Automation in Longwall Coal Mining - A Review

Abstract

Coal is one of the most important fossil fuels which are available abundantly around the world and meets a major part of the energy needs. Coal can be extracted in blocks by using longwall coal mining using a mechanized shearer. From the last century, the automation in industry has become one of the powerful forces of the production. This paper highlights the development and improvement of automation in longwall coal mining. This paper aims at reviewing the stage wise development of automation in longwall coal mining. The study also discusses the difficulties involved in automation integration to the older production system and also highlights the keys features such as remote-controlled monitoring operation in longwall coal mining. A brief review of major longwall coal mining automation challenges and several changes which has undergone from last 60 years has been presented in this study.