Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for continuous mining

US5810447A · kind A · utility

21Cited by
22References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 19, 1995
Grant dateSep 22, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 19, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC E)Fixed Constructions
  • CPC primaryE21C35/282
  • WIPO fieldCivil engineering
  • WIPO sectorOther fields

Abstract

Apparatus for controlling the operation of a mining system including a continuous miner, a tramming conveyor and a load-out vehicle operatively connected to the tramming conveyor. The apparatus includes a master computer processor on the continuous miner and at least one slave computer processor under the direction of the master computer processor for controlling elements of the mining system other than the continuous miner. A pair of parallel data communication highways connect the master computer processor and the slave computer processor and the functional status of the data communication highways is monitored. A radio communication path is provided between the master computer processor and the mining system. The master computer processor operates the mining system in an automatic mining mode of operation when both data communication highways are functional and operates the mining system in a reverse mode of operation if either data communication highway fails to function. In the reverse mode, all mining operations stop and the mining system can be reversed out of a mine hole. The master computer processor operates the mining system in a manual, radio controlled mode of operatio…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.