Project description and overview:

Wear plates are the armour plating of the mining industry and are used to protect the mining assets (fixed and mobile plant) from wear and degradation due to high volumes of ore flowing over their surface. Wear Plate Maintenance, which comprises the assessment and replacement of wear plates, is a major element of the operating costs of all global mining operators with up to $400 million/year spent on wear plate replacement alone across Australia.

Davies has developed a wear sensing system (WearSense) that captures live measurement data, such as: wear, temperature and vibration of wear plates. This enables real time condition-based wear management that improves productivity, safety and profitability. The Davies technology replaces manual procedures for measuring wear plate degradation.

Project participants will collaborate to trial the Davies WearSense system in an operational environment with major mining company partners. This will enable Davies to optimise the product hardware specifications and test the software interface. Once the final product hardware specifications are known, Davies will develop production ready manufacturing processes and procedures.

The Davies software platform will provide real time wear data and an analytical service and platform to predict wear maintenance requirements, which will enable mining companies to utilise condition based wear management. This in turn, will enable mining companies to plan for more efficient and less costly maintenance shut-downs. The Davies technology enables a new and enhanced level of service, which is not available through any other technology provider.

The project will assess the potential for broadening the commercialisation of the Davies IP to other markets where the management of surface wear is critically important. When successful, this project will provide the Australian manufacturing sector a tangible demonstration of the development and commercialisation of leading IP across global markets.