Longwall optimization control
AssigneeJoy Global Underground Mining LLC
InventorGareth Rimmington
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of controlling a longwall mining system, the longwall mining system including a longwall shearer, a conveyor, and a plurality of roof supports, such that the method includes creating, by a controller, a load profile of the conveyor representing a distribution of mineral along a length of the conveyor, calculating, by the controller, a desired change in the load profile based on the load profile of the conveyor, and controlling, by the controller, the longwall mining system to adjust the distribution of mineral on the conveyor based on the desired change in load profile.
Claims23
A method of controlling a longwall mining system, the longwall mining system including a longwall shearer, a conveyor, and a plurality of power roof supports, the method including:
- creating, by a controller, a load profile of the conveyor representing a distribution of mineral along a length of the conveyor;
- calculating, by the controller, a desired change in the load profile based on the load profile of the conveyor;
- and
- controlling, by the controller, the longwall mining system to adjust the distribution of mineral on the conveyor based on the desired change in load profile.
A longwall mining system comprising:
- a shearer;
- a plurality of power roof supports;
- a conveyor having a distribution of mineral along a length of the conveyor, the distribution of mineral represented by a load profile;
- a plurality of motors for driving the shearer, the conveyor, and the power roof supports;
- a controller configured to control the plurality of motors, wherein the controller controls the plurality of motors based on a desired change in the load profile.
A method of controlling a longwall mining system, the longwall mining system having a plurality of controllable components including a longwall shearer, a conveyor, and a plurality of power roof supports, the method comprising:
- determining, by a controller, a desired change in a conveyor characteristic;
- controlling, by the controller, the controllable components of the longwall mining system to achieve the desired change in conveyor characteristic;
- and
- controlling the controllable components by executing a plurality of commands to adjust at least one of the controllable components, the plurality of commands executed according to a command hierarchy.
A longwall mining system comprising:
- a plurality of controllable components including a conveyor, a shearer, and a plurality of power roof supports;
- a conveyor characteristic having a desired change in conveyor characteristic;
- a controller electrically coupled to the controllable components, the controller configured to execute a plurality of commands to adjust the operation of at least one of the controllable components to achieve the desired change in conveyor characteristic;
- and
- a command hierarchy of commands, the controller configured to execute the plurality of commands according to the command hierarchy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.