Systems and methods for evaluating underground road conditions using accelerometers

A method of detecting a road condition of an underground mining environment, the method including:

• receiving, with an electronic processor, sensor data from an accelerometer coupled to a mining machine operating within the underground mining environment;
• receiving, with the electronic processor, location data associated with the mining machine generated by a position detecting device associated with the mining machine;
• receiving, with the electronic processor, suspension data associated with the suspension of the mining machine;
• determining, with the electronic processor, normalized sensor data based on the suspension data;
• determining, with the electronic processor, a first data point when acceleration in a first direction exceeds a predetermined first threshold based on the normalized sensor data;
• determining, with the electronic processor, a second data point occurring in time after the first data point when acceleration in a second direction opposite the first direction exceeds a predetermined second threshold based on the normalized sensor data;
• determining, with the electronic processor, a location of a road condition associated with the first data point and the second data point based on the location data;
• and
• automatically updating, with the electronic processor, a graphical map of the mining machine with an indicator associated with the location of the road condition.

A method of detecting road conditions within an underground mining environment, the method comprising:

• receiving, with an electronic processor, sensor data from an accelerometer coupled to a mining machine operating within the underground mining environment;
• receiving, with the electronic processor, location data associated with the mining machine generated by a position detecting device associated with the mining machine;
• determining, with the electronic processor, a metric based on the sensor data, wherein the metric includes a number of accelerations above a predetermined threshold during the period of time;
• determining, with the electronic processor, a score based on the metric or a derivation of the metric;
• assigning, with the electronic processor, the score to at least a portion of a road within the underground mining environment based on the location data;
• and
• outputting, with the electronic processor, the score assigned to the portion of the road.