Australia-based equipment training simulator company Immersive Technologies’ vehicle simulator training is assisting mine-vehicle operators, especially those working at opencast mining operations, in ensuring that they are shifting gears properly, using their vehicles’ full braking capability and using fuel as efficiently as possible, besides other training outcomes.

Immersive Technologies promotions department manager Ashley Mullaney tells Mining Weekly that the company’s training simulator provides detailed monitoring of operational behaviour that directly pertains to excess fuel consumption, including levels of throttle and brake application for specific situations. “This has resulted in an enhanced assessment tool for managers to determine which fuel-inefficient operator behaviours are most prevalent at their site and present the greatest opportunities for savings.”

Mullaney believes that Immersive Technologies’ experience in delivering training programmes to more than 200 major mines globally proves that providing good on-site support in training programme planning, design and implementation is a critical element in delivering return on customer investment.

As part of the company’s trainer and management support services, Immersive Technologies uses its global teams to integrate solutions that are tailored to specific mine site needs, fast-track trainer readiness and aid companies in establishing a training culture that understands how mining equipment simulator implementation affects important mine site metrics for safety, production and maintenance.

Large Footprint
Mullaney tells Mining Weekly that Immersive Technologies has more than 55 simulators – of which surface equipment simulators form the bulk – across the African region.

She adds that the company is expanding extensively into underground coal and hard-rock mining and that the Immersive Technologies IM360 simulator has the flexibility to provide simulation-based training for all machines from the company’s expansive range of mining equipment simulator modules, including surface, underground hard-rock mining and underground coal equipment.

“Now, more than ever, the use of Immersive Technologies’ simulators to train mining equipment operators is recognised as global best practice,” says Mullaney, adding that the company’s simulators are used at hundreds of sites worldwide to train inexperienced operators, improve the skills of experienced operators, drive continuous improvement projects and, ultimately, deliver results in terms of safety, productivity and unscheduled maintenance.

The IM360 has proven that it can dramatically reduce risks, costs and unscheduled maintenance downtime, as well as increase trainer effectiveness and efficiency while enhancing productivity, she states.

Mullaney explains that the company’s simulators provide equipment operators with a safe environment in which to learn and to practise their newfound skills. “Immersive Technologies’ simulators enable operators to have a better understanding of possible hazards and to practise responding to various possible emergency situations. Many of these situations are too dangerous, too difficult or too expensive to replicate in an actual mine.”

Mullaney maintains that the ability to train operators to react appropriately during potentially life-threatening situations is invaluable in mining. Although many dangerous types of situations rarely take place, the training of operators in a safe environment to understand proper protocol ensures that they are better prepared and able to react appropriately with confidence.

“Our simulators ensure that inexperienced operators are skilled in operating machinery before entering site operations, which reduces the risk of machine damage and injury through a lack of knowledge. They also train operators using a multitude of scenarios.

Further, the ability to implement earthmoving techniques without hindering production is also a possibility as the operator can be trained through a simulator without costly mishaps occurring in actual operations.

“Trainers can assess operators repeatedly on a range of operating techniques and emergency situations, such as engine fires, brake failure and loss of steering control, which could be costly to replicate on actual machinery,” says Mullaney.

Simulation Models
Immersive Technologies provides training simulators that are modelled on a range of mining vehicle brands.

These include vehicles from equipment manufacturers, such as Caterpillar haul trucks, hydraulic shovels, excavators, rope shovels, dozers and wheel loaders; Komatsu haul trucks, shovels, excavators, wheel loaders and dozers; Liebherr haul trucks, shovels and excavators; Hitachi haul trucks, shovels and excavators; Bucyrus rope shovels, draglines, light vehicles, graders and surface drills; P&H rope shovels; and several other products currently in development.

Average in-field improvements using Immersive Technologies’ simulators can result in a 14.2% reduction in spot time, a 62.2% reduction in brake abuse, a 10.4% improvement in tyre life, a 69.8% reduction in abusive shifting, a 54.5% reduction in engine overspeed and a 6.85% reduction in fuel use.