Publication Name: AEGC 2021
Authors: Binzhong Zhou, Jianjian Huo, Iain Mason, Matthew van de Werken
Date Published: September 2021
Number of Pages: 5
Abstract:
Longwall automation depends on the development of automatic coal seam (horizon) tracking and lateral guidance systems to keep mining the target coal seam while steering to the desired target. While inertial sensing has provided some success for lateral control of mining machinery, horizon control, i.e. establishing a “flight plan” for the longwall shearer, is a critical component of longwall automation that requires spatial accuracy for changes in a horizon’s depth of the order of 10 cm, and positions of structures (faults and rolls) within fractions of a metre tens of metres ahead of the longwall machine. However, securing this is still largely unachieved. Much depends on our precise prior knowledge of the coal seam’s location.