Raise Bore Survey Tool Project

Cameco wanted a rugged tool to survey bore hole shafts in the MacArthur river uranium mine.The shafts were drilled at an angle between two levels, so they wanted something they could lower down that would withstand some falling rocks. The tool was to provide a video link to an operator with a laptop, and to take pictures and measurements of the diameter of the shaft while lowering the tool down.They wanted to be able to take the data and import it into a 3-D modelling program. Project DescriptionThe tool needed to be designed to be lowered down a shaft and take pictures and distance measurements with enough data to recreate the hole in an external software program.It needed to be able to withstand some hardships and keep going. It had the following features to satisfy these requirements: 

• Rugged exterior
• Motor for rotating camera section, and wiper to keep dust and dirt out
• Camera and light for video and distance measurement
• Power line modem for communicating with the instrument from the laptop
• Controllable winch to allow laptop control over descent rate
• Gyro and tilt sensors to allow accurate position information