Safety systems for commercial blasting operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024361115-A1
Application number	US-202218685349-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 23, 2022
Priority date	Aug 24, 2021
Publication date	Oct 31, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

The safety systems for commercial blasting operations include wireless transmitter system(s) configured to send command signals wirelessly to wireless devices that are configured for wireless electronic blasting (web). The system also includes disable antenna(s) that define deactivation zone(s): vehicle/personnel presence detector system(s) including detectors that define detection zone(s), and/or RFID scanner system(s) with reader antennas that defined scanner zone(s); and a safety control system in electronic communication with the wireless transmitter system(s), and the vehicle/personnel presence detector systems and/or the RFID scanner systems, wherein the safety control system is configured to control the wireless transmitter systems to send wireless disable command(s) to disable the wireless devices that are within the deactivation zones, and/or to control alarm system(s) to generate alarms, in response to a vehicle/person being detected in the detection zones and/or a wireless device being detected in the scanner zones.

First claim

1 . A system for commercial blasting operations, the system including:
one or more wireless transmitter systems configured to send command signals wirelessly to wireless devices that are configured for wireless electronic blasting (WEB), the wireless transmitter systems including one or more disable antennas that define one or more deactivation zones; one or more vehicle/personnel presence detector systems including detectors that define one or more detection zones, and/or one or more RFID scanner systems with reader antennas that defined one or more scanner zones; and a safety control system in electronic communication with the one or more wireless transmitter systems, and the vehicle/personnel presence detector systems and/or the RFID scanner systems,
wherein the safety control system is configured to control the wireless transmitter systems to send at least one wireless DISABLE command to disable the wireless devices that are within the deactivation zones, and/or to control one or more alarm systems to generate alarms, in response to a vehicle/person being detected in the detection zones and/or a wireless device being detected in the scanner zones.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the disable antennas include: one or more RF antennas.

3 . The system of claim, wherein the DISABLE command acts as a state transition signal or command by which a set of the wireless initiation device can be or is transitioned to a safe/standby mode or a reset/disabled state, including after the set of the wireless initiation device has been programmed/encoded.

4 . The system of claim 1 , including the one or more alarm systems, wherein the safety control system is in electronic communication with the one or more alarm systems, wherein the safety control system is configured to control the alarm systems to generate the alarms when the safety control system detects the wireless devices within scanner zones that are defined by locations/orientations of reader antennas of the RFID scanner systems, wherein the alarm systems are configured to sound, display and or send alarms, including at a plurality of urgency levels, when they receive an alarm command with an urgency level from the safety control system.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the DISABLE command includes a wireless device ID and/or a wireless device GID in order to selectively disable only wireless devices in the deactivation zone with a matching ID or GID.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless devices include respective RFID tags mounted/attached thereto, optionally passive RFID tags.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the RFID scanner systems provide continuous background reading of the RFID tags.

8 . The system of claim 1 , the RFID scanner systems including a plurality of RFID scanner systems with substantially overlapping scanner zones.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the safety control system is in electronic communication with a central blasting computing systems, and is configured to request a status of associated of the wireless device, from the central blasting computing systems, based on an ID scanned by the RFID scanner systems.

10 . The system of claim 1 , including a WEB system with a blast controller and one or more signal generators connected to the blast controller to receive signals representing wireless electronic blasting commands, optionally including an MI signal generator configured to drive an MI antenna mounted and configured to direct the MI signals to the wireless devices in the boreholes, optionally wherein the safety control system connects/couples communicatively to the MI signal generator to transmit the DISABLE command to the wireless devices in the boreholes.

11 . The system of claim 1 , including one or more access structures that provide access for the vehicles/people through boundary structures and into/from site storage structures, wherein the access structures define respective access points for the vehicles/people, wherein:
the RF/MI antennas are configured and mounted such that the deactivation zones overlap with the access points, the access detector systems are mounted/positioned surrounding and/or adjacent the access structures such that the detection zones overlap the access points, and/or the one or more scanner antennas are mounted adjacent to and/or surrounding one or more of the access structures to cover and/or cross the access point of the corresponding access structure such that the scanner zones overlap the access points.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more vehicle/personnel presence detector systems are configured to detect/determine respective travel directions of a vehicle/person through the one or more of the detection zones, wherein the at least one wireless DISABLE command is selectively generated based on the determined travel direction of each detection zone.

13 . A process or method for commercial blasting operations, the process or method including:
detecting a vehicle/personnel in a detection zone, and/or scanning an RFID tag of a wireless device that is configured for wireless electronic blasting (WEB) in a scanner zone; controlling one or more wireless transmitter systems to send a wireless DISABLE command to disable wireless devices within one or more deactivation zones, and/or controlling one or more alarm systems to generate alarms, in response to the vehicle/person being detected in the detection zone and/or the wireless device being detected in the scanner zone.

14 . The process of method of claim 13 , including transmitting the wireless DISABLE command by way of one or more RF antennas defining one of the deactivation zones using RF frequencies that travel substantially through the air (TTA) but not substantially TTE (for geological materials adjacent to the deactivation zone in which an array of boreholes is arranged) when the array of at least one borehole has been loaded with the at least one wireless device which is configured to respond to ARM and FIRE commands by way of through the earth (TTE) signals.

15 . A system for commercial blasting operations, the system including:
A. an alarm/disable system including:
1. one or more wireless transmitter systems configured to send command signals wirelessly to wireless devices that are configured for wireless electronic blasting (WEB), the wireless transmitter systems including one or more disable antennas that define one or more deactivation zones, and/or
2. one or more alarm systems configured to sound, display and/or send alarms, optionally including at a plurality of urgency levels, when they receive an alarm command optionally with an urgency level;
B. a scanner/detector system including:
1. one or more vehicle/personnel presence detector systems including detectors that define one or more detection zones, and/or
2. one or more RFID scanner systems with reader antennas that defined one or more scanner zones; and
C. a safety control system in electronic communication with the one or more wireless transmitter systems and/or the one or more alarm systems, and with the vehicle/personnel presence detector systems and/or the RFID scanner systems, wherein the safety control system is configured to:
control the wireless transmitter systems to send at least one wireless DISABLE command to disable the wireless devices that are within the deactivation zones when the safety control system detects that a vehicle/person is detected in the detection zones and/or a wireless device is scanned in the scanner zones, optionally based on the urgency level; and/or
control the alarm systems to sound, display and/or send

Assignees

• Orica Int Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Kotsonis Steven E
• Liu Kaiyan
• Thu Aung
• Piel Walter Hardy
• Guillemette Francois
• Mallette Daniel
• Martino David

Classifications

• G08B25/10

  using wireless transmission systems {(G08B25/009 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G08B21/02

  Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons · CPC title

• G08B21/22

  responsive to presence or absence of persons · CPC title

• G06K7/10366

  the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications · CPC title

• F42D5/00

  Safety arrangements · CPC title