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Zytronic’s rugged touchscreens help improve quarry efficiency

A_ZYTC028-Boral-mining-truck-checkin

When looking to speed up the flow of trucks checking into its busy mines and quarries, Australia’s largest construction material supplier, Boral Limited, decided to apply ‘smart’ technologies. As a result, haulage drivers now use specially designed kiosks, with Zytronic’s interactive touch sensors, at Boral’s incoming and outgoing weighbridges to avoid bottlenecks. 

A specialist in self-service kiosks, TouchMate (headquartered in Brisbane) designs and produces its products in-house. With manufacturing facilities in both Australia and the United States and already thousands of installations across the globe, the company has the experience and skills to install and commission a fully functioning kiosk with a proven track record of reliability and innovation.

The initial brief was to build a bespoke quarry truck ‘check-in’ kiosk rugged enough to operate reliably in the harshest of environments, as the units would be deployed in remote quarries across Australia, which has several different climate zones. Furthermore, dirt, grit and dust whipped up from the quarry by passing trucks was also a factor to consider.

The check-in kiosks are fully sealed and IP66 rated. The internal temperatures are maintained by a ventilation system that integrates positive pressure filtration with a compact heat exchange unit. The electronic peripherals were sourced from specialist distributor JEA Technologies, of Melbourne. 

“For this project, the solution had to deliver faultless performance in the toughest of environments. After careful consideration, we recommended Zytronic’s projected capacitive touch technology.”

George Grochowski, Managing Director, JEA Technologies

JEA Technologies has been partnering with Zytronic as its distributor in Australia and New Zealand for over 12 years. Zytronic’s business is geared around the provision of durable, reliable and customisable touch technology. Its projected capacitive technology (PCT and MPCT) offers the ultimate touch solution for challenging environments such as Boral’s quarry application.

Working closely with JEA Technologies, Zytronic designed a bespoke printed glass 19” ZyBrid touch sensor that incorporates UV and IR filters to aid thermal management of the kiosk. A 6mm thick, thermally toughened glass was selected, which ensures optimum impact and scratch resistance and protects the underlying display. In addition, the specified glass incorporated an anti-glare etched finish to reduce reflections in the bright Australian sunshine. 

With its experience and flexibility regarding low-volume custom solutions, Zytronic was the natural choice for this project. After the installation and commissioning of the ruggedised kiosks, Boral has seen its quarry truck check-in times drop by 20 to 30 minutes. TouchMate Managing Director, David Ellsworth adds: “The reliable and robust nature of Zytronic’s touch sensors has once again proven their worth for our business. There are now hundreds of these quarry check-in kiosks deployed in some pretty extreme Australian conditions and, to this date, we have not seen a single field failure with the ZyBrid touchscreens.”

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