Reliability analysis of drum shearer machine at mechanized longwall mines

Abstract

PurposeLongwall mining is a special mining method with high productivity and smooth operation and the drum shearer is known as the most important component in longwall mines due to its direct role in the coal cutting and production process. Therefore, its reliability is important in keeping the mine production at a desired level. Hence, reliability analysis is essential in identifying and removing existing problems of this machine in order to achieve a better production condition. This paper seeks to learn about the reliability of the shearer machine in order to locate critical subsystems. The improvement of the reliability of the critical subsystems, to enhance the optimum operation of the shearer machine, is the main objective of this research.Design/methodology/approachA basic methodology was used in this paper for the reliability modeling of the shearer machine. First, failure and performance data from a two‐year period at the Tabas Coal Mine‐Iran was classified and sorted. The tests for validating the assumption of independent and identical distribution (iid) of TBF data are done and the best modeling method for each subsystem was selected among the renewal process, homogeneous Poisson process and non‐homogeneous Poisson process. Finally, the reliability of subsystems and the machine were assessed.FindingsThe study revealed that six important subsystems of the shearer machine are; water system, haulage, electrical system, hydraulic system, cutting arms, and cable system. Pareto analysis shows that the 30 percent of failures and stoppages of the shearer were related to the water system and this system is the most critical subsystem of the machine. The failure rate analysis shows that the failure rates of the hydraulic, haulage and electrical systems were decreasing, meanwhile, the failure rates of the water system, cutting arms and cable system were increasing. The reliability of drum shearer reaches the zero value after 100 hours.Originality/valueThis paper, for the first time, defines a practical set of subsystems for the coal shearer based on field data and machine design.

Enhance Mining System Reliability through System Integration Approach

“…On the one hand, the reliability of a complex mining system with a large number of subsystems and components, which often have high failure rates due to the harsh working conditions, is normally low because any failure of its critical subsystems or components, if there is not redundancy, will cause the entire system to shut down. For example, according to Hoseinie, Ataei, Khalokakaie, Ghodrati, and Kumar (2012), the reliability of a longwall shearer used in Tabas coalmine, Iran was only 0.5 over the first 12 hours of operation. On the other hand, once a mining system has a failure, it needs much longer time to be fixed because of the harsh environment.…”

Downtime analysis of drilling machines and suggestions for improvements

“…Gustafson et al (2013) used a fault tree analysis to analyse the idle times of automated LHD machines at a Swedish underground mine. Hoseinie et al (2012) performed reliability modelling of the drum Shearer machine used at Taba's coal mine in the central desert of Iran. They analysed the failure rate of the machine's subsystems.…”

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“…As a kind of important mechanized mining equipment, a shearer is usually used to cut and load coal in modern fruitful and efficient coal mining, which directly impacts on the automation level of the entire mechanized mining face [1][2][3]. The reliability of a shearer decides whether the coal can be mined with high efficiency and low risk.…”