1

1 Article

2 Automated MEMS System To Improve Tyre Performance At

3 Toquepala Mining Unit (Peru)
4 Diego Conde 1, Christ Barriga 2 and Mauricio Valdivia 2,*

5 1
Professional School of Mining Engineering, National University of Moquegua, Peru.; e-mail@e-mail.com
6 2
Affiliation 2; e-mail@e-mail.com
7 * Correspondence: e-mail@e-mail.com; Tel.: (optional; include country code; if there are multiple
8 corresponding authors, add author initials)

9 Abstract: Throughout the tyre fitting tasks on the fleet of trucks and loading groups, pneumatic
10 tools are used time and time again, with the possibility of causing disabling injuries, trapping
11 hands or parts of them, as well as lumbar injuries due to the weight of the tools and ergonomics
12 when adjusting or unadjusting the nuts for the removal and installation of the tyres, in this
13 manoeuvre it is unavoidable to replace equipment such as the manipulator and the forklift which
14 are permanently moving around the work area, with the probable consequences being fatalities
15 due to crushing or being run over if the operator is not familiar with the risks; The manipulation
16 of monumental tyres with the danger of explosion, which is the sudden release of all the air with
17 the probability that the elements are expelled in a violent way, which can not only harm the
18 workers of Neuma Peru but also the operators of the groups, which is the reason why an infinity
19 of protocols are applied to reduce the harm to the process as well as to the individual.

20 Keywords: System; tyre fitting; continuous improvement; maintenance; tyre performance.

21

Citation: Lastname, F.; Lastname, F.;

22 Lastname, F. Title. Safety 2021, 7, x. 1. Introduction
https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx
23 For an effective transport of mineral in a truck of great load capacity it is necessary
24 Academic Editor: Firstname to demand a great performance to the tyres that it uses, these improve continuously in
25 Lastname their composition, they improve in greater resistance to the wear, abrasion, resistance to
26 the temperature, etc., nevertheless, it assures us that they will be used to the maximum
27 Received: date until arriving to the wear of the usable rubber, each tyre has a performance schedule
Accepted: date
28 according to manufacturer, for such objective depends in a great percentage the good
Published: date
29 operation of the operator and another part the conditions of the slopes, cant and
30 undulations (conditions of roads or tracks) where the tyres roll. The tyres are inflated
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays
31 with air at a pressure that can reach 140 PSI in a day, i.e. the hot measurement, a term
neutral with regard to jurisdictional
32 claims in published maps and
that refers to when the tyre is working, the work generates the increase of the internal
33 institutional affiliations.
temperature of the tyre as well as the air pressure measured in PSI, important data that
34 can only be measured with a TPMS.

35 For the assembly of tyres, the worker must be constantly trained and qualified to
36 Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. interact with the tools that will help to perform a correct assembly. During assembly
37 Submitted for possible open access there is interaction between man and machine, and there is a risk of crushing if there is
38 publication under the terms and not good communication or if the worker is distracted by a manoeuvre. Hands are
39 conditions of the Creative Commons frequently exposed to disabling injuries due to entrapment between the tool and the
40 Attribution (CC BY) license wheel structure, causing injuries such as finger amputations.
(https://creativecommons.org/license
s/by/4.0/).

3 Safety 2021, 7, x. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx www.mdpi.com/journal/safety

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41 The greatest risk is found in the tyre inflation procedure, which is considered to be
42 a high-risk job. This can be caused by several reasons, using a component that does not
43 belong to the same manufacturer, using a defective component, bad mounting
44 procedure, etc. The violence of the energy release can even be catastrophic, which is why
45 during the inflation already installed, withdrawing from the line of fire is an act of
46 prevention. Technology has created a safety cage designed for giant tyres as well as
47 smaller auxiliary equipment tyres, but the danger and the consequences are the same.
48 This metal structure can prevent the violent ejection and prevent an accident, because
49 the trajectory of the tyres cannot be known or even assumed.

50 2. Materials and Methods

51 The Materials and Methods should be described with sufficient details to allow
52 others to replicate and build on the published results. Please note that the publication of
53 your manuscript implicates that you must make all materials, data, computer code, and
54 protocols associated with the publication available to readers. Please disclose at the
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57 be briefly described and appropriately cited.
58 Research manuscripts reporting large datasets that are deposited in a publicly
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62 provided prior to publication.
63 Interventionary studies involving animals or humans, and other studies that
64 require ethical approval, must list the authority that provided approval and the
65 corresponding ethical approval code.

66 3. Results
67 With the application of the MEMS system, the tyre inflation process has been
68 improved, the personnel perform the measurement remotely without exposing the draft
69 line, predicting excess air and temperature, and also creates a production advantage for
70 the team by avoiding stops for tyre inspection in the field or in the workshop.

71 3.1. Safe Inflation

72 It eliminates the need to check the tyre pressure by entering the tyre centre for
73 measurement, in this process there is a high risk that if the tyre pressure is exceeded or
74 suddenly the tyre may burst due to a faulty component factor. The MEMS system allows
75 the pressure measurement to be carried out with a mobile device or PDA at a safe
76 distance away from the line of fire, so that when the tyre reaches the recommended
77 pressure, the air fluid is cut off and then safely disconnected. With MEMS technology,
78 personnel are prevented from interacting too closely with the tyre during the inflation
79 process.
80 3.2. Safe tyre inspection
81 This activity is carried out by workers at the taps, the time taken to refuel by
82 lubrication personnel (SKF contractor) is used by Neuma Peru personnel to inspect the
83 components in case they find any anomalies, inspect the tyres to detect critical cuts and
84 carry out the respective follow-up, the MEMS system allows the inspection to be carried
85 out safely.

86 3.3. Figures, Tables and Schemes

87 The MEMS system issues low and high pressure alarms, during the tyre settings in
88 the software it asks to set a maximum pressure, when the actual pressure reaches this
89 value a red pressure alarm will appear indicating that it has reached the maximum
90 pressure allowed, however, to reach this alarm the amber alarm must be exceeded,

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91 which precisely warns of approaching the maximum limit. A real event occurred at
92 01:30 am of the night shift, the system issued a low pressure alarm as shown in Figure 1,
93 the other icons are the equipment with the MEMS system, the yellow ones have an
94 amber alarm (Temperature) and the CAT 60 equipment issues a red pressure alarm.
95

96

97 Figure 1. MEMS server on main display issues alarm warning on CAT 60.

98 When the air leak or air loss is immediate, the amber pressure alarm will probably
99 not appear, because the tyre suddenly lost pressure. In position 1 the truck 60 appeared
100 as low pressure (6 PSI) indicating a difference of 129 PSI to be in optimal tyre condition.
101 Position 2 shows an amber temperature alarm at 83 °C, showing a large difference with
102 position 1, while the subsequent positions are without any anomaly as shown in Figure
103 2.

104

105 Figure 2. Display of CAT 60 Equipment. Red pressure alarm in position 1.

106 Immediate communication is made to the mine control area about the condition of
107 the CAT 60 equipment's tyre in position 1 so that it can stop and move to a suitable area.
108 The equipment was in the Phase 4 section towards the crusher and was already located
109 at the head of the ramp. This communication ensures that the equipment is in a safe area
110 and also prevents the obstruction from interrupting mine traffic, thus avoiding the
111 stoppage of production in the event of being located in an important area for the passage
112 of trucks carrying ore, being in the front position as shown in figure 3, the equipment
113 cannot move forward as it would if the tyre with low pressure was at the rear, a tyre
114 change will be carried out so that the equipment can go to the front workshop for the
115 corresponding maintenance.

116

117 Figure 3. CAT 60 equipment found in the field. General view of the equipment (A) and view
118 of the unpressurised tyre (B).

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119 On removing the tyre and inspecting the damage, a rock cut through the tread was
120 found to be very evident on the outside, indicating that the operator did not observe the
121 rock or the spillage of material on the track and the tyre simply did not resist the
122 hardness of the rock, puncturing it in a violent manner as shown in figure 4. The length
123 of the internal cut makes the damage irreparable, a repair on this tyre would not
124 guarantee good use, therefore, the tyre is sent to scrap at a cost of mines of dollars
125 without having been consumed.

126

127 Figure 4. Tyre with outer (A ) and inner (B) cut.

128 The events that can occur in the forward positions can not only be detrimental to
129 the delay of a piece of equipment under maintenance but can also bring operations to a
130 halt if it stops on a busy road, in this case the MEMS system plays a key role in
131 anticipating actions and/or safety measures and not affecting production as shown in
132 Figure 5, this is usually for operational reasons.

133

134 Figure 5. Tyres without air pressure parked in safe zone.

135 4. Discussion
136 Authors should discuss the results and how they can be interpreted from the
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140 5. Conclusions
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143 6. Patents
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194 Appendix A
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199 representative data is shown in the main text can be added here if brief, or as
200 Supplementary data. Mathematical proofs of results not central to the paper can be
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202 Appendix B
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204 Tables, etc. should be labeled starting with “A”—e.g., Figure A1, Figure A2, etc.

205 References

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