Applicability of siberian placer mining technology to Alaska

The result of Perestroyka and Glasnost has been an awakening of potential for cooperation between East and West. Nowhere has that been better demonstrated than between Alaska and Magadan Province, USSR. This report summarizes a one year effort financed by ASTF, with participation from several technical organizations, to establish contacts with the Siberian placer mining industry. The purpose of the project was to provide initial assessment of the Soviet technology for placer mining in permafrost. A ten day trip to Magadan province by an ASTF team and a similar length visit to Alaska by the Soviet mining group representing the All Union Scientific and Research Institute of Gold and Rare Metals, (VNII-I), Magadan are described. The report also reviews translated data on mining in permafrost and describes surface and underground placer mining technology developed by the Soviets. The report also lists relevant publications on Soviet mining research and state of the art Soviet mining technology and expertise

Contribution to the capacity determination of semi-mobile in-pit crushing and conveying systems

As ore grades decline, waste rock to ore ratios increase and mines become progressively deeper mining operations face challenges in more complex scenarios. Today´s predominant means of material transport in hard-rock surface mines are conventional mining trucks however despite rationalisation efforts material transportation cost increased significantly over the last decades and currently reach up to 60% of overall mining. Thus, considerations and efforts to reduce overall mining costs, promise highest success when focusing on the development of more economic material transport methods. Semi-mobile in-pit crusher and conveyor (SMIPCC) systems represent a viable, safer and less fossil fuel dependent alternative however its viability is still highly argued as inadequate methods for the long term projection of system capacity leads to high uncertainty and consequently higher risk. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to develop a structured method for the determination of In-pit crusher and conveyor SMIPCC system that incorporates the random behaviour of system elements and their interaction. The method is based on a structured time usage model specific to SMIPCC system supported by a stochastic simulation. The developed method is used in a case study based on a hypothetical mine environment to analyse the system behaviour with regards to time usage model component, system capacity, and cost as a function of truck quantity and stockpile capacity. Furthermore, a comparison between a conventional truck & shovel system and SMIPCC system is provided. Results show that the capacity of a SMIPCC system reaches an optimum in terms of cost per tonne, which is 24% (22 cents per tonne) lower than a truck and shovel system. In addition, the developed method is found to be effective in providing a significantly higher level of information, which can be used in the mining industry to accurately project the economic viability of implementing a SMIPCC system

An evaluation of materials handling equipment in general merchandise warehouses Richmond, Va.

Like most persons exploring a new and unknown field, the writer did not know, at the start, in which directions his research might take him, how far it might lead or what he would find. The stated purpose of the study was to learn what methods and which types of equipment for handling materials were being used currently in general merchandise warehouses in Richmond. The stated objectives were to make a comparison between methods and equipment being used in Richmond and to evaluate them in light of these methods and types of equipment which were considered best by the authorities on these subjects. The author considered it probable that he would find differences in points of view and actions taken to solve similar situations and problems and in this respect he was not mistaken. It was the hope of the writer that he would be able to make direct comparisons of methods and equipment which would lead to definite conclusions, establishing that certain warehouses were superior to others in particular respects

English for Study and Work: Coursebook in 4 books. Book 2 Obtaining and Processing Information for Specific Purposes

Подано всі види діяльності студентів з вивчення англійської мови, спрямовані на розвиток мовної поведінки, необхідної для ефективного спілкування в академічному та професійному середовищах. Містить завдання і вправи, типові для різноманітних академічних та професійних сфер і ситуацій. Структура організації змісту – модульна, охоплює мовні знання і мовленнєві вміння залежно від мовної поведінки. Даний модуль має на меті розвиток у студентів стратегій, умінь, навичок читання, пошуку та вилучення професійно-орієнтованої інформації, необхідної для ефективної професійної діяльності і навчання. Містить завдання і вправи, типові для академічних та професійних сфер, пов’язаних з гірництвом і розробкою родовищ корисних копалин. Зразки текстів – автентичні, різножанрові, взяті з реального життя, містять цікаву й актуальну інформацію про особливості видобутку мінеральних ресурсів в провідних країнах світу, сучасний підхід до розробки родовищ тощо. Ресурси для самостійної роботи (Частина ІІ) містять завдання та вправи для розширення словникового запасу та розвитку знань найуживанішої термінології з гірництва, що спрямовано на організацію самостійної роботи з розвитку мовленнєвих умінь, знань про корисні копалини, методи їх видобутку. За допомогою засобів діагностики студенти можуть самостійно перевірити засвоєння навчального матеріалу й оцінити свої досягнення. Призначений для студентів вищих навчальних закладів, зокрема технічних університетів. Може використовуватися для самостійного вивчення англійської мови викладачами, фахівцями і науковцями різних галузей

Automation of garment assembly processes

Robotic automation in apparel manufacturing is reviewed and investigated. Gripper design for separation and de-stacking of batch cut fabric components is identified as an important factor in implementing such automation and a study of existing gripper mechanisms is presented. New de-stacking gripper designs and processes are described together with experimental results. Single fabric component handling, alignment and registration techniques are investigated. Some of these techniques are integrated within a demonstrator robotic garment assembly cell automating the common edge binding process. Performance results are reported

Design, Fabrication and Characterization of a New Wind Tunnel Facility – Linear Cascade with a Wake Simulator

A new wind tunnel has been designed and constructed at the LSU Mechanical Engineering Laboratories. The objective was to design a versatile test facility, suitable for a wide range of experimental measurements on turbine blades. The future study will investigate the impact of unsteady inflow conditions on film cooling performance. More specifically, it will study how the unsteady flow due to the upstream passing wakes coming from the front row vane affects the film cooling performances on the turbine blades. The test section consists of a four passage linear cascade composed of three full blades and two shaped wall blades. The 2D blade shape profile of the cascade was provided by the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL). It is a High Lift Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) blade, ‘L1A’ profile. A conveyor setup was designed and fabricated to simulate the passing wakes upstream of the testing blades. Wakes are generated with thick plates in translation on this conveyor. These moving plates simulate the wake passing of the front row vane. This facility has been designed to enable easy interchanges of different experimental setups. The new test facility was chosen to be a closed-circuit wind tunnel to ensure a controlled return flow and reach low levels of turbulence and unsteadiness in the test section. Preliminary characterization of the experimental apparatus was conducted using a Constant Temperature Anemometry technique coupled to pressure and temperature measurements. The velocity variation over the cascade inlet cross section is found to be less than 2% at a mean velocity of 50 m/s and the freestream turbulence intensity reaches values as low as 0.12% at the cascade inlet cross section

Англійська мова для навчання і работи. Навчальний посібник з англійської мови за професійним спрямуванням для студентів і фахівців галузі знань 0503 Розробка корисних копалин Т 1

A coursebook includes all the activities of students’ work at ESP course aimed at development of language behaviour necessary for effective communication of students in their study and specialism areas. The tasks and activities given in the coursebook are typicalfor students’ academic and professional domains and situations. The content is organized in modules that covers generic job-related language skills of engineers. The authentic texts taken from real life contain interesting up-to-date information about mining, peculiarities of study abroad, customs and traditions of English-speaking countries. Pack of self-study resources given in Part II contains Glossary of mining terms, tasks and activities aimed at developing a range of vocabulary necessary for mining, different functions and functional exponents to be used in academic and professional environment as well as tasks developing self-awareness, self-assessment and self-organisation skills. Testing points for different grammar structuresare given in Part III. Indices at the end of each part easify the use of the coursebook. The coursebook contains illustrations, various samples of visualizing technical information. The coursebook is designed for ESP students of non-linguistic universities. It can be used as teaching/learning materials for ESP Courses for Mining Engineers as well as for self-study of subject and specialist teachers, practicing mining engineers and researchers in Engineering.У посібнику представлені всі види діяльності студентів з вивчення англійської мови, спрямовані на розвиток мовної поведінки, необхідної для ефективного спілкування в академічному та професійному середовищах. Навчальний посібник містить завдання і вправи, типові для різноманітних академічних та професійних сфер і ситуацій. Структура організації змісту– модульна і охоплює загальні мовленнєві вміння інженерів. Зразки текстів– автентичні, взяті з реального життя, містять цікаву та актуальну інформацію про видобувничу промисловість, особливості навчання за кордоном, традиції та звичаї країн, мова яких вивчається. Ресурси для самостійної роботи(Том ІІ) містять глосарій термінів, завдання та вправи для розвитку словарного запасу та розширення діапазону функціональних зразків, необхідних для виконання певних функцій, та завдання, які спрямовані на розвиток навичок самооцінювання і організації свого навчання. Граматичні явища і вправи для їх засвоєння наводяться в томі ІІІ. Наприкінці кожної частини наведено алфавітно-предметні покажчики. Багато ілюстрацій та різних візуальних засобів подання інформації. Навчальний посібник призначений для студентів технічних університетів гірничого профілю. Може використовуватися для самостійного вивчення англійської мови викладачами, фахівцями і науковцями різних інженерних галузей

Intelligent Sorting System

This project presents the design of an intelligent sorting system that integrates the pneumatic system and X-Y Robot as actuator, the Vision Sensor and the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). This automated sorting system is designed with the main aim of reducing production time in manufacturing line that involves product sorting. In the industry, most sorting procedures are still done by humans which a re e rror prone and s low.With t he industrymoving t owards a pplication o f automation, this project is thus relevant. The main objective in constructing this project is to integrate system components into a sorting system using PLC, actuators which are the X-Y Robot and pneumatic system, and the Vision Sensor. A Human Machine Interface (HMI) is created for the PLC to be controlled via personal computer using Visual Basic. The scope ofthis project will be within PLC programming for system controller, pneumatic system design, setup and programming of the X-Y Robot, Vision Sensor control, Visual Basic HMI creation, and system design and integration of the whole system. Scope of literature review is within sorting system technology and approach. This project starts off with preliminary research and literature review followed by tools identification. Following steps include PLC parameter set-up and programming, actuator design and setup, vision controller setup and system integration. Each components of the system are tested individually and then integrated into a complete system. The system is then tested to operate in production mode to cater for industrial objective, which in this case to sort target objects. The project achieves all the main objectives underlines. Each major component is designed, developed and tested to be functioning well. The system integration comprises all the relevant components, all connected and communicating with each other. System integration is complete and successful. The project is completed within the time frame and serves the problem statemen

Mechatronics applied to scale model decoration

The European toy industry is very heavily dependent on manual labour and therefore vulnerable to Far Eastern competitors, who have the advantage of lower labour costs. Automation is Europe's best hope of beating off this oriental challenge. The aim of the project described within this thesis is to investigate the replacement of a traditionally manual series of operations by flexible automation to provide the basis for higher productivity and a greater degree of responsiveness to product change, leading to Just In Time Manufacture with reduced Work In Progress, while still retaining the high quality traditionally associated with the product. This thesis presents one of the first working attempts to this end, represented by a proof-of­concept cell designed and commissioned for investigating the many problems and possibilities associated with the decoration of scale models of cars and trains. The cell was designed using the Mechatronics approach which means that the various mechanical, electrical and electronic and computing possibilities have been taken into account from the start of the design stage. The proof-of-concept cell consists of five stations which provide the necessary means of loading the models in the cell, identifying the models and their orientation, decorating the models, inspecting the decorated models and finally palletising them for assembly. The industrial partners for the project were Hornby Hobbies Limited, J-L Automation and Staubli Unimation. Because this project centres around the present decoration operations at Hornby Hobbies Limited, which is heavily dependant on pad printing, an overview of pad printing is included. This will give the reader a background to the problems faced during the project. Before describing the proof-of-concept cell and its hardware and software components, the present factory based method and the constraints put on the project by Hornby Hobbies Limited are explained so that the reasons for choices within the cell will be more readily understood. A brief history of Scalextric is also included so that the reader may also understand some of the historical problems associated with the product. The result of this mechatronic approach are two fold: a) the efficiency of the cell is improved because the individual parts are working at optimal efficiency b) the cell has a greater degree of flexibility because of the re-programming facilities embedded in each of its component parts. This Mechatronic investigation has led to new concepts for pad printing and assembly operations and these are described in detail in the conclusions

Methods of feeding out white cottonseed to livestock

With the ever increasing demand of beef export from Australia, the importance of maintaining livestock health is becoming increasingly difficult with the current climate changes. Producers are forced to source new feed at lower cost to them but keeping the same nutritional value for their livestock. One of these 'super nutrient' feeds include White Cottonseed (WCS). WCS is the waste product of the cotton ginning process and is given the nickname of 'triple nutrient'. High in fat, protein and fibre of this product keeps the livestock fed for longer periods and is cheaper to source since it is a waste product. The main difficulty producers have with the supplement is the physical handling of it. It proves difficult to flow and binds together in a Velcro like nature. The need for a system that can overcome this difficulty will make the feeding of this product simpler and less demanding on the producer. This project aims to research into the current methods of feeding this product, looking into the current systems being used for this application and creating an improved or new system to be implemented. Since this project is aimed at drought effected producers, low cost is the biggest priority. Through an extensive literature review it was found that there is basically no system available worldwide that meets the demand of this project hence the creation of a new prototype is to be implemented. The limits created for this prototype were low cost, must fit in the confines of a utility tray, powered solely by the 12 Volt DC supply from the utility and should contain a modified floor system that will move the feed from a storage bin to a portion dispenser unit. After a critical analysis of the current methods it was discovered through a decision matrix, that a modified conveyor system would be most appropriate for this specific application. The conveyor is to have teeth on the belt that will pull at the product and deliver it to a trap door dispenser unit that will drop a portion every six to eight meters significant enough to feed six head of cattle. The timing will be operated by a gear and chain drive off the main axle. The whole system will be driven by a 12 Volt DC Electric Motor and the initial prototype size will hold approximately 750 kg of WCS. The whole design will come within the given budget at an estimated cost of $5400.00 AUD. This is relatively cheap in the feeder market and should prove to be easily marketable to producers in Australia. The added benefit of such a system include the huge reduction in time required to feed livestock. Also the physical demand will be greatly reduced as the system will be fully automated and push button activated. The system will also be able to be utilised while the producer is checking his cattle or other jobs throughout his property. Finally the system will not be limited to WCS but will be able to be used for many other feed products including grain, feed pellets etc. The prototype designed by this project will benefit producers throughout the agricultural field greatly and proves to have significant potential