MMK and MegaFon pilot new technologies for raw materials storage and transportation

As part of the project, MMK has implemented a software and hardware system using ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless data transmission technology on the CPASH belt conveyor. The implemented solution enables MMK to determine the location of self-unloading trolleys and the direction of their movement with an accuracy of up to half a metre, in addition to optimising the entire technological cycle.

The resulting advantages to MMK's production include process automation, online control of cargo movement, elimination of human error and improvement of the accuracy of the composition of raw materials.

"In addition to its accuracy, the technology chosen by MegaFon offers high noise immunity, which is extremely important in the working conditions of the plant's workshops," said Andrey Polinov, head of mining and processing production at MMK. "The introduction of a positioning system for self-unloading trolleys will improve the accuracy of raw materials storage and the quality of the production process by reducing fluctuations in the chemical composition of the raw material mass, as well as reducing time costs and minimising errors."

"We have installed, adjusted and put into pilot operation a fragment of the positioning system of self-unloading trolleys, covering several spans of the technological gallery. The UWB technology we have chosen offers the necessary positioning accuracy, within half a metre. The transport label installed on the cart moves relative to the anchors available on the territory of the gallery system, and special software calculates the label's coordinates. Afterwards, graphic information about the cart's location is sent to the dispatcher online and stored in a database with time intervals, " said Evgeny Ivanov, director of digital project development at MegaFon in the Urals.

Upon completion of the pilot project at CPASH, MegaFon and MMK plan to replicate it at the Company's other mining and processing facilities.