In recent years, with the increasing level of mechanization, automation, and intelligence in mine mining, dust pollution in the working environment of coal mines has become increasingly serious. Coal mine dust prevention is an important work related to the life, health, and production safety of miners, and it is also one of the technical problems of mine safety in production. With the continuous revision and improvement of China′s Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law, coal mining enterprises have generally strengthened the publicity, prevention, and control of occupational diseases among employees, and the control of coal mine dust has been used as a means for enterprises to improve the production environment and strengthen the occupational health of employees. Key work-based studies have shown that China’s coal mines have formed a theoretical system and technology system of dust prevention and control. In the future, China’s coal mines will start from intelligent dust prevention, achieve high-precision dust sensing-transmission-assessment and early warning, and develop a combined dust collector that integrates the functions of atomization dust removal, miniaturization, dry and wet mixing, and large air suction capacity. The combined dust collector realizes the efficient ventilation control and dust removal of the fine dust in wide-area complex spaces such as fully mechanized mining face and fully mechanized mining face. At the same time, breakthroughs have been achieved in low-permeability coal seams, such as strong hydraulic permeability-enhancing technology, intelligent dust-proof robots, and chemical dust suppression. This article introduces the basic concepts, generation, distribution, and hazards of coal mine dust and analyzes the characteristics, applicable conditions, and use effects of various dust control measures such as ventilation dust removal and wet dust removal. Moreover, this article also proposes specific prevention and control measures for related occupational diseases and discusses the development trend of dust prevention and control technology in the hope of providing guidance and reference for coal mine dust prevention and control.

Electromagnetic wave penetration coal-rock communication is a significant part for the smart mine communication technology, there are great challenges for electromagnetic wave is rapidly attenuated by factors such as geology and coal seam structure. In order to provide a theory basis for wireless communication technology development in coal rock, based on the Maxwell's equations, this paper establishes a physical model of wireless communication under the conditions of coal seam. To characterize the performance of the electromagnetic wave propagation, we use the Maxwell's equations to derive the exact expression of attenuation coefficient. Also, the parameters of coal and other factors affecting the electromagnetic wave propagation are analyzed and discussed. To further obtain more insights, the attenuation coefficient and skin depth of the very low-frequency (VLF) electromagnetic wave in coal medium with different degrees of metamorphism are studied, as well as the influence of resistivity. This provides scientific theoretical support for the application of VLF communication in coal mines. Finally, our theoretical analyses are verified by computer simulation, and the simulated numerical results show that: 1) The range of frequency of electromagnetic wave suitable for coal medium propagation is 3∼3KHz (VLF); 2) The order of the electromagnetic waves attenuation coefficient in coal with different degrees of metamorphism is: anthracite > lignite > fat coal > coking coal > lean coal, and the order of skin depth is: lean coal > coking coal > fat coal > lignite > anthracite; 3) The resistivity of coal has little effect on the attenuation of electromagnetic wave when VLF is used for communication. INDEX TERMS Coal medium, very low frequency (VLF), attenuation coefficient, wireless communication.

Given the difficulty in drilling the anchor holes in the roadway floor of the coal mine, the characteristics of slag movement in the process of positive and negative circulation drilling are analyzed. It is concluded that the interaction between the three zones of drilling and slag is the fundamental reason restricting the rapid drilling of the anchor cable hole in the floor, and it is proposed that the pump reverse circulation drilling can effectively prevent the formation of the three zones of drilling and slag. According to the actual situation, the relationship between drilling depth, vacuum degree of the pump, and the velocity of drilling fluid and the volume of drilling slag is obtained. The results show that the pump suction reverse circulation is feasible for the rapid drilling of the anchor hole of the floor. A set of pump suction reverse circulation drilling systems has been developed, and floor anchor wire hole drilling and slag discharge operation at the same time were realized. The field test shows that the effective drilling time of the anchor cable hole in the depth of 5.6 m can be controlled within 30 min, which solves the problem of deep hole drilling in the anchor hole of the bottom plate and purifies the working environment.