Cable handling system for longwall mining machines

A method of operating a cable handling system of a longwall mining machine having a shearer movable along a pan line to mine material along a mine face, the cable handling system including:

• i) a service line configured to carry one or more supply lines to the shearer for facilitating shearer operation,
• ii) a plurality of interconnected trays to accommodate the service line,
• iii) a plurality of sensor nodes distributed along a length of the service line,
• iv) a plurality of transceivers distributed along a length of the pan line, and
• v) a controller, wherein the method comprises:
• a) sensing and transmitting orientation, acceleration and/or position data of the service line using the plurality of sensor nodes,
• b) using the plurality of transceivers to receive the orientation, acceleration and/or position data from the plurality of sensor nodes and to transmit the orientation, acceleration and/or position data to the controller, and
• c) detecting, by the controller, an actual or imminent failure mode of the service line using analysis of the orientation, acceleration and/or position data from the plurality of the sensor nodes by at least comparing the orientation, acceleration and/or position data from a first subset of the plurality of the sensor nodes with the orientation, acceleration and/or position data from a second subset of the plurality of the sensor nodes.