The energy and its entire related infrastructure are the main drivers for a economic development and for ensuring a good level of employment. As part of a global study about international energy sector, we evaluate here the impact of technological changes on the state of the energy infrastructure. This study includes a detailed analysis of the global challenges facing the energy industry. We propose scenarios for the development of a modernized energy infrastructure with an assessment of the entire energy system. Our evaluation indicators are chosen in terms of the reliability of the energy infrastructure, of its quality, of the accidents that may happen and of the consequent environmental risks. This study is particularly adapted for forecasting the necessary measures (of technical nature, of governance kind) that have to be implemented to reduce the acceleration of the infrastructure deterioration rate. Our results reveal that the use of digital and information technologies has many positive impacts on the development and on the control of an efficient consumption of energy. In addition, our predictions, due to the further modernization of the energy sector, can contribute and help in the creation of preconditions that will be highly stimulating and profitable to the growth of investments in the energy infrastructure.

The designs of submersible hammers and dampers protected by patents for reducing the vibration of the drilling rig of roller drill machines are proposed. The variants of modernizing drilling rigs for drilling hard rocks and faces of complex structures are considered. Particular attention is paid to the joint work of submersible shockers and pneumatic shock absorbers, the preferred schemes for the arrangement of these devices by drilling rigs are indicated. The results of experimental tests of machines with pneumatic hammers are presented to determine the vibration performance and drilling speeds. The pneumatic hammer allows increasing the speed of drilling process to the intensification of the destruction of the plain face by the shock load and the cleavage of the protrusions of the unevenness of the face, the better fitting of the bit to the face and the release of the blades or the bit pins from the drill bit. The choice of a particular type of damper or shock absorber depends on its design scheme and the possibility of changing the design of the drill string. With the complexity of installing a damping device in the mast (with significant dimensions of shock absorbers and drilling of strong heterogeneous rocks), it is advisable to use a set of tools to reduce hydraulic pulsations in the mains and cylinders of the hydraulic system by installing chokes in the oil plants and pneumatic shock absorbers. It is proposed to use the device for the development of pneumatic hammers by a patent-pending drilling method with a hollow piston filled with magnetically active heavy liquid, which will allow controlling the frequency and size of the shock pulses and partially compensating for the drill string fluctuations arising from the uneven immersion of the bit in the array. It is noted that the proposed solutions increase the drilling speed by an average of 15%.

Mining enterprises are widely introducing digital technologies and automation is one of such tools. Granularity monitoring, namely, the size determination of rock mass pieces is a common operational component of the processes that extract minerals by open-pit mining. The article proposes an approach that, in addition to the lump size distribution, makes it possible to estimate the lump form distribution as well. To investigate the effectiveness of monitoring the form of blasted rock mass lumps, the authors conducted experiments in four stages related to the rock condition. They include geological occurrence, explosive crushing, trommelling, and mill crushing. The relationship between these stages is presented and the change in the lumps fragment form is traced. The present article proposes an informational and analytical model of the processes at mining enterprises, extracting minerals by open-pit mining, as well as an algorithm for determining the lumps form and obtaining their distribution in the rock mass.