In African mining where high costs, harsh environments and tight margins are prevalent, maintenance can make or break profitability. SEW-EURODRIVE’s DriveRadar is at the heart of a shift from reactive repairs to intelligent predictive maintenance. Jonathan McKey, sales and marketing manager at SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa, explains that DriveRadar already incorporates elements of AI to help mines make better decisions faster.
SEW-EURODRIVE began its digital journey with relatively basic condition monitoring tools but has steadily expanded both the scope and intelligence of its systems. “We started introducing various forms of instrumentation and condition monitoring systems in South Africa in 2008. Since then, we have evolved our technology to encompass more drive information in a singular diagnostic system. This has resulted in the introduction of DriveRadar,” McKey explains.
DriveRadar continuously monitors a broad set of parameters around each drive. “The diagnostic unit can monitor various external conditions such as harmonics, vibrations and temperatures, and based on that, it can take the logic, and give feedback to the client, giving them the state of their drive. It also gives a projected outcome if preventative measures are not put in place. In other words, DriveRadar is not just measuring; it is interpreting and predicting,” McKey explains.
The practical value of this AI-style approach is in predictive maintenance. Instead of rigid service schedules or last-minute fixes, DriveRadar helps mines act at precisely the right time. “It monitors these changes and these variations, and the impact that would have on the oil and the viscosity and reliability, and it actually intervnes and tells a customer how much longer they can operate a drive safely before it results in premature wear or damage. For mining operations where every hour of lost production translates into significant revenue, that foresight is invaluable,” McKey adds.
By identifying problems early and accurately estimating safe remaining life, DriveRadar helps mines avoid emergency breakdowns, reduce costly rush orders and plan maintenance around production, not the other way around.
A frontrunner in AI
It has already been proved that AI can have a positive impact on mining. While the technology is still novel in the sector, McKey notes that DriveRadar already represents a practical, embedded form of AI. “If you consider the fact that the diagnostic unit can monitor all these various external conditions and based on that, it can take the logic and actually create a safe running philosophy; this version of artificial intelligence already basically exists to a degree within the technology,” he says.
Looking ahead, McKey expects this intelligence to deepen, reducing the analytical burden on the human workforce. “We are constantly evolving our technology, and as we progress into the years, we will further enhance this technology and allow less human intervention and more drive technology intervention to assist people in managing plants and production activities,” he says. For African mines, that points to a future where smart drives and AI diagnostics work hand in hand with skilled technicians, delivering higher reliability, lower maintenance costs and a much clearer picture of what is happening inside every gearbox and motor, long before anything fails.
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