US 11,836,659 B2
Methods and systems for deploying equipment required to meet defined production targets
Mary Amelia Walker, Phoenix, AZ (US); Nicholas Hickson, Phoenix, AZ (US); Robert Catron, Phoenix, AZ (US); Brian Vaughan, St. Louis, MO (US); and Hung Jung Lu, St. Louis, MO (US)
Assigned to Freeport McMoRan Inc., Phoenix, AZ (US)
Filed by Freeport-McMoRan Inc., Phoenix, AZ (US)
Filed on Dec. 8, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/545,276.
Application 17/545,276 is a division of application No. 17/202,655, filed on Mar. 16, 2021, granted, now 11,244,262.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/990,515, filed on Mar. 17, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0101228 A1, Mar. 31, 2022
Int. Cl. G06Q 10/0631 (2023.01); G06Q 10/0635 (2023.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01)
CPC G06Q 10/06313 (2013.01) [G06Q 10/0635 (2013.01); G06Q 10/06315 (2013.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of deploying shovels and haul trucks to deliver sufficient excavated material to a material processing system to meet a defined production target, comprising:
generating at least one production constraint for at least one of the shovels and the material processing system;
estimating an effect of entropy on a cycle time of the haul trucks by performing a stochastic simulation based on historical cycle times to produce a future cycle time estimate for the haul trucks;
estimating an effect of entropy on a material processing time associated with the material processing system by performing a stochastic simulation based on historical material processing times to produce a future material processing time estimate for the material processing system;
predicting whether a delay will occur during the operation of at least one of the shovels, the haul trucks and the material processing system based on historical delay data, wherein said predicting whether a delay will occur comprises:
developing a histogram of operating delays from the historical delay data;
developing a histogram of unplanned downtime delays from the historical delay data;
determining a probability density based on the histograms of operating delays and unplanned downtime delays; and
applying the probability density to a Hazard Function to predict whether the delay will occur;
estimating a duration of the predicted delay by performing a stochastic simulation based on the historical delay data;
determining a number of shovels and a number of haul trucks required to meet the defined production target based on the estimated production constraint, the future cycle time estimate, the future material processing time estimate, and the estimated duration of the predicted delay; and
deploying the determined number of shovels and the determined number of haul trucks.