Longwall mining automation horizon control: Coal seam gradient identification using piecewise linear fitting

Horizon control, maintaining the alignment of the shearer's exploitation gradient with the coal seam gradient, is a key technique in longwall mining automation. To identify the coal seam gradient, a geological model of the coal seam was constructed using in-seam seismic surveying technology. By synthesizing the control resolution of the range arm and the geometric characteristics of the coal seam, a gradient identification method based on piecewise linear representation (PLR) is proposed. To achieve the maximum exploitation rate within the shearer's capacity, the control resolution of the range arm is selected as the threshold parameter of PLR. The control resolution significantly influenced the number of line segments and the fitting error. With the decrease of the control resolution from 0.01 to 0.02 m, the number of line segments decreased from 65 to 15, which was beneficial to horizon control. However, the average fitting error increased from 0.055 to 0.14 m, which would induce a decrease in the exploitation rate. To avoid significant deviation between the cutting range and the coal seam, the control resolution of the range arm must be lower than 0.02 m. In a field test, the automated horizon control of the longwall face was realized by coal seam gradient identification.