US 12,410,659 B2
Method and system for controlling a plurality of drill rigs
Chris Innes, Melbourne (AU); Benjamin Jones, Melbourne (AU); Steven Cook, Melbourne (AU); and Joshua Leeman, Melbourne (AU)
Assigned to TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES PTY LIMITED, Melbourne (AU)
Appl. No. 17/926,841
Filed by TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES PTY LIMITED, Melbourne (AU)
PCT Filed May 29, 2020, PCT No. PCT/AU2020/050553
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 21, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/237266, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 2, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0203891 A1, Jun. 29, 2023
Int. Cl. E21B 44/00 (2006.01); E21B 7/02 (2006.01); E21B 41/00 (2006.01); E21C 41/26 (2006.01); E21C 47/10 (2006.01)
CPC E21B 7/022 (2013.01) [E21B 41/0021 (2013.01); E21B 44/005 (2013.01); E21C 41/26 (2013.01); E21C 47/10 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An emergency shutdown control system for remotely controlling operation of mobile autonomous mining drill rigs at a selected set of surface mine sites, comprising:
a deactivation control;
a control centre controller coupled to said deactivation control and storing an association between said deactivation control and said selected set of surface mine sites;
a plurality of autonomous mining drill rigs, each drill rig having a drill shutdown module adapted to disable a function of the respective drill rig upon receipt of a deactivation command; and
a mine site controller associated with each mine site in said selected set of surface mine sites, each said mine site controller being coupled wirelessly to all autonomous drill rigs located at the respective mine site with which the mine site controller is associated,
wherein activating said deactivation control transmits a deactivation command from said deactivation control to said control centre controller and said control centre controller forwards the deactivation command to a mine site controller associated with each mine site in said set of surface mine sites for distribution to all of the autonomous drill rigs at that mine site, and
wherein at least one of:
(a) the drill shutdown module includes a switch coupled to an ignition of said drill rig,
(b) the drill shutdown module is adapted to cut fuel supply to said drill rig, and
(c) the deactivation control includes an electromechanical switch.