Page 81 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

Optimization of coal recovery and production rate as a function of panel dimensions 67

transfer mined coal from haulage units to the panel conveyor belt. The mine operates
on three 8h shifts—two for production and one for maintenance. The width of the
panel is mined using two distinct cut sequences. First, the central 11 or 13 entries
are advanced six crosscuts in the direction of mining. Second, the remaining entries
on the flanks perpendicular to the directions of mining are mined as “rooms.” Figs. 5.1
and 5.2 show examples of an 11-entry cut sequence for the central entries and a
15-entry cut sequence for two rooms on either flank of the 11 central entries.

5.2.2.1 Build a valid DES model
The objective was to build a model capable of predicting the production rate for dif-
ferent panel widths using user-specified cut sequences and fleet sizes. In this case
study, researchers working with mine engineers decided that the model will be

Typical panel—cut sequence
11 entry panel
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
49L 50L 45L 48L 34L 40L 44L 32L 39L 43L 38L 47L 37L 44R 33R 40R35R 28R 41R36R 30R 45R 42R 47R 46R
42L 35L 21L 20L 25L 30L 22R 19R 20R 31R 38R
46L 41L 27L 33L 26L 31L 39R 34R 27R23R 29R24R 37R 43R
36L 28L 15L 13L 18L 24L 17R 12R 14R 25R 32R
23L 16L 5L 4L 7L 11L 6R 4R 5R 15R 16R
29L 22L 9L 14L 8L 12L 19L 18R 11R 7R 13R 8R 21R 26R
17L 10L 2L 1L 3L 6L 3R 1R 2R 9R 10R

BELT

Fig. 5.1 Cut sequence for 11-entry initial advance.

Typical panel—cut sequence
15 entry panel
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
25 16 8 13 19 28
32 26 24 31
20 9 3 6 12 23
30 21 18 29
11 4 1 2 5 17
10 22
27 15 7 14
17 5 2 1 4 11
14 7 27
22 10 15
23 12 6 3 9 20
29 18 21 30
28 19 13 BELT 8 16 25
31 24 26 32
Fig. 5.2 Room cut sequence for two rooms on either side of an 11-entry initial advance.