Long-wall mining machine with a working chain
AssigneeBochumer Eisenhutte Heintzmann GmbH & Co. KG
InventorsKuno Guse, Peter Kroninger, Bernd Holling, Roland Becker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A long-wall mining machine has an operating chain entraining conveyor flights or mining tools and displaceable in a trough which can be provided with rows of sensors of an inductive proximity type responding to the chain and the tools and generating measurement pulse trains which are compared with setpoint pulse trains to signal functional parameters of chain operation. The sag of the chain is determined by a row of sensors and in response to the sag a chain-tension unit can be controlled.
Claims12
A long-wall mining machine comprising:
- a machine trough;
- an endless chain in said machine trough formed with a plurality of mining tools and having deflection stations around which said chain passes in a forward stretch and a return stretch, at least one of said stations being formed as a drive station;
- at least one row of inductive proximity sensors spaced apart in said trough along said forward stretch and at least one row of inductive proximity sensors spaced apart in said trough along said return stretch in a region of at least one of said stations and responsive to passage of said tools by said sensors for generating respective measurement pulse sequences representing functional parameters of operation of the chain, at least one of said rows of sensors detecting chain sag;
- and
- a computer receiving inputs from said rows of inductive proximity sensors including a measurement pulse sequence from said row of sensors detecting chain sag for comparing same with a setpoint pulse sequence and thereby monitoring operation of the chain.
A method of monitoring the operation of a long-wall mining machine having a machine trough, an endless chain in the machine trough formed with a plurality of mining tools and having deflection stations around which said chain passes in a forward stretch and a return stretch, at least one of the stations being formed with a drive station, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating respective measurement pulse sequences from at least one row of inductive proximity sensors spaced apart in said trough along said forward stretch and at least one row of inductive proximity sensors spaced apart in said trough along said return stretch in a region of at least one of said stations and responsive to passage of said tool by said sensors, said measurement pulse sequences representing functional parameters of operation of the chain including chain sag;
- and
- comparing at least one measurement pulse sequence from at least one of said rows of sensors with a setpoint pulse sequence thereby monitoring operation of the chain or diagnosing problems with operation thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.