Electrical control system for apparatus and method for continuous underground mining

A method of controlling the operation of a continuous underground mining system including a continuous miner having a forward end with a cutting means and a rear end, a roof bolting machine having an a front end operatively connected to and trailing the rear end of the continuous miner, an articulated tramming conveyor having an inby end operatively connected to and trailing a rear end of said roof bolting machine, said tramming conveyor having an outby end spaced from its inby end, and a control cab operatively connected to and trailing said tramming conveyor, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a master computer processor on said continuous miner,
• b) providing at least one slave computer processor for controlling elements of said mining system other than said continuous miner, under the direction of said master computer processor,
• c) providing a pair of parallel data communication highways between said master computer processor and said slave computer processor,
• d) providing a radio communication path between said master computer processor and the outby end of said tramming conveyor,
• e) monitoring the functional status of said data communication highways,
• f) operating said mining system through said master computer processor in an automatic mining mode of operation when both of said data communication highways are functional,
• g) operating said mining system through said master computer processor in a reverse mode of operation if either of said data communication highways fails to function, whereby all mining operations cease and said mining system may be reversed out of a mine hole, and
• h) operating said mining system through said master computer processor in a manual, radio controlled mode of operation over said radio communication path if both data communication highways cease to function, whereby the master computer processor stops all automatic operations and is controlled solely by control signals over said radio communication path.