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FREEDOM for Drills

Improve drill production and
keep your people safe

Industry-leading technology for improving mining drill performance

With FLANDERS technology upgrades for blasthole drills, you can transform a diverse fleet of manually operated drills into a state-of-the-art fleet of synchronized, remotely operated machines.

Our drill automation retrofits:

  • Ensure consistent operation cycles;
  • Keep operators out of hazardous conditions;
  • Improve real-time data acquisition for optimizing drill performance.

This combination gives you exceptional ROI, delivering drill productivity gains of up to 30%.

On top of that, high-precision drill control enables you to optimize fragmentation size for loading, hauling, and crushing processes, reducing end-to-end costs for your mining operation.

  • 30%

    Productivity gains

    With full automation, compared to manual drilling

  • 91+%

    Within 5" of plan

    Holes drilled with greater accuracy

  • 4 drills

    Operable by one person

    Using our drill automation system

FLANDERS in the field

Turning a major machine fire into an innovation opportunity

When a machine fire burned out a blasthole drill, a major mining operation asked FLANDERS to convert it into a fully automated blasthole drill.

Using our pioneering FREEDOM for Drills – ARDVARC control system, proven Allen-Bradley® components, the latest Windows operating system, and state-of-the-art technology for GPS positioning, we did just that. We completed the automation system design, installation, and commissioning in less than two months—while structural repairs proceeded in tandem.

The resulting drill automation system immediately improved drilling accuracy, fragmentation, and production predictability.

With proof of ROI in hand, the operation asked us to upgrade the other thirteen drills in its fleet to our FREEDOM for Drills automation system.

Since then, we have advanced the FREEDOM for Drills – ARDVARC product line to include greater flexibility, making the system configurable for partially automated, one-touch, or fully autonomous operation.

Full automation of one drill delivered productivity gains up to 30%, simply by reducing machine downtime due to blasting operations and shift changes.

Control systems for drills

FREEDOM® for Drills

Advanced mining drill controls and automation

The FREEDOM for Drills control system, widely known as ARDVARC®, will significantly improve the safety, productivity, and longevity of your blasthole drills.

Compatible with any drill rig on the market, this open-architecture control system enables you to modernize your mining drills with industry-leading automation and machine health monitoring capabilities:

  • Multi-drill operation. FREEDOM for Drills enables a single operator to run and coordinate multiple machines.
  • Major safety advancements. Automation reduces risk by making machines more predictable and keeping operators safely distanced from collapse-prone drilling situations.
  • Superior control. GPS blasthole positioning and automation of leveling, collaring, drilling, bit retraction, jack resets, and rod handling give you exceptional control, speed, and precision.
  • Multiple configuration options. Choose from enhanced operator assist, one-touch drilling, or full drill automation.
  • Advanced data tracking. For exceptional decision support, the system collects and reports detailed data on holes drilled, drill cycles, production, and variable machine conditions.
  • Total data access. Open architecture controls give you complete access to drilling and machine health data—there’s no “black box” with FREEDOM for Drills.
  • HMI standardization. If your fleet has multiple makes or models of blasthole drills, you can convert them all to a single, standardized Human Machine Interface (HMI) design and controls to make life easier for operators and reduce the need for cross-training.

You can retrofit a single drill or your entire fleet with our FREEDOM for Drills automation system.

“Blasthole drills run by our automation system have drilled millions of holes.

In addition to increasing hole-to-hole drilling speed and precision, our automation system eliminates operator errors that could otherwise take a drill out of production for an extended period of time.”

— David Wood, Application Engineer

Three levels of machine advancement

Choose from three different FREEDOM for Drills implementations, depending on your operational objectives and the capabilities of drills in your fleet.

ARDVARC® Intelli-Rig

Our Intelli-Rig Control System implementation provides major drill rig control system advances without automation.

Product highlights

  • High-precision GPS blasthole positioning
  • Intelligent hole-by-hole drill cycle data
  • Advanced data collection and analytics on production and machine health

Key benefits

  • Increased fragmentation predictability
  • Improved decision support for operators
  • Trend analysis for planning predictive maintenance

ARDVARC® One-Touch

ARDVARC® One-Touch Convert a manually operated machine to ‘one-touch’ drilling  positioned by the operator.

Product highlights

  • Touch-screen operation
  • Responsive system automatically adjusts drill settings hole-by-hole, based on proprietary algorithms

Key benefits

  • Productivity increases up to 22%
  • Exceptional drill hole precision and accuracy
  • Increased fragmentation predictability
  • Comprehensive data collection, and customizable reporting on machine productivity and health

ARDVARC® Fully Autonomous

Thoroughly proven in the field, our Fully Autonomous Control System with auto propel has drilled millions of holes for operations worldwide.

Product highlights

  • Total drill automation, including positioning and rod handling
  • Fully configurable operating parameters
  • Hazard monitoring of drill surroundings for obstacles and hazards

Key benefits

  • Productivity gains up to 30%, simply by reducing downtime due to human factors such as shift changes and pausing drilling during blasting operations
  • One person can manage multiple machines
  • Operators can run machines from a safe distance during blasting or in high-risk ground conditions
  • Unmatched drill precision, accuracy, and fragmentation predictability

DRILLWISE Products

GPS

Use our GPS positioning system to improve drill hole accuracy, data collection, and reporting on drill productivity.

MONITOR

Monitor live drilling data as well as machine data for predictive trending in geology as well as for your machine including engine hours and operating data. MONITOR’s features also include consumables tracking and reporting.

AUTO-LEVEL

AUTO-LEVEL provides optimized control of jack leveling system to ensure your drill is level and stable while drilling.

GUARD

To protect operators from harm and prevent leaving a running drill unattended, GUARD halts the drilling cycle if the cab door is opened. Our digital system prevents your drill from tramming and jacks from operating while the drill string is in the hole as well as over tilt interlocks.

HAZTECH

Compatible with any drill—and standard with our full drill automations—HAZTECH monitors hazards in a drill’s vicinity to help keep personnel and machinery safe.

Services for drills

Having developed the world’s first automated blasthole drill, you can be certain we know everything there is to know about drill controls and electronics; we’re the hard-working, hands-on experts you want on the job.

  • Field services

    • From troubleshooting drill hydraulics to preventative maintenance to total control system replacements, our drill experts are ready to help with anything you need in the field.

      Learn more

  • Advanced engineering

    • Our engineering team specializes in developing new and improved technologies for severe-duty machines with electric rotating systems, including drills, shovels, draglines, and haul trucks.

      Learn more

  • Custom manufacturing

    • If we can engineer it, we can build it. We’re even a motor and drive manufacturer for a number of OEMs in mining and other industries.

      Learn more

  • From troubleshooting drill hydraulics to preventative maintenance to total control system replacements, our drill experts are ready to help with anything you need in the field.

    Learn more

  • Our engineering team specializes in developing new and improved technologies for severe-duty machines with electric rotating systems, including drills, shovels, draglines, and haul trucks.

    Learn more

  • If we can engineer it, we can build it. We’re even a motor and drive manufacturer for a number of OEMs in mining and other industries.

    Learn more

Our full service offerings

Contact us about drill automation

Let’s calculate the ROI for automating one or more drills in your fleet with our proven FREEDOM for Drills technology.

Contact our mining team