According to the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), the number of recorded mining injuries reported in 2018 were 7,751 with a total of 50 fatalities. Over the last century, mining safety has drastically improved, but there is still room for improvement in order to increase plant and operator safety.
The mining industry presents unique challenges due to dust, mud, falling rocks, impact, abrasion and build-up of material on sensors. Measuring these difficult applications have been a challenge to some, but Hawk Measurement Systems (HAWK) specializes in process measurement and monitoring in harsh environments.
HAWK designed a revolutionary, highly sensitive Microwave Switch, the Gladiator Gen 3, to detect early blockage of chutes. The switches are typically installed on chutes that are difficult to access (see Fig 1). If an error occurs, it is very dangerous to send an operator to troubleshoot while there are falling rocks and debris.
Photo: fig1.jpg
For this reason, HAWK developed a Remote Amplifier. Not only does HAWK’s algorithm make the sensitivity adjustment fully automatic via the Remote Amplifier, but it also eliminates the need to access the sensor. The Remote Amplifier can be mounted in a safe location where the operator can access without having to worry about falling rocks or debris.
Photo: Fig-2.jpg
The Gladiator Microwave Switch has 50 times more sensitivity than the competition with ranges up to 1200 meters (3937 ft). Some features include a simple 1-minute setup, state of the art Circular transmission and adjustable ON and OFF delays (0-20sec).
The Gladiator Gen 3 can be used for blocked chute detection, collision detection, stacker / reclaimer protection, shiploader protection, nucleonic switch replacement, high and low level alarm, truck / machine detection, point level measurement and detection of objects or materials between two points.
Photo: fig3.jpg
Gladiator Gen 3 Microwave Switch
Beam Blockage Detection
Circular Polarisation
Industry leading level solutions using HAWK’s exclusive microwave technology!
- Operator can remotely troubleshoot without worrying about falling debris
- Detect early blockage of chutes
- Reduce injuries, increase plant and operator safety
- Predictive performance, minimize unscheduled downtime
- Low maintenance
- Multiple uses such as blocked chute detection, collision detection and point level measurement
- 50 times more sensitive than the competition
- Easy and quick setup
- Features circular transmission
- Proven and highly regarded throughout the mining industry
HAWK award-winning products, technologies and complete monitoring solutions help the mining industry to increase plant and operator safety. HAWK specializes in reliable and continuous level measurement in storage silos, on conveyor belts, clarifiers, crushers and blocked chute detection with the ability to send real-time data to a computer, control room, or smartphone. HAWK has a long history of success in the harshest of environments and applications. The mining industry presents unique challenges due to dust, mud, impact, abrasion and build-up of material on sensors, which HAWK has successfully solved or over 30 years.