June 2016
|
World Coal
|
45
Denis Kent, Mine Site Technologies, Australia,
explains how underground connectivity improves
asset management.
T
he increasing use of technology to improve
longwall performance has been a continuous
process over many years. Technological
improvements for the basic functioning of the
longwall have included the following:
n
Increased shearer power.
n
Increased yield load capacity in the shields/powered
roof supports.
n
Improved ventilation for gas and dust control.
n
More effective use of water sprays.
n
AFC power and reliability.
n
Strata control knowledge.
n
Equipment transport.
More recently, technology developments have seen
increasing automation of critical parts of the longwall
cutting cycle.
Building on the previous discussion in ʼStaying Connectedʼ
(
World Coal
April 2016
)
about using improved connectivity to
improve asset management,
1
this article expands on what
connectivity means in broad areas of automation, down to
specific management and on-the-job tasks.
A common thread to these productivity improvements
has been the increasing reliance on high bandwidth
communication networks to enable personnel, equipment
and processes to be connected in real time. Really, it is just
like any process in general industry over the last 20 yrs,
where increasing productivity has been intimately linked to
leveraging the high data, IP-based networks that have
become pervasive in the modern industrialised world. IP
networks are what are experienced every day in the home
and office, with internet connectivity via wired and wireless
Wi-Fi links. Hence efforts have gone into making this
available in a configuration and form easily deployable and
maintained in the underground environment.
IP networks unify voice and data communications in
real-time over the same infrastructure. As IP networks
become more commonly deployed in underground coal
mines, mining companies are gaining access to a larger
range of automation, diagnostics and analytic tools to
increase productivity and improve safety.
THE
RIGHT
CONNECTIONS
