Freeport-mcmoran Corporation

Nicholas Hickson

Mary Amelia Walker

Robert Catron

Brian Vaughan

Hung Jung Lu

James Milne

Systems and methods of operating vehicles to reduce bunching of the vehicles when traveling on a roadway determine an intra arrival time for two consecutive vehicles traveling on the roadway; calculate a virtual spacing between the two consecutive vehicles based on the intra arrival time; determine a following distance threshold; compare the virtual spacing between the two consecutive vehicles with the following distance threshold; determine that the two consecutive vehicles are in a bunched condition when the virtual spacing between the two consecutive vehicles is less than the following distance threshold; and control at least one of the two consecutive vehicles until the vehicles are no longer in the bunched condition.

Methods and systems for operating vehicles to reduce bunching

Systems and methods of operating a vehicle subject to a travel restriction determine when the vehicle is traveling in an unloaded state; determine a speed of the vehicle when the vehicle is traveling in the unloaded state to produce an actual travel empty speed; compare the actual travel empty speed with an historical travel empty speed for the vehicle; and determine that the vehicle operation is subject to the travel restriction when the actual travel empty speed is less than a predetermined percentile of the historical travel empty speed. When the vehicle operation is not subject to the travel restriction, the systems and methods further evaluate vehicle operation based on an established performance parameter for the vehicle under a normal operating condition; and change a vehicle performance parameter during future vehicle operation based on the evaluation.

Methods and systems for operating a vehicle subject to a travel restriction

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 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 system for optimizing a travel speed of an off-road vehicle utilizes time-over-target values as a threshold indicator for diagnostics and subsequent remedial actions. A road used for haulage is divided into a plurality of predetermined road segments. A target transit time is defined for each of the predetermined segments to provide a target speed curve. An actual transit time values is measured for the off-road vehicle in transiting the road. A comparison outcome is generated by comparing the target transit time value with the actual transit time value. The comparison outcome is useful in adjusting the travel speed for the vehicle to minimize the time over target value.

Vehicle speed-based analytics

A system for optimizing a travel speed of an off-road vehicle utilizes time-over-target values as a threshold indicator for diagnostics and subsequent remedial actions. A road used for haulage is divided into a plurality of predetermined road segments. A target transit time is defined for each of the predetermined segments to provide a target speed curve. An actual transit time values is measured for the off-road vehicle in transiting the road. A comparison outcome is generated by comparing the target transit time value with the actual transit time value. The comparison outcome is useful in diagnosing causes of operation trouble and in scheduling remedial action to address the operational trouble.

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Phoenix, AZ, United States of America

Nicholas Hickson