US3482877A - Control system for aligning or turning longwall faces in mine workings lined with walking casing frames - Google Patents

Control system for aligning or turning longwall faces in mine workings lined with walking casing frames Download PDF

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Publication number
US3482877A
US3482877A US732976A US3482877DA US3482877A US 3482877 A US3482877 A US 3482877A US 732976 A US732976 A US 732976A US 3482877D A US3482877D A US 3482877DA US 3482877 A US3482877 A US 3482877A
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Prior art keywords
face
casing
control system
turning
control
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Expired - Lifetime
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US732976A
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English (en)
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Oskar Jacobi
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Bergwerksverband GmbH
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Bergwerksverband GmbH
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    • 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
    • E21D23/12—Control, e.g. using remote control
    • E21D23/14—Effecting automatic sequential movement of supports, e.g. one behind the other

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a control system for aligning or turning longwall faces in mine workings lined with walking casing structures and equipped With extraction machinery, in particular a coal-cutting machine, which control system, by control of the point of pivoting of the coal-cutting machine in the Working and/ or of the pressure it exerts through certain feed mechanisms, determines the advance of a local Zone of the face and therefore the alignment or turning of the face as a whole, the control arrangements which govern the turning movement or govern the feed mechanisms being supplied with input quantities or signals which reproduce the deviation of the line of the face from a theoretical position, thereby to straighten the working generally whilst allowing for local deviations up to a predetermined maximum.
  • control is no longer effected upon the basis of the curvature of the face of the working or of the conveyor, but upon the basis of the deviation of the casing structures from a predetermined alignment.
  • the introduction of predetermined limiting values for the input quantities provides the control system with a threshold of perception, as will be explained hereinafter. This permits safe deviations of the casing structures from their predetermined line, without giving rise to actuation of the control system. Local deviations in the position of the conveyor or in the line of the Working face are allowed to develop unless they cause the said threshold to be exceeded.
  • the casing structures themselves can be controlled by the face of the working.
  • the dam aging influence which can be exerted on the line of the Working by local curvature in the face can be corrected in good time.
  • the feed mechanisms (for example in the form of feed cylinders) can be rendered inoperative until the neighbouring, lagging sections of the face, in which the feed mechanisms are still operative, have caught up.
  • the hitherto manually operated valves of the feed cylinders can be replaced by pneumatic servo controls without any difliculty, the input quantities or signals being fed to these controls.
  • the invention can be simplified if, in accordance with a further feature, the controls of several neighbouring feed mechanisms appertaining to casing structures covering a largish section of the face are associated and supplied with the same input quantities, since then larger spans of the face can be aligned in accordance with the same control criteria, the control quantity or signal only having to be determined once for each face section.
  • the system in accordance with the invention measures the extent to which the face is off line (signalled by the input quantities exceeding the limiting value) by virtue of the fact that the distances advanced by the casing structures are determined.
  • the fundamental principle is that an imaginary zero line is laid along the face and measurements made from each casing structure (or groups of associated structures) to this line. This overcomes the problematical operation of measuring curvature in the face.
  • This determination of the input quantities is most simply effected if the casing structures always feed forward by the same incremental distance. Then, all that is necessary is to allocate stepping counters to the structures for measuring the advance, and, in relation to a guide casing structure in a group of associated structures, to determine a difference value for a group of neighbouring casing structures. This value is then either fed into the control of the feed mechanisms locally allocated to the group, or supplied to a turning control mechanism, which latter must then of course be provided with information regarding the limits of movement of the individual structures of the. group.
  • analogue computers may take the form of simple mechanical equipment or logic components of electrical, pneumatic or hydraulic design, connected in the control line of the casing system.
  • Computer devices of this kind are generally substantially simpler than digital computers and can be accommodated directly in the casings.
  • the procedure can be that the guide casing structure executes one step, whilst one or more of the neighbouring structures in the group executes 11 steps.
  • the difference between the steps executed by this or these other casing structure or structures, and the single step executed by the guide casing structure, must be zero. If the difference is less than zero, then the feed cylinder associated with the guide casing structure must be rendered inoperative, whilst if it is greater than zero then the feed cylinder of the corresponding casing structure. must be rendered inoperative.
  • the device may be improved by the provision of instruments for indicating local auxiliary quantities or indicating which of the feed cylinders are operative, in order to reverse the extraction machinery at the limits of the zones of the. face which are exhibiting excessive deviation.
  • the operator controlling the extraction machinery can then arrange for it to cut the un-worked zones of the face several times, these being the zones at which the feed cylinders have been correspondingly operated. This also means that it is possible, by the automatic introduction, of the values indicating the excess over the limiting values, into the reversing control of the extraction machinery, to control the aforedescribed cuttingoperation completely automatically.
  • control system in accordance with the invention accordingly resides in the fact that the worked face is held in a predetermined line or turned on to such line, although local (safe) deviations of the face of the working from this line are permissible.
  • 'Ihe equipment and devices needed to create the control system in accordance with the invention are extremely simple and can readily be incorporated into the existing control mechanisms appertaining to the casing structures or groups thereof which form the casing system of the working.
  • FIGURE 1 schematically illustrates, in plan view, a mine working employing extraction machinery including a conveyor and a casing system which is cut-away to show a control system in accordance with the invention
  • FIGURE 2 shows a preferred embodiment of a comparator device for use in the control system according to the invention.
  • the reference 1 designates a coal-face. at which extraction machinery, in the form of a coal-cutter 3, is moved backwards and forwards in front of the coalface 1 by a chain 2.
  • the coal cut out by the cutter 3 falls automatically onto a double-chain conveyor 4 of known kind which is for simplicity shown as a chain carrying slats 5.
  • the drive arrangements for the cutter 3 and the conveyor 4 have not been illustrated.
  • the mine working is lined with a walking casing frame system.
  • the walking casing frame system consists, in this particular example, of easing frames or trusses 8, each in corporating four pit props 9.
  • Each casing frame 8 is provided with a double-acting feed cylinder 11, attached at the point 10, the piston rod 12 of which is in each case attached to the conveyor 4,
  • the frame 8 moves up towards the conveyor. If the feed cylinder 11 is operated in the reverse direction, i.e. the piston rod 12 is extended, then the conveyor 4 is moved up towards the face 1 of the mine working so that the cutter 3 is set to a selected depth of cut 14.
  • the cutter 3 is not set to any depth of cut at all and therefore cuts no coal from the face 1.
  • the face. 1 of the working can be advancd beyond or held back in relation to the faces in neighbouring zones of the working.
  • the feed cylinders 11 require to be fed with appropriate input control quantities or signals determining how the feed cylinders 11 are operated at the local zones of the face.
  • the five casing frames 8, 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d include one guide casing frame 8b. It is assumed that the feed increments of the other frames 8, 8a, and 8d are to be the same.
  • the control system for the grouped casing frames 8 to 8d includes a group switching arrangement 20 which, in a predetermined sequence and via lines 21 to 24 respectively allotted to the casing frames 8 to 8d with the exception of the guide casing frame 8b, passes control pulses to comparator controls 25, 26, 27 and 28, one of which is allotted to each of the casing frames 8, 8a, 80 and 8d.
  • the guide casing frame 81) is connected in parallel with the comparator controls 25 to 28, through lines 31, 32 and 33.
  • FIGURE 2 One of the comparator controls 25 to 28, all of which are identically arranged, is schematically illustrated in FIGURE 2.
  • a cam-shaft 40 is mounted in bearings 41 and 42 and is rotated in one sense by a piston rod 44 driven from a cylinder/piston device 43 and in the other sense by a piston rod 46 driven from a cylinder/piston device 45.
  • the input to the comparator control is provided by a line 21 leading from the group switching arrangement 20.
  • the group switching arrangement 20 selects the casing frame 8 for operation and therefore causes a control pulse to appear in the line 21, the cylinder/piston device 43 is appropriately pressurised and rotates the camshaft 40 through a certain angle, causing a cam 47 to operate and close a valve 48.
  • the control pulse also passes through a further valve 49 into the line 21a and causes the casing frame 8 to advance one step.
  • the pulse is fed to an indicator 210 for showing that the control pulse has been issued.
  • a further control pulse from the group switching arrangement 21 leads to a second operation of the cylinder/ piston device 43 and thus to further rotation of the camshaft 40, so that a valve 49 is closed by a cam 50, the valve 48 being kept closed also.
  • the signal will also appear in the line 21a so that the casing frame 8 will advance a further step.
  • the cam-shaft simultaneously returns the valve 49 to its initial position.
  • a second pulse originating from the guide casing frame 8b closes the valve 52 at the right-hand side of the comparator, the valve 48 at the left-hand side is closed. If a third pulse now appears in the line 33, the connection to the guide casing frame 8b is closed, and this casing frame 8b cannot execute another step.
  • the casing frames 8, 8a and 8c, 8d can lead the guide casing frame 8b by a maximum of two steps.
  • This facility for two steps defines the threshold of perception" of the control system, which then intervenes in the manner described and re-establishes alignment between all the casing frames. Accordingly, the coal-face is continually aligned between these limiting values.
  • a control system for reorientating the longwall face comprising:
  • measuring means operative to determine the distances of individual casing structures, in different zones along the face, from a nominal line of working;
  • a switching arrangement for selectively distributing the said control signals to the individual casing structures to trigger the drive mechanisms thereof;
  • a control system for a mine working in which pluralities of individual casing structures are associated in groups, each group being common to a zone of the face, wherein the measuring means is operative to measure the distances of individual casing structures serving as guides, one in each group, from the nominal line of working.
  • a control system including secondary measuring means operative to determine the distances between the guide casing structure in a group and the other casing structures in the group, secondary signal generating means operative to generate auxiliary signals in accordance with said further measured distances, and a secondary switching device for selectively distributing the auxiliary signals to the said other casing structures in the group to trigger the drive mechanisms thereof.
  • a control system including devices for distance measurement cooperating with stepping counters to determine the distances moved by the casing structures, and a computer governing generation of the signals fed to the drive mechanisms of the casing structures.
  • a control system including means for indicating that one of the said measured distance differences has exceeded a predetermined limiting value, and means for additionally feeding the control signal to the extraction machinery to control the operation thereof at the zone of the face whereat the exceeding of the limiting value has occurred.
  • a control system according to claim 5, wherein the said feeding means leads to the turning control mechanism of the extraction machinery.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Control Of Conveyors (AREA)
  • Excavating Of Shafts Or Tunnels (AREA)
  • Navigation (AREA)
US732976A 1967-05-31 1968-05-29 Control system for aligning or turning longwall faces in mine workings lined with walking casing frames Expired - Lifetime US3482877A (en)

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DEB0092791 1967-05-31

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US (1) US3482877A (en, 2012)
DE (1) DE1533720C3 (en, 2012)
FR (1) FR1570098A (en, 2012)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3638531A (en) * 1968-11-26 1972-02-01 Bergwerksvervand Gmbh Mining pit prop adjusting device
US3754129A (en) * 1969-08-06 1973-08-21 Bergwerksverband Gmbh Automatic control for mining pit props
US4096753A (en) * 1974-11-19 1978-06-27 Coal Industry (Patents) Limited Mine equipment
US4099782A (en) * 1976-02-18 1978-07-11 Gewerkschaft Eisenhutte Westfalia Control system for a mineral mining installation
RU2607002C1 (ru) * 2015-02-20 2017-01-10 Марко Зюстеманалюзе Унд Энтвиклюнг Гмбх Способ и устройство для определения положения поворота консольного верхняка забойной крепи и устройство для поворота консольного верхняка забойной крепи

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2336545A1 (fr) * 1976-12-13 1977-07-22 Gullick Dobson Ltd Dispositif de controle et de commande des soutenements marchants de toit de mine
DE2700829C2 (de) * 1977-01-11 1986-04-17 Gewerkschaft Eisenhütte Westfalia, 4670 Lünen Hydraulische Ausbausteuerung
DE3743758A1 (de) * 1987-12-23 1989-07-13 Bochumer Eisen Heintzmann Verfahren zur lenkung der abbaufront
DE4211340A1 (de) * 1992-04-04 1993-10-07 Hemscheidt Maschf Hermann Verfahren zum Abbau von Kohleflözen zum Schwenken des Strebes

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1095543A (en, 2012) * 1900-01-01
US3362750A (en) * 1964-10-26 1968-01-09 Dowty Electrics Ltd Mining apparatus having programmed cutting direction and attitude controls

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1095543A (en, 2012) * 1900-01-01
US3362750A (en) * 1964-10-26 1968-01-09 Dowty Electrics Ltd Mining apparatus having programmed cutting direction and attitude controls

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3638531A (en) * 1968-11-26 1972-02-01 Bergwerksvervand Gmbh Mining pit prop adjusting device
US3754129A (en) * 1969-08-06 1973-08-21 Bergwerksverband Gmbh Automatic control for mining pit props
US4096753A (en) * 1974-11-19 1978-06-27 Coal Industry (Patents) Limited Mine equipment
US4099782A (en) * 1976-02-18 1978-07-11 Gewerkschaft Eisenhutte Westfalia Control system for a mineral mining installation
RU2607002C1 (ru) * 2015-02-20 2017-01-10 Марко Зюстеманалюзе Унд Энтвиклюнг Гмбх Способ и устройство для определения положения поворота консольного верхняка забойной крепи и устройство для поворота консольного верхняка забойной крепи

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1533720C3 (de) 1975-01-02
DE1533720B2 (de) 1974-06-06
FR1570098A (en, 2012) 1969-06-06
DE1533720A1 (de) 1970-01-22

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