The Kelastic variable wall mining machine. Interim final report

This machine cuts coal along a longwall face extending up to 500 feet by a rotating auger with bits. The machine also transports the coal that is cut acting as screw conveyor. By virtue of an integral shroud comprising part of the conveyor the machine is also amenable to a separation of the zones where men work from air being contaminated by dust and methane gas by the cutting action. Beginning as single intake air courses, the air separates at the working section where one split provides fresh air to the Occupied Zone (OZ) for human needs and the other split purges and carries away dust and methane from face fragmentation in the Cutting Zone (CZ). The attractiveness of the Variable Wall Mining Machine is that it addresses the limitations of current longwall mining equipment: it can consistently out-produce continuous mining machines and most longwall shearing machines. It also is amenable to configuring an environment, the dual-duct system, where the air for human breathing is separated from dust-laden ventilating air with methane mixtures. The objective of the research was to perform a mathematical and experimental study of the interrelationships of the components of the system so that a computer model could demonstrate the workings of the system in an animation program. The analysis resulted in the compilation of the parameters for three different configurations of a dual aircourse system of ventilating underground mines. In addressing the goal of an inherently safe mining system the dual-duct adaptation to the Variable Wall Mining Machine appears to offer the path to solution. The respirable dust problem is solvable; the explosive dust problem is nearly solvable; and the explosive methane problem can be greatly reduced. If installed in a highly gassy mine, the dual duct models would also be considerably less costly