Orica’s FRAGTrack wins Good Design award

Explosives group Orica’s in-line ore fragmentation measurement technology, FRAGTrack has won a Good Design award in engineering for outstanding design and innovation.

FRAGTrack automatically and accurately measures rock size and fragmentation following the blasting stage in mining and quarrying.

Optimal fragmentation can greatly reduce energy consumption, improve equipment productivity, and increase production rates in minesites, while also replacing manual sampling to keep team members safe.

The technology is designed in collaboration with Design Anthology, Newie Ventures and Your Engineer Mechanical Engineering.

The Good Design Awards jury said: “This is an innovative design that has the potential to improve commercial and safety outcomes in the mining and extractive industries that use drill and blast techniques.

“An excellent piece of engineering design using scanning and multi-camera technologies with extensive software engineering in a highly innovative application.”

Conventional methods and technologies for fragmentation measurement are prone to operator bias and an inability to operate in harsh mining environments.

FRAGTrack captures, analyses and reports real-time data digitally, and can be upgraded remotely.

“This is a clever solution to the tedious problem of quantifying fragmentation after blasting.

“It ruggedises cameras and processors to survive in harsh mining and environmental conditions.

“A solid piece of industrial and engineering design that deserves to be recognised and celebrated.”

Orica’s Vice President of Digital Solutions Rajkumar Mathiravedu said: “Throughout the development process we’ve taken the time to listen to the needs of our customers, and then work with them to evolve the design and engineering to suit harsh mining conditions.

“It’s what makes this such a unique and impactful innovation, especially as our customers strive for greater competitive advantage in these challenging times.”

Pictures: Orica

Subscribe to our free @AuManufacturing newsletter here.