Project Details

[Return to Previous Page]

Automate the process of opening, closing, and sealing of rail car hatch lids for the health and safety of workers.

Company: US Silica Mapleton Depot

Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: IE
Optional: ESC

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Improve worker health and safety though automation of rail car loading practices. Operator health and safety may be unnecessarily placed at risk with current rail loading procedures. The present situation exposes operators to fall risk from working at heights, in addition to potential for exposure to the respirable health hazards of the products being loaded. To mitigate the risks, workers must wear fall protection PPE, in addition to respiratory protection, during the present process of bulk loading rail cars. The present process involves the following general steps: 1. The operator advances an empty railcar into the loading area. (Remote via a Trackmobile) 2. The operator dons fall protection harnesses, SRLs, and a respirator in addition to their normal PPE to enable safe access to the top of the railcar. 3. The operator then boards the car top, unseals, unlatches, and opens a loading hatch, then returns to the control room. 4. From the control room, the car is moved into position under the fill spout and that hole is loaded. 5. Once full, the car is indexed to allow that hatch to be closed, locked, and sealed and the next hatch opened. 6. The operator once again returns to the control room to advance the car and repeat the filling/latching/opening process until all the hatches of the given car are full. It is desirable to remove the operator from the potentially unsafe area entirely by allowing them to perform these process steps either automatically or semiautomatically from a remotely located control room environment. The operators presently can move cars and fill openings from a control room.