Innovation BME is responsible for some of the world’s largest electronic detonator blasts on a mine site.
AXXIS TITANIUM delivers blasts with a bang AS A PIONEER OF BLASTING TECHNOLOGY, BME HAS LIVED UP TO THIS REPUTATION WITH ITS LATEST RELEASE. THE AXXIS TITANIUM ELECTRONIC INITIATION SYSTEM MAKES BLASTING SAFER THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN BEFORE.
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ME continues to capture the attention of the Australian mining sector. When the company broke the world record for the largest electronic detonator blast in 2016, it proved that the AXXIS system was a frontrunner of electronic initiation systems. Then, just two years later it surpassed its own record, when 7350 AXXIS detonators were fired in a single pattern, 1.7 kilometres long in a Central Queensland coal mine. The accomplishment was unique as the technology was safely executed only by mine staff without direct AXXIS technical support. The blasts were also delivered with millisecond accuracy even with the very long delays that were needed for such large blasts. Indeed, the AXXIS system is known for its safety focus, a highly desired attribute in the Australian market. BME’s newly released AXXIS
TITANIUM digital initiation system has added a double safety system featuring dual capacitors and dual voltage. This positions AXXIS TITANIUM as the only system in the world to include both safety features. “Dual voltage effectively means that you can communicate directly with the detonator, write any desired firing times and log positions from your device to the detonator and do all that at a safe, lower voltage even with explosives loaded in the hole,” BME global product manager for AXXIS Tinus Brits says. “So even if a detonator is damaged in some way, there is no risk of initiating its fuse head because the communication voltage is below the voltage needed to fire the fuse head. That’s the benefit of a dual voltage system.” Dual capacitors, on the other hand, are comprised of a logic capacitor and separate firing capacitor.
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The logic – or lower voltage – capacitor is used as an energy source to power the microprocessor, allowing communication with the detonator. It has a small capacity that is insufficient to fire the fuse head. The firing – or higher voltage – capacitor in each detonator is only charged by a specific command during blasting time, when the pit is cleared and immediately before the countdown for the shot is started. The firing capacitor releases its energy to fire the detonator on command. This creates two separate and independent methods of communication that makes it inherently safe to log, test and fire detonators while also providing increased flexibility in safe testing. This is a huge leap from what is already a leading electronic detonator, the AXXIS GII. The AXXIS TITANIUM predecessor does not allow for detonator programming and testing to
