Choosing the Right Transformer for the Mining Industry

Posted: Oct, 04 - 2009

Published: Oct, 05 - 2009

Format: application/pdf

No Of Pages: 6 pages

Language: English

Abstract

The mining industry occupies a significant position in the US economy. With no shortfall in the demand for minerals and ore, one can only expect the industry to keep growing.
One worrisome aspect of the mining industry in the US, however, is its excessive demand and dependence on energy. Highly automated, the industry demands trillions of Btu (British Thermal Units) of energy every year; the industry's high demand for energy has also made it easily affected by the fluctuating international prices of fossil fuel. While other sectors of the US economy are searching for greener, more cost-effective energy options, the mining industry has also come under pressure to follow suit.
Transformers are a key element in collecting and transporting energy on the national grid and their efficiency has always been a source of debate. This whitepaper seeks to address this crucial question of selecting the right transformer for the mining industry.
While the mining industry is critical to the economy, it is, by its very nature, full of hazards for both manpower and machines. The transformers used have to be robust and technologically advanced to function in dust, dirt, chemicals, and in the presence of high levels of moisture both above and below ground. Despite the high levels of automation in this industry, it is also manpower intensive in certain areas, which means that people are often working around all kinds of dangerous machinery; transformers should not have to be included in that category.
This whitepaper delivers useful information about the role of transformers in the mining industry, the various types of transformers and some tips on how to select the right one. The whitepaper also takes a look at the need for energy-efficient mining, and Pacific Crest Transformers' offerings to the industry.
Introduction
The US has one of the largest mining industries in the world - an industry closely linked with the economy. In the past, the discovery of resources such as gold and oil resulted in a major population shift and rapid growth for formerly remote regions of the country, such as California, Texas, and Alaska. Extraction of these resources, and finding new deposits, continues to provide the foundation for local economies in some regions.
Some of the minerals mined in the US are coal, uranium, copper, gold, silver, iron, lead, zinc and others. Most of the mines in the US are highly automated and thus energy intensive. To provide an example, even in the last decade of the 20th century, iron ore mining alone consumed 62.3 trillion Btu of energy across a calendar year. Because mining is such a large industry and makes a sizable contribution to the national income, mines must have a dependable source of power - a crucial resource for mining processes.
The mining and mineral extraction sector both in the US and worldwide relies heavily on energy to harness natural resources such as aggregates, precious metals, iron ore, oil, gas, and coal. This energy is used to power shovels and drills for excavating these products, loading them into enormous mining trucks or onto conveyer belts, sorting, sifting and crushing ores, heating, and a hundred other functions. Both surface and underground mining operations rely on powered equipment to extract materials and load trucks. Overall, the mining sector could not flourish without the use of vast amounts of energy.