Systems for automated loading of blastholes and methods related thereto

Abstract

Systems for automatedly delivering explosives with variable densities are disclosed herein. Methods of automatedly delivering explosives with variable densities are disclosed herein. Methods of determining an emulsion explosive density profile are disclosed herein.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A truck for delivering explosives, the truck comprising:
 a delivery device to deliver an explosive into a blasthole; and   processor circuitry to:
 receive a target explosive energy profile,
 wherein the target explosive energy profile comprises target explosive energy values corresponding to segments along a length of a blasthole or along a blast pattern, the blasthole or the blast pattern having been segmented based on change points in geologic values corresponding to the blasthole or the blast pattern, and 
 
 control a flow rate of an energy modulating agent to the explosive to vary an energy of the explosive as needed according to the target energy profile; and 
 deliver the explosive according to the target explosive energy profile. 
   
     
     
         22 . The truck of  claim 21 , wherein the explosive comprises an emulsion. 
     
     
         23 . The truck of  claim 21 , wherein the geologic profile comprises geologic values representing hardness. 
     
     
         24 . The truck of  claim 21 , further comprising a mixer to combine the energy modulating agent and the explosive. 
     
     
         25 . The truck of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 a first reservoir configured to store the energy modulating agent; and   a second reservoir configured to store the explosive.   
     
     
         26 . The truck of  claim 21 , wherein the target explosive energy profile includes the blast pattern segmented into groups of neighboring blastholes with similar representative geologic values,
 wherein the target explosive energy values correspond to the groups of neighboring blastholes.   
     
     
         27 . The truck of  claim 21 , wherein the energy modulating agent comprises a density-reducing agent. 
     
     
         28 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
 determine any change points within a geologic profile;   segment the geologic profile into groups separated by any identified change points;   determine a target explosive energy value for each group for an explosive based on a representative geologic value for each group, thereby generating a target explosive energy profile comprising the target explosive energy value for each group; and   provide the target explosive energy profile to processor circuitry of a truck for delivering explosives, wherein the target explosive energy profile is used by the processor circuitry of the truck to control a flow rate of an energy modulating agent to the explosive for delivery to one or more groups to alter a composition of the explosive according to the target explosive energy profile.   
     
     
         29 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 28 , wherein the explosive comprises an emulsion. 
     
     
         30 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 28 , wherein the target explosive energy value comprises a target explosive density value. 
     
     
         31 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 28 , wherein the geologic profile comprises geologic values representing geologic characteristics of a blast pattern or along a length of a blasthole. 
     
     
         32 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 28 , wherein determining any change points comprises:
 calculating a cumulative difference between actual geologic values and a mean of the geologic values; and   determining a first peak value of the cumulative difference.   
     
     
         33 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 28 , wherein the energy modulating agent comprises a density-reducing agent. 
     
     
         34 . An explosive delivery system, comprising:
 processor circuitry to:
 receive geologic values associated with a geologic profile; 
 determine any change points within the geologic values of the geologic profile; 
 segment the geologic profile into groups separated by any identified change points; and 
 determine a target explosive energy value for each group based on a representative geologic value for each group, thereby generating a target explosive energy profile comprising target explosive energy values for each group; and 
   a delivery device to:
 control a flow rate of an energy modulating agent to an explosive to alter a composition of the explosive to vary an energy of the explosive according to the target explosive energy profile; and 
 deliver the explosive according to the target explosive energy profile. 
   
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the explosive comprises an emulsion. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the geologic profile comprises geologic values representing geologic characteristics of a blast pattern or along a length of a blasthole. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 34 , further comprising a mixer to combine the energy modulating agent and the explosive. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 a first reservoir configured to store the energy modulating agent; and   a second reservoir configured to store the explosive.   
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the energy modulating agent comprises a density-reducing agent. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein to determine the target explosive energy value for each group based on the representative geologic value for each group, the processor circuitry is further configured to determine a maximum number of changes achievable by delivery system equipment, a control system, or both.