Bridgestone Launches New Mining Tyre Monitoring System

Bridgestone Earthmover Tyres has announced a new tyre monitoring application to increase the longevity and safe operation of its tyres in underground mines. The UTM (Underground Tonne Kilometres per hour Monitor) is designed to allow underground mine operators – and the manufacturer itself – to analyse the key factors at play in the wear experienced in particular situations. It measures vehicle speed; distance travelled; the angles of ascent and descent; side loading movement; and the lateral, longitudinal and vertical forces exerted upon the tyres – a measurement achieved through the fitment of a three-dimensional accelerometer.

The demand for increased productivity and efficiency has led to the development of new mining equipment, which must run much greater distances, in addition to carrying extra weight at higher speed. Mining tyres have also had to meet the new specification machinery, but Bridgestone suggests that the underground mining sector has lacked the ability to log operational feedback and verify the operational severity experienced by the tyres.

Paul Comninos, Bridgestone Earthmover Tyres’ senior manager engineering services suggests this is an issue that needed to be addressed: “Underground mining applications are notoriously difficult in which to get a realistic appraisal of the severity of the conditions and, until Bridgestone Earthmover Tyres developed the UTM, an onboard monitoring system has simply not been available as a component on underground production equipment. To our knowledge this is currently the only system of its kind in operation.”

“Our engineering team worked closely with our technology partner to develop the system, a process which took about five months. For the past year it has been trialled in over 20 underground mines across Australia. For our customers, the UTM provides detailed operating knowledge about their production equipment and validates that the specification of the tyres being used are in line with production expectations.”

“From Bridgestone’s point of view, the system gives us an insight into the differences between the various customers and operations that we service, so we can compare and contrast between different sites. Before we developed the system we were running a bit blind. Now, with accurate information on different sites and applications we service, we are better able to accurately recommend the most suitable tyre specification for each mine’s operation.”