Hardware Environmental Protection for Autonomous Large Mining Trucks

Project goal: To redesign an enclosure for the autonomous control hardware on the sponsor’s mining trucks. Primary requirements were to provide sufficient cooling, to control dust intrusion, to remain close to the existing enclosure’s footprint, and to extend the service interval to 500 hours. The primary challenges of the project were the extreme heat and dust conditions in which the trucks operate. Many of these vehicles are in use around the world, so a retrofit design was chosen to allow simple field deployment on active vehicles. Blown air cools the electronics in the enclosure, so the cooling profile and temperatures were optimized using temperature and flow modeling in MatLab. Dust intrusion is managed three ways. First, the blower creates positive pressure inside the enclosure, which prevents dust ingress through cracks or holes. Second, a standard automotive filter was chosen for its low profile and wide cylindrical shape to fit the size constraints of the project while maximizing surface area to provide the longest life. It was determined a higher level HEPA filter was not needed as the target air quality within the enclosure was ISO 9, or standard room air quality. Third, two cyclone prefilters were used to prevent the air filter from becoming saturated, allowing 500 hours of service before needing to be changed. The design is compact, protruding only one inch beyond the original cabinet’s footprint, and compatible with the sponsor’s vehicle lines.