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I helped design the drill (raisebore) used to get to the miners. It was by pure chance the rig was in the country at the time this happened. Today is one of th

by robchez 16y ago

I helped design the drill (raisebore) used to get to the miners. It was by pure chance the rig was in the country at the time this happened. Today is one of those "I did something that matters" moments for me.

marvin 16y ago
Could you give some details about how and why you got this job, and what considerations had to be made when designing it?
- robchez 16y ago
  What they use these machines for normally is to drill shafts for ventilation or egress in mines. Generally there are two ways to drill shafts, top down (blind sinking etc.) or bottom up (raiseboring). Top down shafts used to be predominate, but these days they are only used for larger shaft diameters 5.5m+. What you do is drill a pilot hole down for the shaft, attach the reamer head, then literally pull the drill rig upwards to ream the hole. Obviously in this case we can't get the reamer down there so they are using the pilot shaft hole to get the guys out (hence the tiny capsule!) The rig (Strata 950) is used all over the world for these jobs, and it wasn't specifically designed for this, it just happened to be there at the time. The major design considerations were the massive forces and torques that would be applied. However the biggest worry we had was the impact and fatigue strength of the rig, especially the reamer. This thing has upwards of 500T of thrust pulling it up and 600kNm of Torque on a 5.5m head. If it encounters a void or some other ground anomaly and it stalls or hits something, the damage it can cause is massive. It has been a while but I remember 25mm welds throughout it. Hope that wasn't too long winded, but it is as 'simple' as I could really make it during my lunch break. edit: some clarification
robchez 16y ago
Also not to take anything away from NASA (they are the reason I became an engineer) but they only assisted in the design by suggesting improvements etc. We sketched out the original capsule shape right here.
jacquesm 16y ago
That's one very cool thing to have been doing, half the world is watching this, really neat to see you have played a part in it. Mining technology (and off-shore stuff) is very impressive. I lived near a very large open pit mine in Germany and the gear they had there was the most impressive machinery I've ever seen.
- robchez 16y ago
  Mining equipment is very fun and generally huge. What I am sure most people don't realise is the amount of safety is built into any design constructed (especially here in Australia). There are safety factors upon safety factors upon safety factors included before anything is built. I am currently managing the design and construction of new infrastructure at a massive open pit mine in Australia. The shear magnitude of earth moving is unbelievable. Hear is an interesting fact I am sure will surprise most: Most gold mines have ore grades of about 5-7g/Tonne. That is 5g of gold for every 1 tonne of rock pulled out of the ground. Doesnt sound like much, but when a CAT 793C dumptruck is loaded with about 250T and the current gold price is as high as it is, you will see why even at 5g/Tonnes it is VERY profitable. Mining is all about efficiency, and optimising how much ore comes out of the ground. If you can get just 1 more dump truck per day, at today's gold price that equates to about $18million in revenue per year. If any entrepreneurs are looking for a market full of money, check out the gold miners. ;) edit: formatting.

by robchez 16y ago

marvin 16y ago

Could you give some details about how and why you got this job, and what considerations had to be made when designing it?

robchez 16y ago
What they use these machines for normally is to drill shafts for ventilation or egress in mines. Generally there are two ways to drill shafts, top down (blind sinking etc.) or bottom up (raiseboring). Top down shafts used to be predominate, but these days they are only used for larger shaft diameters 5.5m+. What you do is drill a pilot hole down for the shaft, attach the reamer head, then literally pull the drill rig upwards to ream the hole. Obviously in this case we can't get the reamer down there so they are using the pilot shaft hole to get the guys out (hence the tiny capsule!) The rig (Strata 950) is used all over the world for these jobs, and it wasn't specifically designed for this, it just happened to be there at the time. The major design considerations were the massive forces and torques that would be applied. However the biggest worry we had was the impact and fatigue strength of the rig, especially the reamer. This thing has upwards of 500T of thrust pulling it up and 600kNm of Torque on a 5.5m head. If it encounters a void or some other ground anomaly and it stalls or hits something, the damage it can cause is massive. It has been a while but I remember 25mm welds throughout it. Hope that wasn't too long winded, but it is as 'simple' as I could really make it during my lunch break. edit: some clarification

robchez 16y ago

Also not to take anything away from NASA (they are the reason I became an engineer) but they only assisted in the design by suggesting improvements etc. We sketched out the original capsule shape right here.

jacquesm 16y ago

That's one very cool thing to have been doing, half the world is watching this, really neat to see you have played a part in it. Mining technology (and off-shore stuff) is very impressive. I lived near a very large open pit mine in Germany and the gear they had there was the most impressive machinery I've ever seen.

robchez 16y ago
Mining equipment is very fun and generally huge. What I am sure most people don't realise is the amount of safety is built into any design constructed (especially here in Australia). There are safety factors upon safety factors upon safety factors included before anything is built. I am currently managing the design and construction of new infrastructure at a massive open pit mine in Australia. The shear magnitude of earth moving is unbelievable. Hear is an interesting fact I am sure will surprise most: Most gold mines have ore grades of about 5-7g/Tonne. That is 5g of gold for every 1 tonne of rock pulled out of the ground. Doesnt sound like much, but when a CAT 793C dumptruck is loaded with about 250T and the current gold price is as high as it is, you will see why even at 5g/Tonnes it is VERY profitable. Mining is all about efficiency, and optimising how much ore comes out of the ground. If you can get just 1 more dump truck per day, at today's gold price that equates to about $18million in revenue per year. If any entrepreneurs are looking for a market full of money, check out the gold miners. ;) edit: formatting.