a future cycle time estimate; estimate an effect of entropy on a material processing time to produce a future material processing time estimate; predict whether a delay will occur during the operation of the material loading, material conveying, and material processing systems; estimate a duration of the predicted delay; determine a loading system capacity and a conveying system capacity required to meet the defined production target based on the production constraint and estimates of the future cycle time, the future material processing time, and the duration of the predicted delay; and deploy one or more material loading and conveying systems to meet the determined loading and conveying system capacities.

Methods and systems for deploying equipment required to meet defined production targets

Methods of deploying shovels and haul trucks to meet a defined production target may include: Determining at least one production constraint for a shovel and a material processing system; estimating an effect of entropy on a cycle time of the haul trucks to produce a future cycle time estimate; estimating an effect of entropy on a material processing time of the material processing system to produce a future material processing time estimate; predicting whether a delay will occur during the operation of the shovel, the haul trucks, and the material processing system; estimating a duration of the predicted delay; determining a number of shovels and a number of haul trucks required to meet the defined production target based on the determined production constraint, the future cycle time estimate, the future material processing time estimate, and the duration of the predicted delay; and deploying the determined number of shovels and the determined number of haul trucks.

Methods and systems of correlating sensed position data with terrestrial features receive sensed position data from a position sensing system operatively associated with a moveable object; select a reduced set of snap point candidates from terrestrial data based on a sensed position point; choose a best snap point candidate from among the reduced set of snap point candidates based on a plurality of predictive variables and corresponding weighting factors for each snap point candidate in the reduced set of snap point candidates; and snap the sensed position point to the best snap point candidate to produce a snapped position point. The selecting, choosing, and snapping processes are performed in substantially real time so that the systems and methods correlate the sensed position data from the moveable object with terrestrial features in substantially real time.

Real-time correlation of sensed position data with terrestrial features

Methods and systems of determining and controlling a vehicle travel speed on a roadway determine a grade of the roadway at defined intervals along the roadway; calculate a maximum straight line vehicle speed for each defined interval based on the determined grade and vehicle performance data; determine a radius of curvature and a superelevation of the roadway for each defined interval; determine a lateral friction coefficient for a vehicle/roadway system; calculate a maximum cornering vehicle speed for each defined interval based on the curvature, superelevation, and lateral friction coefficient; calculate the travel speed for each defined interval based on the maximum straight line vehicle speed and the maximum cornering vehicle speed; and control the speed of the vehicle so that it does not exceed the calculated travel speed for each defined interval.

Methods and systems for determining and controlling vehicle speed

A method of correlating satellite position data with terrestrial features may include the steps of: Defining a two-dimensional grid comprising a plurality of grid points at defined locations; rounding the satellite position data to the nearest grid point of the defined two-dimensional grid to create an amplitude data table, each rounded satellite position data point in the amplitude data table defining a reference grid point value; matching the terrestrial survey data to at least four adjacent grid points of the defined two-dimensional grid to create a terrestrial coordinate table; merging the amplitude data table and the terrestrial coordinate table based on the reference grid point values to form a merged table; searching the merged table to identify the grid point with the minimum distance between an (x,y) location and an (rx, ry) location; and snapping the (x,y) location to a snapping point.

Systems and methods of correlating satellite position data with terrestrial features

A method of correlating satellite position data with terrestrial features may include: Using a geometric snapping algorithm to correlate the satellite position data and terrestrial survey data and snap the satellite position data to the terrestrial features; determining whether the satellite position data can be snapped to unique terrestrial features; and using a hybrid space-time snapping algorithm to correlate the satellite position data and terrestrial survey data and snap the satellite position data to unique terrestrial features when the satellite position data cannot be snapped to unique terrestrial features.

A system for determining road quality includes a vehicle equipped with sensors to detect a position of the vehicle on the road and a suspension strut parameter indicative of road quality. The suspension strut parameter may be suspension strut pressure or suspension strut cylinder stroke. A threshold range is established outside of which an absolute value of the suspension strut parameter is associated with poor road quality. A computerized system generates a heat map to display relative quality of road segments.

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St. Louis, MO, United States of America

Hung Jung Lu