ENGG300 research project

Wireless Mine Pump, Self-Monitoring (WiMPS)

Requirements

Requirements overview

Mine are dangerous places. What sort of danger should be expected in a mine for what sort of mine and which dangers/mines would it make sense to monitor? One of the key problems in mines is accumulation of water, so a pump is an essential staple of the mining industry. Keeping track of the status and performance of pumps and where the water is on a mine site is critical to its safe, daily operation. In this semester long project, you will develop a requirements document, design document, and “final” project proposal/plan as part of individual and group effort to develop a selfmonitoring water pump for a mining solution.

The pump should be modular so that different pumps and sensors and can be plugged into the “package”, which contains support for wireless communications as well as some sort of powered support from mains with battery backup for monitoring only. Regardless of what major you are studying, there is something here for you!

You should understand the current state of the art and, if a wireless solution exists, what are its shortcomings. You should also know that there are a lot of wires that go down into a mine site and know what these are used for and, if you can find information on it or calculate roughly, how much cable is used/needed at a mine site for monitoring and communications—this will help you quantify your value proposition.

Finally, think about the different uses for a mine support system. Think about how it gets deployed and maintained and not just about how/when it gets used!

In terms of the project as a whole, you will work as an individual for your first deliverable, the requirements document. You will share your requirements document with the other people on your 4-person team before you do the design document so that you can divide up the work in a manner which makes sense in regard to standard engineering processes and projects. Your design documents are individual but can reference your team’s decision on how to divide up the project. You should share your design documents with each other so that your individual project plan/proposal will include substantial reviews of each of your teams design documents in your individual project that you are planning and proposing. As a team, you will review and critique a requirements document that I provide you. These 4 assignments will all revolve around WiMPS.