Method and system for controlling power consumption during a rock drilling process and a rock drilling apparatus therefore

Abstract

Method for controlling power consumption during a rock drilling process with a rock drilling apparatus, wherein the rock drilling apparatus includes main power supply means for supplying power for the rock drilling process, which includes at least the sub-processes of percussion and / or rotation and flushing, the method comprising the steps of:—adjusting the flush power at least partly as a function of hole depth, and controlling at least the percussion power and / or rotational power and the flush power such that the total power consumption of each sub-process is controlled.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The invention relates to a method for controlling power consumption during a rock drilling process of the kind defined in the preamble of claim 1. [0002] The invention further relates to a system and a rock drilling apparatus of the kind defined in the preamble of claims 11 and 21, respectively. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Rock drilling apparatuses may be used in a number of fields. For example, rock drilling apparatuses may be used in tunnelling, underground mining, rock reinforcement, raise boring, and for drilling of blast holes, grout holes and holes for installing rock bolts. [0004] Rock drilling is often performed by percussion rock drilling, in which a drill tool mounted at one end of a drill rod is provided with impact pulses by a hammer piston, arranged on the opposite side of the drill rod, and arranged to be powered to repeatedly impact upon the drill rod. At the outermost end of the drill tool there are drill bits that penetrate the r...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] This has the advantage that only the required amount of power at a certain hole depth is used for flushing, and that the remaining power may be used for other functions and / or for saving power, resulting in for example less fuel consumption, less noise and less heat.

[0017] The flow of the flush medium may be kept substantially constant throughout the drilling process, i.e. the flush power increases with increased hole depth. The hole depth may further be continuously measured. This has the advantage that the flow may be kept at precisely the flow level needed for managing to flush the drill hole, and thus the flush power may kept at lowest possible value throughout the drilling process, at all times.

[0019] The required flush power may be determined by computer means. The computer means may be connected to a memory in which is stored a table comprising one or more of lists of types of drill tools and / or types of drill rods, and preferably calculation parameters to be used with a selected combination. The flush power may be determined based on stored data concerning type of drill tool and / or type of drill rod and / or hole depth. This has the advantage that the flow of the flush medium may be kept at a desired value independent of for example which drill tool diameter and / or drill rod diameter that is used.

Problems solved by technology

A problem with existing rock drilling equipment, however, is that they often consume more power than necessary during a drilling process, which results in excessive fuel consumption, and heat and noise generation.

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