CN113661137A

CN113661137A - Method and device for the automated operation of a conveyor system, in particular for use in surface mining

Info

Publication number: CN113661137A
Application number: CN202080027097.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 丹尼尔·纳罗; 朱利安·沃尔特; 沃尔夫冈·吉纽斯; 马丁·施密特; 弗兰克·西赫弗
Original assignee: ThyssenKrupp AG; ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG
Current assignee: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG; FLSmidth AS
Priority date: 2019-04-03
Filing date: 2020-03-20
Publication date: 2021-11-16
Also published as: BR112021018853A2; CA3134733C; BE1027170A1; BE1027170B1; EP3947214A1; WO2020200834A1; CA3134733A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for operating a conveyor system having at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) for removing bulk material excavated at an excavation site (147), wherein transfer points (165, 170) for transferring the conveyed material are each formed between the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120), wherein in particular it is provided that the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point is determined by means of sensors (180, 185, 190, 195, 197) and that the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 170) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) are actuated (215) on the basis of the determined spatial position and/or orientation, 105. 120) to adjust the position and/or orientation of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) in the region of the respective transfer point (165, 170).

Description

Method and device for the automated operation of a conveyor system, in particular for use in surface mining

Technical Field

The invention relates to a method according to the clause of claim 1 for the automated transfer of bulk material at a moving and/or stationary conveyor device or conveyor machine for surface mining. The invention also relates to a computer program, a machine-readable data medium for storing the computer program and an apparatus which can perform the method according to the invention.

Background

In the context of continuously operating conveyor belt systems used in surface mining, the material flow is transported in a manner known per se at the transition between moving and/or static material-carrying conveyors. In this case, the free transport of the material flow is carried out at a so-called transfer point by means of a suitable transport transfer chute, or is free to be transferred without material guidance. By means of the conveyor, the material or loose material excavated by the excavation or mining excavator (e.g. bucket wheel excavator) at the excavation front of the excavation site is typically transferred to a moving belt bridge or belt wagon or the like and finally to a rail-borne or chassis-based transport system with a travelling rail or hopper car (rail-borne or chassis-based) arranged on the stope belt, or a transport vehicle, such as an automated or non-automated dumper, to perform further transport.

In order to automate the maximum reliable transfer of the material flow at the respective transfer point, it is necessary to orient the conveyors precisely relative to each other according to the available degrees of freedom of movement of the respective involved conveyors. The necessary alignment tasks that result therefrom are usually performed in the prior art by auxiliary personnel in order to ensure that the material flow is transferred continuously and without losses to the respectively following conveyor of the entire conveyor system even during the course of the translational movement of the plurality of conveyors of the respectively present installation assembly.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is based on the idea to allow a maximum continuous material flow in a conveyor system of the type discussed here, which is arranged at an excavation site, in particular at the above-mentioned transfer point between at least two conveyors, to perform automatic adjustment of the conveyors arranged at the so-called transfer point by open-loop or closed-loop control of the degrees of freedom in relation to the local position of the conveyor concerned at the transfer point and/or preferably the horizontal (angular) orientation of the conveyor concerned thereby.

According to the method and device according to the invention, the position and/or angle data of the transport devices in question are processed (determined by sensors and/or derived on the basis of models) as real-time as possible in order to perform the required precise orientation of the transport devices of the type in question at the respective transfer points.

According to one aspect of the proposed method, the method can be subdivided programmatically into the following three technical parts:

1. according to a first process part, a real-time recording by means of sensors of the local position and/or angular orientation of the excavating/conveying device in relation to at least one transfer point is performed. These devices preferably relate to the assembly of the device locally present at the excavation front or mining edge of an excavation or conveying system of the type discussed herein. In this case, the recording by the sensor can be carried out by radar, by at least one reference object (for example a reflector ring), by lidar (═ light detection and ranging), by transponder technology known per se according to the time-of-flight principle or the like, or by camera technology known per se.

Alternatively or additionally, the recording may be performed by a satellite-based GNSS positioning of the material discharge and material receiving areas of the involved transport devices, which are present at the respective transfer points. For accuracy reasons, a D-GPS (differential GPS) positioning system is preferably used in this case.

Alternatively or additionally, the determination of the respective transfer point can also be carried out on the basis of a model, for example by means of the device-specific position and/or operating data, for example by means of a suitable angle encoder or by means of optical image recognition arranged outside the transport device.

2. According to a second process part of the method according to the invention, suitable process variables for the operation of the existing conveying system are determined, by means of which the position and/or horizontal orientation of the conveying device in question can be adjusted as precisely as possible relative to the respective transfer point. In this case, an upper-level excavation process plan of the respectively following work step, or a corresponding path plan of the excavator, or of the at least partially present transport device, optionally across the device components, can be calculated in advance.

The model for the entire excavation process, which is preferably present in the process planning, may in this case also include environmental detections at the excavation front of the existing mining machine (e.g. bucket wheel excavator) and environmental detections relating to the conveyors in the vicinity of the mining machine, in particular including any existing embankment geometry and/or possible obstacles in the area of the excavation front.

3. According to a third process part of the method according to the invention, the control of the entire installation components of the existing conveyor system is carried out by means of suitable drive commands and/or the tilting/lifting movement of the digging/conveying installation concerned, in particular by means of a superordinate control logic or a corresponding control algorithm.

The control logic or control algorithm is preferably configured in a modular manner, so that the excavation and/or transport devices involved in the device assembly can be expanded and simplified by corresponding parameterization. Thus, the number of conveyors and/or the respective degree of freedom of each conveyor may be reduced. Furthermore, individual devices may be "docked" to additional devices in a simplified manner, as the case may be.

According to another aspect of the proposed method, the above logic or algorithm may be control-based, with the control behavior of the entire plant assembly mapped into the control structure, and thus not strictly specified for all operating conditions of the transport system. The corresponding control algorithm may also be configured to be generic or self-learning, for example via an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The automatic adjustment of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices involved at the respective transfer point can thus be performed by open-loop and/or closed-loop control of the relevant degrees of freedom of movement of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices in the region of the respective transfer point. In this case, the position of the excavation and/or conveying means involved at the respective transfer point and/or the horizontal and/or vertical orientation of the excavation and/or conveying means involved at the respective transfer point are used as the relevant degrees of freedom.

According to another aspect, it may be provided that the proposed method is also used for controlling the transport system, suitable sensor systems or model-based simulations being used for determining whether the speed of the transport process should be modified or adjusted in case of a change in the material workload. In particular, such an adjustment may be performed in view of reliably performing material transport at the respective transport points and/or in view of any subsequent sorting and/or size reduction processes. This is because relatively coarse mined material slows down the size reduction process, while relatively fine workload material may overwhelm any subsequent crushing system with material due to insufficient speed of the units of the crushing system.

In this case, it should be noted that with the aid of the method according to the invention, even existing transport systems that are at least partially automated by means of sensor systems, can be retroactively improved significantly, in particular when carrying out the above-described process simulation.

According to a further aspect, provision may be made for suitable position and/or angle data of the excavation and/or transport means involved at the respective transfer point to be calculated by means of the spatial positions and/or orientations of the at least two excavation and/or transport means involved at the respective transfer point, determined by the sensors, in this case by means of model calculations, and for the precise orientation of the excavation and/or transport means in the region of the respective transfer point to be carried out by means of the suitable position and/or angle data of the excavation and/or transport means involved at the respective transfer point.

According to a further aspect, provision may be made for closed-loop or open-loop control actions of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices involved at the respective transfer point to be mapped into the control structure on the basis of the control execution of the adjustment of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices in the region of the respective transfer point. In this case, it can also be provided that a control-based adjustment of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices in the region of the respective transfer point is carried out by means of a self-learning algorithm.

According to a further aspect, it can be provided that the actuation of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices involved at the respective transfer point is carried out according to the varying speed of the conveying process.

According to a further aspect, for execution by a conveyor system with an excavator, at least one belt truck and a hopper car, it may be provided that in the actuation of at least two excavating and/or conveying devices involved at the respective transfer points, the advance rate and the turning angle of the belt truck in relation to the discharge boom of the excavator and in relation to the position of the hopper car are used as control variables. In this case, it may be provided that the rate of advance of the excavator in the direction of the excavation site is further specified in such a way that the conveyor system is optimally utilized overall.

Finally, according to a further aspect, it can be provided that the first material flow in the first conveyor system of the conveyor system and the second material flow in the second conveyor system of the conveyor system are registered by means of sensors and that, in the event of a difference in the first material flow and the second material flow, an appropriate adjustment of the rate of advance of the excavator is carried out, the existing deviation being compensated for by the adjustment.

The apparatus according to the invention, which is likewise proposed, is configured to control a conveying system of the type discussed here, in particular the spatial movement and/or the spatial orientation of the respectively involved conveying means, in a substantially automated manner during excavation or mining by means of the proposed method.

According to one aspect, the proposed apparatus may have a sensor system for determining the spatial position and/or orientation of the excavation and/or transport means involved at the respective transfer point, a calculation module for performing a planning of the excavation process on the conveyor system by means of the determined spatial position and/or orientation and on the basis of a data model of the excavation process, and an open-loop controller and/or a closed-loop controller for actuating and/or controlled actuating of the excavation and/or transport means involved at the respective transfer point by means of a planned excavation process.

The invention can be used in particular in excavation and/or conveying systems which can be used primarily for surface (above) mining of ores or brown coals carried out above ground (on the surface), but in principle also for mining ores, anthracites, sands or rocks carried out below ground. And correspondingly in excavation and/or conveying systems for mining loose raw materials for cement production, or in other industrial systems where the loose material or substance needs to be conveyed over a relatively long distance by means of conveyor belt technology of the type discussed herein.

The computer program according to the invention is configured to perform each step of the method, in particular when said computer program is run on a computer device or a control device. It allows the method according to the invention to be implemented on an electronic control device without having to carry out structural modifications on the electronic control device. For this purpose, a machine-readable data medium is provided, on which the computer program according to the invention is stored. The device according to the invention is obtained by executing a computer program according to the invention on the device or a corresponding electronic control means, which device is configured to operate a conveyor system of the type discussed herein by means of the method according to the invention or to control the operation of a corresponding conveyor.

Other advantages and configurations of the present invention can be found in the specification and drawings. In the figures, identical or functionally equivalent elements or features have identical reference numerals.

It is to be understood that the features mentioned above and those yet to be explained below can be used not only in the respectively specified combination but also in other combinations or alone without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic plan view of a typical spatial arrangement of a mining or bucket wheel excavator comprising a sensor system according to the present invention and a corresponding conveyor at the excavation or mining edge of an ore deposit.

Fig. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a method or device according to the present invention by means of a combined flow chart/block diagram.

Fig. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a sensor-based analog computation for the automatic operation of a conveyor system of the type discussed herein, according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

A method according to the invention for operating a conveyor system of the type discussed herein and a corresponding control device will be described below with reference to an exemplary embodiment of an above-ground conveyor system for mining ore by means of a bucket wheel excavator. However, the method and apparatus may also be used accordingly in an aboveground or underground excavation/transport system used in another way, for example for the mining of ore, coal, sand or rock.

A conveyor system of the type discussed herein typically includes a plurality of material transfer devices that cooperate with the excavator. The spatial arrangement or orientation of the conveyors relative to each other and to the excavator during the excavation process or mining process may be computer modelled. In this case, the most influential process part on the modeling is the precise positioning and spatial orientation of the transfer bridge or belt wagon arranged between the excavator and the hopper car.

Fig. 1 shows an exemplary device arrangement or device assembly, comprising an excavator 100 (in the present case a bucket wheel excavator for surface mining) arranged at an excavation front 117, a belt truck 105 with a receiving boom 110 and a discharge boom 115, and a hopper car 120 arranged on a travel track in the present exemplary embodiment.

In this case, it should be noted that the device assembly consisting of the bucket wheel excavator 100 and the belt truck 105 in the present exemplary embodiment represents a first transport system according to the dashed line 125, and the hopper car 120 movable on the travel track represents a corresponding second transport system according to the dashed line 130. Thus, the first transfer system 125 is essentially for near-excavation transport departure of the bulk material, and the second transfer system 130 with the hopper car 120 is essentially for further transfer of the already excavated bulk material to a relatively distant loading site, for example for loading the bulk material onto a transport vehicle, such as a truck or another rail vehicle, such as a freight train.

It should also be noted that the bucket-wheel excavator 100 may also deliver loose material directly to the hopper car 120 according to alternative device arrangements or according to alternative usage scenarios, in which no belt trucks 105 are arranged between the bucket-wheel excavator 100 and the hopper car 120.

The bucket-wheel excavator 100 has a bucket wheel 135 in a manner known per se, the bucket wheel 135 being rotatably mounted in a horizontal ground plane (the plane of the drawing) and also typically mounted on the first conveyor boom 133 perpendicular to the horizontal ground plane. The loose material is excavated or mined by a horizontal transverse movement of the first transfer boom 133 and thus the bucket wheel 135 corresponding to the first arrow direction 140 and a forward movement of the bucket wheel 135 or correspondingly the excavator 100 in the second arrow direction 145 at a so-called "mining edge" 147.

The bulk material excavated by the bucket wheel excavator 100 is fed by a first conveyor belt 150 arranged on the first conveyor boom 133 to a material removal second conveyor belt 160 arranged on a second conveyor boom 157 at a fixed transfer or connection point 155 provided on the bucket wheel excavator 100.

At the first transfer point (TP1)165, transfer of the bulk material delivered by the bucket wheel excavator 100 to the belt truck 105 occurs. During a digging or mining operation of the bucket wheel excavator 100, i.e. in particular during a forward movement of the excavator in the second arrow direction 145 with a swiveling movement of the bucket wheel, the non-fixed transfer at the transfer point (TP1)165 of the bucket wheel excavator 100 must gradually correspond as much as possible to the receiving boom 110 of the belt truck 105 spatially, so that during the transfer no bulk material falls off the second conveyor belt 160 and/or the receiving boom 110 and is therefore lost during the digging process.

In this exemplary embodiment, the transfer point of the discharge boom 115 of the belt train 105 to the hopper car 120 represents a second, likewise non-fixed transfer point (TP2)170, as the hopper car 120 also needs to be readjusted accordingly in the direction of travel 145 of the bucket wheel excavator 100.

In this case, it should be emphasized that, in this exemplary embodiment, the receiving boom 110 and the discharge boom 115 of the pickup truck 105 are rotatably mounted on the trailer 175 and connected to each other in a fixed manner, and therefore cannot be moved horizontally independently of each other.

It should be noted, however, that the present invention also includes in principle the use scenario where the receiving boom 110 and the discharge boom 115 of the belt truck 105 are rotatably (rotatably) mounted relative to each other on the trailer 175. In this case, it should also be emphasized that the invention includes all possible ways of arranging a transport device of the type discussed herein, requiring the actuator and/or the sensor to perform at least one access to the basic freedom of movement of the device in question, respectively.

Thus, in the present exemplary embodiment, the free transfer of the loose material at the two transfer points (TP1)165 and (TP2)170, respectively, requires a constant adjustment or realignment of the respective two

transfer points

165, 170 during the forward movement of the bucket-wheel excavator 100 in the second arrow direction 145, in particular between the bucket-wheel excavator 100 and the belt truck 105 on the one hand and the belt truck and the hopper car 120 on the other hand. In the exemplary embodiment, hopper cars 120 represent rail transport vehicles of a respective rail network 172.

In this case, it should be noted that it is also possible to provide a stope belt configured as a belt conveyor or transport vehicle (for example, an automatic or non-automatic dump truck), instead of the rail network 172, which is used in particular for further transporting excavated bulk material from the excavation front 117 or from the aforementioned second conveyor system 130.

In addition, the entire conveyor system also requires optimal utilization of the first conveyor system 125 and the second conveyor system 130 for optimal operation. In addition to the requirement that there must be as few mining losses as possible at the respective transfer points 165, 170, the load distribution in the entire conveying system should therefore also be performed as uniformly as possible. At the same time, the maximum mining capacity or the corresponding mining weight allowed by each conveyor should not be exceeded.

In this connection it should be noted that such load distribution of the material flow is preferably carried out only after the aforementioned excavator 100 (or mobile crusher or the like), in particular in the region of a conveying system of the type discussed herein, the existing material flow of excavated or mined bulk material is conveyed by the aforementioned conveying means and at the respective transfer point.

The above-mentioned requirements for the operation of the transport system shown in fig. 1 can be met by means of the method and the apparatus according to the invention, which allow the automation of the adjustment of the individual transfer points by means of a suitable sensor system and the above-mentioned model calculations. Furthermore, the accuracy of the respectively required dynamic adjustment of the position and/or orientation of the respectively present transmission device can additionally be improved by means of learning methods, for example by means of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN).

In the present exemplary embodiment, the above-described sensor system comprises cooperating transponder pairs 180, 185 and 190, 195, respectively, the transponder pairs 180, 185 being arranged at respective transfer points (TP1, TP2)165, 170. In this case, the first transponder 180 is disposed on the second transfer boom 157 of the bucket wheel excavator 100, and the second transponder 185 is disposed on the receiving boom 110 of the belt truck 105. A third transponder 190 is arranged on the discharge boom 115 of the belt truck 105 and a fourth transponder 195 is arranged on the hopper car 120. The transponder pair 180-195 may be formed by two active transponders, respectively, i.e. two transponders provided with their own energy supply, or by a corresponding combination of one active transponder and one passive transponder. By means of the transponders, it can be automatically determined whether the two end regions of the conveying

devices

100, 105, 120 involved at the

transfer point

165 or 170 are sufficiently close to or above each other that no bulk material is lost from the conveying system during the transfer.

It should also be noted that preferably both absolute and relative measurement position sensors are prerequisites for performing the above-described modeling of the existing operating conditions of a device component of the type discussed herein. In this case, the two sensor types may be based on very different or different physical measurement principles.

Fig. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a method or device according to the present invention by means of a combined block/flow diagram. The illustrated method is based in the present exemplary embodiment on a known sensor system, in the present example on transponder technology, for recording the relevant position data of the

transport devices

100, 105, 120 involved at the respective transfer points (TP1, TP2)165, 170.

Alternatively or additionally, the required sensor system can be produced on the basis of radar or on the basis of light, for example by means of a "lidar" system, which is then likewise arranged in the region of the transfer points 165, 170 (see fig. 1) of the respectively involved conveying devices. Alternatively or additionally, the position and/or orientation of the excavation/transport means 100, 105, 120 involved at the transfer points 165, 170 may also be determined by means of satellite-based GNSS data. In this case, based on the location used, the best satellite positioning system available there can be employed. Alternatively or additionally, optical sensor systems may also be used, for example by means of IR sensors, laser sensors or sensor systems based on camera technology known per se.

At the excavator 100, there may additionally be provided environmental monitoring 197, which is also preferably operated by sensors, for performing spatial monitoring of the mining edge 147, in particular of possible obstacles, such as vegetation standing on the road or a set of trees (dams), and also for performing an accurate and reliable planning of the entire excavation and mining process in advance, in order to operate an excavation/transport system of the type discussed here according to the invention.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the method shown in fig. 2 is additionally based on a computer-aided model simulation of the (local) transmission device assembly shown in fig. 1. The model simulation comprises on the one hand a model-based calculation of the possible course of motion (kinematics) of the respectively present conveyor assembly, i.e. in particular the position and/or orientation of these apparatuses or machines which takes place during the possible course of motion of the excavation/conveying

apparatus

100, 105, 120 involved therein.

Further, the model calculations in the exemplary embodiment include a calculation model 200 of the excavation process itself, i.e., the amount and/or size distribution of material for the respective fragments or loose material for which a lateral excavation motion is assumed to occur for the bucket wheel 135 of the excavator 100 shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore, the local excavation/transport assembly consisting of the two

transport systems

125, 130 is operated with the aid of model calculations in such a way that the two

transport systems

125, 130 are utilized as optimally as possible. In this case, a maximum even load distribution of the mining or bulk material of the involved excavating/conveying

devices

100, 105, 120, a maximum production volume and a minimum possible or even no mining or material loss at the transfer points 165, 170 may be sought.

The planning of the excavation process, in particular the corresponding required adjustment of the entire local conveyor chain or of the locally involved excavation/conveying

means

100, 105, 120, is carried out by means of the position data 205 delivered by the

sensor system

180 and 195 in relation to the described transfer points by means of the computation module 210. In this case, the possible degrees of freedom of movement of the digging/conveying

devices

100, 105, 120 are considered. The planning of the mining process is based in particular on the knowledge that the spatial orientation of the individual devices of a device assembly of the type discussed here can always be (automatically) oriented on the guide device. As already mentioned, the model of the mining process may additionally be based on sensor data of the aforementioned environment detection 197.

During the predictive planning of the movement of the local excavation/transport assembly, the movement curves are calculated for the likely passage of time or correlation of time in the operation of the excavator 100 or the bucket wheel 135 and in the movement of the belt truck 105 and the hopper car 120.

By means of the above-mentioned further constraints, such as maximum uniform load distribution and avoidance of exceeding the maximum allowed mining volume, the entire plant assembly is actuated 215 by a controller, such as a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) known per se. This actuation can be performed in a manner known per se by a corresponding drive command to the bucket wheel excavator 100, a corresponding tilting movement of the bucket wheel 135 and a corresponding drive command to the moving

transfer axles

110, 115 of the belt truck 105. The drive commands may for example relate to an adjustment of the forward movement value in relation to the position and/or alignment of the digging/conveying equipment concerned. These adjustments ensure that as little as possible of the mined material falls from the conveyor belt at the transfer points (TP1, TP2)165, 170 of the type discussed herein and is therefore lost in further conveying.

Instead of the described predictive planning, the described method can also be configured as a learning-capable ANN-based system or as an automatic control system or as a self-learning regulator. In such a control system, a desired excavation amount for the entire excavation process of the excavation/conveyor assembly or a forward movement value of the excavator 100 associated with the desired excavation amount may be designated as a set point variable. The current value of the forward movement of the excavator 100 as an actual variable can thus be adjusted by the closed-loop control in such a way that the movement of the currently involved excavating/conveying

device

100, 105, 120 required for transporting the mined material without loss at the transfer point (TP1, TP2)165, 170 is carried out.

In fig. 3, the calculations mentioned in fig. 2 are represented in more detail by means of an exemplary embodiment. In this case, it is assumed again that the conveying system shown in fig. 1 includes the bucket wheel excavator 100, the belt truck 105, and the hopper car 120. It should be noted, however, that in the exemplary embodiment with two or more belt trucks, further transfer points would accordingly need to be considered, for example three transfer points with additional transfer points (not shown here) in the case of two belt trucks.

Due to the fixed arrangement of the receiving boom 110 relative to the discharge boom 115 of the pickup truck 105 shown in fig. 1, the current optimization or alignment problem includes two positional variables of a suitable transfer point (TP1)165 and a suitable transfer point (TP2) 117. This optimization serves to ensure that the end regions of the excavating/conveying

devices

100, 105, 120 are arranged as far above each other as possible at the transfer points (TP1, TP2)165, 170 at any time during the excavation process.

In this alignment or optimization problem, in the present exemplary embodiment, the rate of advancement and the angle of rotation or orientation of the belt truck 105 relative to the discharge boom 157 of the bucket wheel excavator 100 and the position of the hopper car 120 along the track 172 are used as the amount of influence for adjustment. The rate of advance of the bucket wheel excavator 100 in the direction of the second arrow 145 shown in fig. 1 in the direction of the mining edge 147 is specified in this case in such a way that the two conveying

systems

125, 130 are optimally utilized with the greatest possible material (quantity) throughput.

The following quantities, which can be measured or determined by the

sensor systems

180, 185, 190, 195, are used as possible variable operating quantities for the optimization:

the angle of rotation and height position of the discharge boom 157 of the bucket wheel excavator 100,

the position of the belt trolley 105,

the angle of rotation and the height position of the transfer bridges 110, 115 of the belt wagon 105 and all the individually movable booms arranged there, and

the position of the hopper car 120 along the track 172.

The above-mentioned angle data can also be calculated in a manner known per se from the position data recorded by the

sensor system

180 and 195. Thus, from the position data recorded by the two

sensors

185, 190, it can be seen not only the horizontal positions of the two end regions of the receiving boom 110 and the discharge boom 115 of the belt wagon 105, but also the horizontal angle of the transfer bridge formed by the receiving boom 110 and the discharge boom 115, for example with respect to the direction of advance 145 of the bucket wheel excavator 100, can be determined triangularly in a manner known per se.

In the procedure shown in fig. 3, the current first material flow 300 in the first conveyor system 125 and the current second material flow 305 in the second conveyor system 130 are initially recorded or determined by means of a sensor system (not shown here) known per se. These two

values

300, 305 are fed to a first calculation module 310, in which first calculation module 310 an appropriate adjustment of the advancing rate of the bucket wheel excavator 100 is calculated from the possible deviation of these two

values

300, 305, by means of which the possible deviation can be eliminated or compensated.

With the forward motion data obtained during the calculation 310, the bucket wheel excavator 100 is actuated 315 at a corresponding specified forward rate.

Based on the thus obtained rate of advancement of the bucket wheel excavator 100, and in particular on the aforementioned position data 325 currently recorded by the

sensor system

180 and 195, model calculations or simulations of the entire excavation/

transport chain

100, 105, 120 (including the

booms

157, 110, 115) are performed by the second calculation module 320 in order to determine appropriate control interventions or measures for the discharge boom 157, the belt truck 105 and the hopper car 120 of the bucket wheel excavator 100 in operation. The aim achieved by these measures is that the digging/conveying device concerned is oriented as precisely as possible at the aforementioned transfer points 165, 170 for the reasons mentioned above. Thus, these measures or adjustments may be performed in near real-time, particularly where there may be a change in the rate of advancement of the bucket wheel excavator 100. In addition, these measures are converted in a second calculation module into a change of the above-mentioned variables.

The changes in the above variables obtained from the model calculations 320 are converted by the third calculation module 330 into specific or modified control commands for the operation of the digging/conveying

equipment

100, 105, 120 in question. Through these control commands, the digging/conveying

devices

100, 105, 120 are finally actuated 335.

Then returns to the beginning of the procedure and again records or determines the

current material flow

300, 305 in both

conveyor systems

125, 130. Thus, the appropriate adjustment to the rate of advancement of the bucket wheel excavator 100 is again calculated and the process continues as described to allow automation of the optimization process.

It should be emphasized that the three

computing modules

310, 320 and 330 may also be implemented in the form of a single computing module, since the computing architecture is not important in the present case.

Claims

1. Method for operating a conveyor system with at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) for removing bulk material excavated at an excavation site (147), wherein transfer points (165, 170) for transferring the conveying material are formed between the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120), respectively, characterized in that the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer points is determined by means of sensors (180, 185, 190, 195, 197) and the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer points (165, 170) are actuated (215) by means of the actuation based on the determined spatial position and/or orientation, to adjust the position and/or orientation of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) in the region of the respective transfer point (165, 170).

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the automatic adjustment of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) is performed by open-loop and/or closed-loop control (215) of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) in the area of the respective transfer point (165, 170) in the relevant degrees of freedom of movement.

3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the position of the digging and/or conveying device (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) and/or the horizontal and/or vertical orientation of the digging and/or conveying device (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) is used as the relevant degree of freedom.

4. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that by means of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer points (165, 170) determined by sensors, suitable position and/or angle data of the digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer points (165, 170) are calculated by means of model calculations, the precise orientation of the digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) in the area of the respective transfer points (165, 170) being performed by means of the suitable position and/or angle data of the digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer points (165, 170).

5. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the determination of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two excavation and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transit point (165, 170) by sensors is performed by radar by means of at least one reference object and/or by lidar and/or by transponder technology and/or by satellite-based GPS positioning and/or by camera technology.

6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the determination of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) by means of sensors is performed on the basis of a model by means of device-inherent position and/or operational data of the digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved.

7. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the adjustment of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two dredging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) in the area of the respective transfer point (165, 170) is additionally carried out by means of a transit time evaluation of the material discharge and/or material receiving behaviour of the conveyed bulk material, which is present at the respective transfer point (165, 170).

8. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the adjustment of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) in the area of the respective transfer point (165, 170) objects detected by environmental detection performed in the surrounding area of the digging and/or conveying device concerned are taken into account.

9. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that on the basis of the control, an adjustment of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) in the area of the respective transfer point (165, 170) is performed, the closed-loop control or open-loop control behavior of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) being mapped into a control structure.

10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the control-based adjustment of the spatial position and/or orientation of the at least two digging and/or conveying means (100, 105, 120) in the area of the respective transfer point (165, 170) is performed by a generic and/or self-learning algorithm.

11. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the actuation (215) of the at least two digging and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) is performed according to the varying speed of the conveying process.

12. The method according to any of the preceding claims, performed by a conveyor system having an excavator (100), at least one belt truck (105) and a hopper car (120), characterized in that in the actuation (215) of the at least two excavating and/or conveying devices (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer points (165, 170), the advancing rate and the turning angle of the belt truck (105) in relation to the discharge boom (157) of the excavator (100) and in relation to the position of the hopper car (120) are used as control variables.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the rate of advance of the excavator (100) in the direction of the excavation site (147) is specified in such a way that the conveyor system (100, 105, 120) is optimally utilized with respect to the flow of bulk material (300, 305).

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that a first material flow (300) in a first conveyor system (125) of the conveyor belt system (100, 105, 120) and a second material flow (305) in a second conveyor system (130) of the conveyor belt system (100, 105, 120) are registered by sensors and in case of a difference in the first material flow and the second material flow, an appropriate adjustment of the advancing rate of the excavator (100) is performed, by which the existing deviation is compensated.

15. A computer program configured to perform each step of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. A machine readable data medium having stored thereon a computer program according to claim 15.

17. An apparatus configured to control a conveyor system for conveying material in rock form by a method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein: a sensor system (180, 185, 190, 195) for determining a spatial position and/or orientation (205) of an excavation and/or transport device (100, 105, 120) involved at a respective transfer point (165, 170); a calculation module (210) for performing a planning of the excavation process on the conveyor belt system (100, 105, 120) by means of the determined spatial position and/or orientation (205); and an open-loop controller and/or a closed-loop controller (215) for actuating the excavating and/or conveying device (100, 105, 120) involved at the respective transfer point (165, 170) by means of a planned excavation process.