AU639170B2 - Drill alignment system - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 R RR T T A T T Cn Mr P T. T C 0 P E E P C F C T 0 FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

ame of Applicant: 0 0 'uActual Inventors: r tCE t '1 MOUNT ISA MINES LIMITED A.C.N. 009 661 447 Robin David Evans and Norman Luke Paley Address for Service: SHELSTON WATERS Clarence Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 S£ tcrnvention Title: C I "DRILL ALIGNMENT SYSTEM" Details of Associated Provisional Application No: PK4138 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including th( best method of performing it known to us:-

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I I ii: 2 The present invention relates to a drill alignment system and in particular to a drill alignment system for use with an underground drilling rig.

The invention has been developed primarily for use in underground mining passageways and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular field of uqe.

Drilling rigs of the kind used for underground 0 mining commonly include a body on wheels or tracks for o0: o: supporting a rotatable drilling boom. The boom is 0 mounted for up to 3600 rotation and a degree of goS inclination with reference to the horizontal.

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Hitherto, the alignment of underground drilling rigs has been achieved by aligning the rig with paint lines appropriately positioned along a passage. The a, position of the paint lines is generally determined by S.surveying and painting a reference line along the roof of a passageway in which a drilling rig is required to operate. Two vertical paint lines are then placed on respective passageway walls at regular predetermined intervals along the reference line. The rig operator aligns the drilling rig by manoeuvring the body into place relative to the roof line and a respective pair of vertical paint lines.

In order to obtain relatively uniformly sized and easily handled fragments from blasting it has been found it is necessary to drill bores which are substantially ,1 1 3 parallel. The length of a bore hole produced by the drilling rig is in the order of 50 metres and therefore a small error in alignment of the rig will result in a large divergence between adjacent bores along the passageway. Using the distance between the paint lines, (which is generally in the order of four metres), as a reference for aligning the drilling rig results in substantial directional errors. Furthermore, underground conditions and associated operator fatigue exacerbate the 1 0 abovementioned problem.

*4.t~g It is an object of the present invention, at least 9 in its preferred embodiment, to overcome or substantially t t ameliorate at least some of these deficiencies of the prior art.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided an alignment system for use with underground drilling apparatus including two substantially coherent t light sources for respectively providing two parallel light beams extending in opposite directions toward respective targets which define a reference line, the system being mounted to the apparatus whereby predetermined beam contacts with the targets correspond to predetermined apparatus orientations.

Preferably, the reference line extends along the length of an underground passageway for providing a single reference for a plurality of drilling positions.

Preferably also, the light sources are lasers fixed in a back to back configuration and are rotatably mounted 4 to the apparatus about a substantially horizontal axis.

In a preferred form, each target includes a plurality of regions of corresponding area for allowing each beam's respective divergence from the reference line to be within According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of aligning underground drilling apparatus including the steps of: establishing a reference line in a passageway; respectively disposing two targets at opposite ends of the reference line; and, manoeuvring in the passageway a drilling apparatus c i having an alignment system including two coherent light sources for respectively providing two parallel light beams extending in opposite directions so that each beam illuminates a respective target, whereby to bring the Sapparatus into a predetermined orientation.

Preferably, the reference line extends along the length of an underground passageway for providing a single reference for a pluralty of drilling positions.

Preferably also, the light sources are lasers fixed in a back to back configuration and rotatably mounted about a substantially horizontal axis to the apparatus.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of an underground mine illustrating an ore body to be drilled.

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II ~T~ 'I 1 Figure 2 is a target used in conjunction with the apparatus shown in Figure i.

Referring to Figure 1 an ore body 1 is defined by passageways 2 to 5, where dimension A is in the order of 70 metres, dimension B is in the order of 4 metres and dimension C is in the order of 40 metres.

To prepare ore body 1 for drilling a reference line 6 is established in passage 2. Targets 7 and 8 are then placed at opposite ends of the passageway 2 and offset from reference line 6 by a predetermined distance to c allow for the offset placement of alignment system 10 on drilling apparatus 11. A target as represented in Figure 2 is used.

The target of Figure 2 consists of four distinctly coloured 30 centimetre square sections held in fixed relationship to each other. Squares 14 to 17 are respectively coloured red, white, black and yellow, however, many other combinations are possible.

~Passage 2 is marked at regular predetermined intervals for establishing an initial estimation of where bores into ore body 1 should be drilled. Typically such intervals are three to four metres. After such intervals have been suitably marked, usually along reference line 6, the drilling apparatus is ianoeuvred into proximity with the marks.

An alignment system 10 for use with underground drilling apparatus 11 such as a Simba H269 drill rig includes two laser light sources. The lasers are mounted 6 -6back to back for providing two parallel light beams 12 and 13 which extend in opposite directions toward respective targets 7 and 8. Alignment system 10 is magnetically mounted to apparatus 11 whereby predetermined beam contacts with the targets corresponds to predetermined apparatus orientations. Collimation of the lasers is provided via set screws which are adjustable to ensure that beams 12 and 13 are co-linear.

Alignment system 10 provides light beams which are parallel to the plane passing through the points where bores are to be drilled. In certain circumstances once apparatus 11 is aligned a set of diverging bores are 4 drilled in a vertical plane perpendicular to the light StOO ,.:beams. The bores have a substantially common beginning in passage 2 and thereafter fan out. Subsequently, adjacent sets of bores are substantially parallel.

S" The Simba H269 includes a suitable surface for mounting alignment system 10, however, for other drilling rigs not having a convenient surface it is necessary (o provide a bracket for mounting the alignment system.

The apparatus is well aligned when a corresponding coloured region, for example 15, at each target 7 and 8 is illuminated by the respective beams. Provided the beam falls within "corresponding squares" the apparatus will be aligned parallel with reference line 6 to within an error equal to or less than 30 centimetres over metres or less than 0.30 of arc, that is, -1 i tan (30/7000)=0246.

7 A sufficient degree of accuracy is obtained when a square of one target and a square adjacent the corresponding square of the other target are illuminated. The operator is able to perceive the position of the impinged point within the illuminated square and accordingly manoeuvre apparatus 11 whereby the other point illuminated is within 30 centimetres from a corresponding point on the other target. Although the second illuminated point may be in an adjacent coloured 10 square accuracy in the order of that given above is

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It has been found that targets of its kind described facilitate alignment of the rig, not withstanding the underground conditions and operator fatigue. However, other target arrangements, dimensions and colours may be used.

4~ t When the desired number of bores extending from passageway 2 are established, apparatus 11 is moved to passageway 4 where a similar number of bores are produced in ore body 1 by the method as described above. As a result, the bores extend substantially throughout the length of ore body 1 between passageways 2 and 4.

This method of alignment enables operators to easily provide substantially parallel bores in ore body 1. The same reference line 6 is used for all measurements providing for any offset to be substantially included in all the bores so that even if the base line survey is an error the lines remain parallel.

V'i I I c 8 Furthermore, as the reference line is in the order of metres, all errors are proportionally less than when using the 4 metre width of the passage as a reference.

The alignment system is powered by a rechargeable 6V 1.3 A.hr battery. As the system is only required to operate for approximately five minutes to align the apparatus for each bore this battery has several months operational capacity.

The lasers used are iLEE LDA-1000 laser diodes, 10 class 2, <lmW. However, similar results :re obtained with other suitable lasers.

A further embodiment of the invention includes mounting the alignment system on an inclinometer which in turn is mounted to the boom of the drilling apparatus.

In this manner it is possible to provide sets of diverging co-planar bores, as both the inclination and starting level of each bore can be easily determined.

IIt will be appreciated that the apparatus and method according to the invention allow simple and accurate alignment of drilling apparatus especially in underground applications.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a specific example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in many other forms.

Claims (22)

1. An alignment system for use with underground drilling apparatus including two substantially coherent light sources for respectively providing two parallel light beams extending in opposite directions toward respective targets which define a reference line, the system being mounted to the apparatus whereby predetermined beam contacts with the targets correspond to predetermined apparatus orientations.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said light sources are fixed in a back to back configuration.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said light sources are lasers.

4. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said light sources are rotatably mounted to said apparatus about a substantially horizontal axis.

5. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said reference line provides a single reference for a plurality of drilling positions.

6. A system according to claim 5 wherein said reference line extends along the length of an underground passage way.

7. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one of said targets include a plurality of distinct regions.

8. A system according to claim 7 wherein each said region is square and abuts at least one adjoining region.

9. A system according to claim 7 or claim 8 wherein I I r, I 10 said regions are differently coloured.

A system according to any one of claims 7 to 9 wherein said regions are generally square with sides of substantially 30 cm in length.

11. A method of aligning underground drilling apparatus including the steps of: establishing a reference line in a passage way; respectively disposing two targets at opposite ends of the reference line; and, manoeuvring in the passage way a drilling apparatus having an alignment system including two coherent light sources for respectively providing two parallel light beams extending in opposite directions so that each beam illuminates a respective target, whereby to bring the apparatus into a predetermined orientation.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein said light sources are fixed in a back to back configuration.

13. A method according to claim 11 or claim 12 wherein said light sources are lasers.

14. A method according to any one of claim 11 to claim 13 wherein said light sources are rotatably mounted to the apparatus about a substantially horizontal axis.

A method according to any one of claims 11 to 14 wherein said reference line provides a single reference for a plurality of drilling positions.

16. A method according to claim 15 wherein said reference line extends along the length of an undergr9und passageway. I 11

17. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 16 wherein said targets include a plurality of distinct regions.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein each said region is coloured differently to each of the other said regions.

19. A method according to claims 17 or 18 wherein said regions are square.

A method according to claim 19 wherein said squares includes sides having a length of substantially 30 cm.

21. An alignment system for use with underground drilling apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

22. A method of aligning underground drilling apparatus r. tc substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 7th day of January, 1992 MOUNT ISA MINES LIMITED A.C.N. 009 661 447 Attorney: IAN T. ERNST Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia of SHELSTON WATERS 4 «1 I