According to China’s Xinhua Silk Road Information Service, new intelligent underground coal mining technology was highlighted during the 18th China Coal & Mining Expo which was held in Beijing on October 30. The technology was co-developed by Shenhua Group company Shendong Coal Group Ltd, affiliated to China Energy Investment Corporation and Tiandi-Marco Electro-Hydraulic Control System Company Ltd. During the Expo, technicians from Shendong Coal Group sitting in the front of a console monitored a coal mining operation site 800 km away on several large-scale high-definition colour LCD screens.

The intelligent coal cutting technology represents a real world class innovation made by Shendong Group, said Zhao Yunfei, a technician with the coal group, adding that it has also solved the long-term problem of accurate coal and waste rock horizon identification. Featuring independent coal cutting and remote control, the technology has been in use at Yujialiang coal mine for more than one year, said Yunfei, who is in charge of the electro-mechanical operations within the mining team at the mine.

By comparing a 3D geological model of the mining surface with an actual measured scanning model and comprehensively analysing big data gleaned from the coal seam trend and flatness of the mining surface, the coal mining system equipped with the technology can develop an optimisation algorithm and adjust the “knife curve” of the longwall coal cutter so as to realise independent and intelligent coal cutting.

Thanks to the adoption of intelligent coal cutting technology, the number of mining workers required has been reduced from 63 to 49 and the monthly coal output of one longwall has increased about 30% to 150,000 t. Shendong Group has also built a 10-Gigabit ring ethernet network with 5G interface reserved. In the 5G era, the remote console will be moved from the mine to the ground.