Miner’s Equipment

Nautilus has worked very hard to miniaturize the Buddy proximity detection circuit board so that it fits inside their tiny Cap-Lamp Battery-Case which is shown above. This is very important because it means the miner does not have to carry any extra equipment.

Nautilus has made sure that their Cap-lamp is rugged and uses only the highest quality LED’s. The lightweight 0.33kg powerful, tiny, Lithium-Ion battery pack keeps the main LED operating continuously for a minimum of 16 hours. The six LED’s that are used in emergency situations will operate continuously for 36 hours.

Machine Equipment

The “Buddy Machine Unit” operates from any voltage between 10-30VDC and therefore can be used with 12VDC or 24VDC systems used by underground Haultrucks, Loaders and Drills. The Buddy Machine Unit turns on  an alarm inside the driver's cab and also activates the vehicle’s horn and flashes the headlights to warn the pedestrian to move away from the vehicle.

Warning Override

The Proximity Detection Device (PDD) has a “Warning Override” zero-force touch-button.  Providing the miner keeps his thumb on this touch button he can allow a vehicle to pass him provided the mine’s safety team has approved this feature.  A typical application would be if a miner is in a tunnel and a Haultruck is approaching.  If a safety cutout is available, the miner can move into it and wait for vehicle to get closer.

When the truck approaches the miner, his cap-lamp will automatically flash to warn the driver, the vehicle’s horn will sound and the lights will flash. This will continue until the miner holds the “Override” button or the Buddy system stops the vehicle.  As soon as the miner touches and holds the override button, the horn and the flashing lights will stop but the miner’s cap-lamp will continue flashing to remind the driver that he is still there..