Pitcrew.ai has developed an automated tyre inspection solution incorporating artificial intelligence vision processing with Teledyne FLIR thermal imaging technology.
The rapid expansion of autonomous haulage system (AHS) fleets by Tier 1 mining companies in recent years has produced significant implications for the management of critical machine components, including off-the-road (OTR) tyres.
Given autonomous ultra-class haul trucks are the workhorses of modern mine sites, monitoring OTR tyre damage has become a vitally important operational requirement.
With immense payload capacities, ultra-class haul trucks are fitted with very large – and very expensive – tyres required to move at faster speeds and for longer periods than ever before. Continuous mining operations increase the stress on OTR tyres, leading to unplanned repairs and maintenance as a result of events such as heat and belt-edge separation.
Detecting tyre damage has traditionally included visual inspections conducted at regular intervals, such as shift changes, or when operators smell burning rubber.
These types of manual inspections often require additional controls be placed on haul truck operators or technicians, leading to extended machine downtime and resulting in the potential for inspection frequency to be dramatically reduced.
The ever-expanding deployment of AHS fleets reduces the likelihood of early detection of tyre damage detection due to less frequent inspections occurring, resulting in several recent instances of major tyre fires and substantial damage occurring to autonomous haul trucks.
“Manual tyre inspections are labour intensive and require machine downtime, with operators often performing a simple tap test that is unlikely to detect rock-cut separations and other types of tyre damage,” Pitcrew.ai’s managing director Tim Snell told Safe to Work.
“When a small degree of tyre damage expands over time it can develop into significant heat separation.
“If a hot tyre event is triggered it can remove a vehicle from operation, sometimes for longer than 24 hours, as it must be repositioned to an isolation pad, resulting in significant disruption to site operations.”
The requirement for exclusion zones around AHS fleet operations ensures routine inspections are more difficult and time-consuming to carry out.
In responding to these operational challenges, Pitcrew.ai has designed, engineered and manufactured a sophisticated OTR tyre damage detection system.
The smart solution leverages Teledyne FLIR thermal imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, enhancing the management of AHS fleets by remotely detecting tyre damage without the need to modify or suspend mine site operations.
Even setting aside the safety and operational issues, tyres are a significant cost centre for mining operations, and the ability to extend their life results in significant savings operating expenses (OPEX).
“Tier 1 mining companies utilising the Pitcrew.ai OTR tyre damage detection system extract the highest value proposition from the solution because every minute of machine downtime on a large mining site significantly increases operational costs,” Snell said.
The Pitcrew.ai inspection system is fully automated and enables insight into active tyre damage on-site, which enables unplanned repair and scheduled maintenance to occur safely and efficiently.
“Pitcrew.ai seamlessly integrates with a range of tyre pressure monitoring system, transportation management system and fleet management software packages,” Snell said. “And, if required, we can supply tailored integration services to ensure integration with existing on-site workflows.”
Every haul truck that passes the system is checked without any human intervention nor any requirement to cease operating. Using a powerful AI algorithm trained on a library of thermal images, the Pitcrew.ai OTR tyre detection system can spot problems in their early stages prior to any type failure. This approach is critical to maintaining uptime for haul trucks, as even minor damage to a large mine tyre, such as a simple rock-cut, can result in complete failure if not detected.
The Pitcrew.ai system is typically supplied as a rapid-deployment, self-contained, solar-powered kit that can be installed beside a haul road within a few hours.
“Our solution utilises low earth orbiting (LEO) technology, such as the Vocus Satellite – Starlink network, to seamlessly upload tyre monitoring and diagnostic data into the cloud,” Snell said.
The system utilises up to two FLIR A615 thermal machine vision cameras which produce high-quality infrared images, including the capacity to detect temperature differences as small as 50 milliKelvins (mK), while providing a 16-bit temperature linear output and high-frequency streaming.
“FLIR machine vision cameras combine powerful sensor technology with many features that enhance automatic control over image capture and on-camera pre-processing,” Teledyne FLIR sales manager – solutions division Sean Towner told Safe to Work.
“Thermal issues on OTR tyres can be accurately detected and identified in real-time through integration between A615 machine vision cameras and Pitcrew.ai’s intelligent custom software.”
The Pitcrew.ai system uses a machine-learning algorithm that can project the growth of damage and predict when a change is necessary.
“Teledyne FLIR are the benchmark in thermography cameras, producing highly accurate and calibrated equipment that produces an array of diagnostic information and insights required to ensure our solution keeps updating and learning,” Snell said.
The system ensures vehicle downtime can be accurately planned well in advance, minimising the need to conduct unscheduled tyre changes and maximising tyre stock management.
In addition, tyre repair is much kinder to the environment and can play a major role in helping mines achieve sustainability targets within environment, social and governance (ESG) compliance regimens. Similarly, the ability to predict the trajectory of damage means many of the risks associated with hot tyre events and fires can be eliminated.
That said, such events can still occur and the Pitcrew.ai system is able to detect hot tyres and immediately alert personnel via email, SMS or other communication options.
This ability to communicate incidents quickly and accurately allows for haul truck isolation to be carried out as quickly as possible, underpinning positive safety outcomes.
The system also offers the additional benefit of a remotely controlled thermographic inspection system that mine management can use to assess a vehicle remotely, improving visibility and intelligence during a mine safety event.
“Pitcrew.ai’s OTR tyre detection system offers a sophisticated autonomous inspection and monitoring solution, which is a critical tool for mining companies if they are to extract the greatest benefit out of the use of ultra-haul truck fleets.” Snell said.