Radios for Chile gold mines

Benbro Electronics has shipped a batch of UHF radio transmitters and receivers for a trial of the Linatex hose-wear monitor in two gold and copper mines in Chile.

The hose-wear monitor uses sensors embedded in the flexible hose material to feed information to Benbro radio transmitters which connect with above-ground computer monitors.

"Our role was really to design the radio connection equipment and the computer-control software but we soon got drawn into helping to solve all sort of problems," John Bennett, OAM Benbro Electronics, said.

"The whole system relies on sensor wires embedded in the rubberised material, so that when the rubber wears to a particular point the sensor wires become exposed and the computerised alarm identifies that section of hose as needing replacement. Unfortunately, we discovered that some rubber compounds were actually good electrical conductors and some wires were becoming very brittle during the vulcanising process. So, it has become a joint venture, with the client, to solve these problems."