Use of intelligent informatics module for registration and assessment of causes of breaks in selected mining machines

Growing competition and an unstable energy market force mining enterprises to take actions aimed at decreasing production costs. The area in which there are great reserves linked with costs is a use of mining machines that are owned by mining companies. In practice, it has been observed that underutilization of mining machines at present is one of the main problems in mines. The paper presents the results of research whose aim was to determine availability and performance of the studied machines and quality of the excavated material which was the product of the machines’ work. Based on the results, the effectiveness of the machines was determined. In the area of availability a large number of the unidentified breaks during the machines’ work was registered. To find the causes of the breaks, many interviews with expert workers from maintenance departments were made. Using their knowledge, the special and intelligent module for the reasons for the breaks registration were developed and implemented. This module has been permanently linked with the integrated management and maintenance system that had been used in the mine. The application of the developed solution made it possible to indentify more than 72% of the breaks in the studied machines’ work and it was an increase by 90% in relation to the level before its installation. It appeared that the main cause of the low efficiency of the reasons identification was the lack of dispatchers’ knowledge and motivation. The obtained results make it possible to take activities in order to reduce the breaks in the studied machines’ work and subsequently improve their effectiveness.