Key technologies and demonstration of unmanned steeply inclined short-wall fully mechanized top-coal caving intelligent mining

Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, my China’s coal mine digital intelligence technology has developed rapidly, especially in thin coal seam mining. However, the unmanned intelligent mining technology of steeply inclined short-wall fully mechanized caving is still in the exploratory stage, and there is no mature application demonstration. In order to accelerate the promotion of digital intelligence technology to empower the upgrading of the coal industry, based on the characteristics and advantages of steeply inclined short-wall fully mechanized caving mining in Xinjiang Wudong Coal Mine, 5 key core technologies and 1 management and control mode of steeply inclined short-wall fully mechanized caving intelligent mining are proposed. The five key core technologies include: a single drum coal mining machine “centimeter + millisecond” level precise planning and space-time navigation system based on the coal seam occurrence conditions and mining characteristics of the working face; an autonomous coal-laying model driven by behavioral data and a closed-loop control system based on image-based coal gangue self-identification to solve the complex coordination mechanism of short-wall working faces and the difficulty of parameter control; a digital twin system for real-time mapping and simulation of the physical scene of the entire working face to solve the problems of complex underground environment and fragmentation of equipment status data; the first domestic full-face video splicing software for steeply inclined short-wall working faces to solve the problems of insufficient feedback information and poor production guidance for remote intervention, which realizes the provision of ground intervention physical scenes and holographic interaction with digital twins; a working face rack collaborative control system and a ground operation island remote centralized control system that focus on the problems of complex equipment, difficult equipment coordination, decentralized control logic between multiple equipment underground, and high frequency of remote intervention in steeply inclined coal seams, to achieve centralized control of multiple devices. One management and control mode includes one decision-making control platform, one intelligent equipment group, and one professional operation and maintenance team to realize a new platform-based flat management and control mode. Relying on five key core technologies and one management and control model, a demonstration working face for the intelligent and normalized operation of steeply inclined short-wall fully-mechanized mining in the Wudong Coal Mine in Xinjiang was built, providing a technical paradigm and practical model for the universal digital and unmanned mining in my country’s coal mines.