GB2042022A - Method of and apparatus for surveying a mining installation - Google Patents
Method of and apparatus for surveying a mining installation Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2042022A GB2042022A GB7905074A GB7905074A GB2042022A GB 2042022 A GB2042022 A GB 2042022A GB 7905074 A GB7905074 A GB 7905074A GB 7905074 A GB7905074 A GB 7905074A GB 2042022 A GB2042022 A GB 2042022A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- coal
- coal face
- supports
- face
- surveying
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
- 238000005065 mining Methods 0.000 title claims description 18
- 238000009434 installation Methods 0.000 title claims description 15
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims description 10
- 239000003245 coal Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 55
- 229910052500 inorganic mineral Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 5
- 239000011707 mineral Substances 0.000 claims description 5
- 230000005855 radiation Effects 0.000 description 11
- 238000005259 measurement Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000000605 extraction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000011435 rock Substances 0.000 description 2
- 230000001419 dependent effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000005670 electromagnetic radiation Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000001228 spectrum Methods 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21D—SHAFTS; TUNNELS; GALLERIES; LARGE UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS
- E21D23/00—Mine roof supports for step- by- step movement, e.g. in combination with provisions for shifting of conveyors, mining machines, or guides therefor
- E21D23/0004—Mine roof supports for step- by- step movement, e.g. in combination with provisions for shifting of conveyors, mining machines, or guides therefor along the working face
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21C—MINING OR QUARRYING
- E21C35/00—Details of, or accessories for, machines for slitting or completely freeing the mineral from the seam, not provided for in groups E21C25/00 - E21C33/00, E21C37/00 or E21C39/00
- E21C35/08—Guiding the machine
- E21C35/10—Guiding the machine by feelers contacting the working face
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21F—SAFETY DEVICES, TRANSPORT, FILLING-UP, RESCUE, VENTILATION, OR DRAINING IN OR OF MINES OR TUNNELS
- E21F17/00—Methods or devices for use in mines or tunnels, not covered elsewhere
- E21F17/18—Special adaptations of signalling or alarm devices
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
- Geology (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Radar Systems Or Details Thereof (AREA)
Abstract
A number of mine roof supports (1) along a coal face are provided with radar sensors (18) for sensing coal face distance by transmitting and receiving an electro- magnetic signal to and from, respectively, the coal face. The signals are processed by a processor (20) to determine face distance along the face. <IMAGE>
Description
SPECIFICATION
Method of and apparatus for surveying a mining installation
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for surveying a mining installation.
In a mining installation, it is useful to be able to ascertain distance of a coal face from associated mine roof supports in the installation.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of and apparatus for sensing face distance.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of surveying a mining installation employing a plurality of mine roof supports arranged along a coal face of a mineral seam, the supports being advanceable towards the coal face after passage of a mining machine which traverses to and fro winning coal from the seam on each traverse comprises determining distance of the mine roof supports from the coal face with radar transducers attached to at least some of the mine roof supports.
Preferably, the radar transducers are arranged periodically along the line of miner roof supports along the coal face.
According to another aspect of the present invention apparatus for surveying a mining installation employing a plurality of mine roof supports arranged along a coal face of a mineral seam, the supports being advanceable towards the coal face after passage of a mining machine which traverses to and fro winning coal from the seam on each traverse comprises a plurality of radar transducers attachable to the mine supports such that one or more of the mine roof supports has a respective radar sensor attached thereto, each radar transducer projecting an electromagnetic signal to the coal face and deriving a signal indicative of the distance of the coal face from the transducer signal processor means for receiving the derived signals to determine the distance of the coal face.
Preferably, the radar transducers are arranged periodically along the coal face.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is an incomplete view of a mining installation working towards a coal face worked out coal seam,
Figure 2 is a partly shown side view of the installation of Fig. 1, and
Figure 3 is a block electrical circuit diagram for apparatus used in the installation of Figs.
1 and 2.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the mining installation includes a plurality of mine roof supports 1 arranged along a coal face 2 (see
Fig. 2) only three of the roof supports being shown for convenience in Fig. 1 and one in
Fig. 2. The mine roof supports 1 are disposed within a mineral seam having the coal face 2 and residual roof and floor layers of the seam are indicated at 4 and 5, respectively. The seam is situated between upper and lower rock strata 7 and 8, respectively. Coal is won from the coal seam by a mining machine which traverses to and fro along the coal face winning coal on each traverse. The machine (which is not shown) runs along an armoured flexible conveyor (also not shown). The rock strata 7 and 8 emit natural radiation source of which passes through the residual layer of coal towards the floor and roof, respectively.
Each roof support 1 comprises a base 10 and an overhead canopy 11 which is supported by the base via hydraulic legs 1 2. A forwardly extending roof beam 14 is mounted towards the front of the canopy and this can be used to support roof slightly ahead of the canopy. In order to advance a mine roof support, the canopy is first lowered from the roof by operating the legs 1 2 and then pulled towards the conveyor by double acting rams (not shown). The canopy is then raised so that the roof support is operable in its advanced position. (The armoured face conveyor is advanced by operating the double acting rams in the other direction with the roof supports anchored in position).
Approximately every fifth roof support along the coal face is provided with a natural radiation sensor 1 6. The radiation sensor is appropriately shielded so that it detects radiation reaching it through the residual layer of roof coal directly above it. Each radiation sensor can thus detect the thickness of the roof coal above it since intensity of the radiation impinging on the sensor is to some extent (dependent upon the coal homogeneity and constant initial intensity of radiation) inversely proportional to the thickness of the coal which attenuates the natural radiation.
Approximately each fifth roof support is also provided with a radar (in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum) transducer 1 8 which detects the distance of the coal face (and thus the support) from the transducer by transmitting an electromagnetic signal to the coal face which is reflected thereat back to the transducer. The radar transducer is described in more detail in out copending British Patent Application Serial
No.
The radar transducers have robust radomes transparent to electromagnetic radiation, the radomes protecting them from impact damage in the harsh mine environment.
Referring now to Fig. 3, the natural radiation sensors are again indicated by 1 6 and radar transducers by 1 8. Since only four of the sensors 1 6 and four of the sensors 1 8 are shown, the missing sensors and transducers are indicated by a dotted line. The output from the sensor 1 6 are connected to a signal processor 20 via an interrogator 21 and the outputs from the transducers 18, to the processor 20, via an interrogator 22.
The data processor has outputs connected to a display unit 25 for roof coal thickness and display unit 27 for coal face distance.
These outputs are also connected to a computer 30.
In operation, each natural radiation sensor senses the thickness of the residual layer 4 above it and thus above the respective roof support by deriving a signal indicative of the amount of radiation reaching it. The signals are fed to the signal processor 20 which processes the signals to deduce the thickness of the residual layer of coal along the coal face. The thickness along the coal face can be displayed graphically or minerally on display unit 25. The sensors can be interrogated serially or in any order by the interrogator 21 or any appropriate number can be interrogated at once, provided that there are sufficient cores to carry the information. In this way measurement of roof coal above the supports can be kept continuously up to date.
The data can also be fed to the computer 20 which monitors roof coal thickness and can take corrective control action if the roof coal goes outside preselected limits. The monitored value of roof coal thickness is of course one or two shears or traverses behind the machine but the computer can be programmed to allow for this.
Each radar transducer senses the distance of the coal face from the roof support. The distance of the coal face from the line of roof supports can be displayed graphically or numerically on the display unit 27. The sensors can be interrogated serially or in any order by the interrogater 22 or any number can be interrogated at once, provided that there are sufficient cores to carry the information. In this way measurement of face distance from the supports can be kept continuously up to date. The face distance data can be fed to the computer 30 which monitors face distance.
The face distance data can be used for purposes including measurement of extraction rate, of determining the cutting web of the mining machine as a parameter in steering of the roof supports. Thus, since face distance is known both before and after the machine passes a radar transducer, the cutting web can be determined and since the distance travelled and speed of the machine are known, the rate of extraction can be determined. This is conveniently done by the computer 30 which continually takes the product of cutting web and machine travel (which latter is for example as described in our accepted UK Patent Specification Serial No.
1 525047).
From the above description, it can be seen that an improved method of and apparatus for surveying roof coal thickness is provided.
Claims (5)
1. A method of surveying a mining installation employing a plurality of mine roof supports arranged along a coal face of a mineral seam, the supports being advanceable towards the coal face after passage of a mining machine which traverses to and fro winning coal from the seam on each traverse comprises determining distance of the mine roof supports from the coal face with radar transducers attached to at least some of the mine roof supports.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the radar tranducers are arranged periodically along the line of miner roof supports along the coal face.
3. Apparatus for surveying a mining installation employing a plurality of mine roof supports arranged along a coal face of a mineral seam, the supports being advanceable towards the coal face after passage of a mining machine which traverses to and fro winning coal from the seam on each traverse comprises a plurality of radar transducers attachable to the mine supports such that one or more of the mine roof support has a respective radar sensor attached thereto, each radar transducer projecting an electromagnetic signal to the coal face and deriving a signal indicative of the distance of the coal face from the transducer signal processor means for receiving the derived signals to determine the distance of the coal face.
4. A method of surveying a mining installation substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
5. Apparatus for surveying a mining installation substantially as herein before described and as shown in the accompanying drawings.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB7905074A GB2042022A (en) | 1979-02-13 | 1979-02-13 | Method of and apparatus for surveying a mining installation |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB7905074A GB2042022A (en) | 1979-02-13 | 1979-02-13 | Method of and apparatus for surveying a mining installation |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB2042022A true GB2042022A (en) | 1980-09-17 |
Family
ID=10503168
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB7905074A Withdrawn GB2042022A (en) | 1979-02-13 | 1979-02-13 | Method of and apparatus for surveying a mining installation |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB2042022A (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN108561133A (en) * | 2018-04-19 | 2018-09-21 | 北京天地玛珂电液控制系统有限公司 | Coalcutter based on video routing inspection is automatically controlled looks for straight system and method with working face automatically |
| CN109184797A (en) * | 2018-09-25 | 2019-01-11 | 福建省永正工程质量检测有限公司 | A kind of tunnel structure detection device |
| CN110130893A (en) * | 2019-05-17 | 2019-08-16 | 中煤科工集团上海研究院有限公司常熟分院 | A kind of force piece active safety system |
-
1979
- 1979-02-13 GB GB7905074A patent/GB2042022A/en not_active Withdrawn
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN108561133A (en) * | 2018-04-19 | 2018-09-21 | 北京天地玛珂电液控制系统有限公司 | Coalcutter based on video routing inspection is automatically controlled looks for straight system and method with working face automatically |
| CN108561133B (en) * | 2018-04-19 | 2020-07-21 | 北京天地玛珂电液控制系统有限公司 | System and method for automatic control of coal mining machine and automatic alignment of working face based on video inspection |
| CN109184797A (en) * | 2018-09-25 | 2019-01-11 | 福建省永正工程质量检测有限公司 | A kind of tunnel structure detection device |
| CN110130893A (en) * | 2019-05-17 | 2019-08-16 | 中煤科工集团上海研究院有限公司常熟分院 | A kind of force piece active safety system |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAP | Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1) |