Development and innovation practice of China coal mining technology and equipment for 50 years: Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coal Science and Technology

The paper reviewed the development of Coal Science and Technology in the past 50 years which promoted and witnessed the progress and innovation practice of the coal mining technology and equipment in China. Furthermore, the innovation process from coal mine mechanization to coal mine intelligence was expounded and the research and development of coal machine equipment technology which supports the reform of coal development process was analyzed emphatically. Finally, the paper summarized the iterative development of smart coal mine and put forward some ideas for future development trends. Coal mining technology has experienced four major technological changes from blasting mining, ordinary mechanized mining, comprehensive mechanized mining, intelligent mining, through continuous independent research and development and innovation, to achieve great progress in coal productivity. Research and development of coal machinery equipment supports the reform of coal development technology. Hydraulic support is the core of fully mechanized mining. The innovation of supporting theory, design method, frame structure and manufacturing technology supported the breakthrough of hydraulic support products from low-end to high-end. Significant progress has been made in the short board technology for coal mining machines such as manufacturing process, model adaptability, monitoring system and so on. The full series of coal mining machines from 0.8 to 9 m could meet the requirements of efficient production of Chinese coal mines, and the intelligent level was constantly improving. The key technologies of large volume and long distance working face scraper conveyor were constantly broken through. The 450 m ultra-long working face scraper conveyor with large volume runs reliably. The intelligent frequency conversion integrated machine drives instead of traditional CST and other drives, saving energy by nearly 30%. Innovations such as permanent magnet direct drive, arylon belt, and belt conveyor without foundation for large volume belt conveyor showed significant advantages in energy saving, reliability, and intelligence. Electro-hydraulic control and unmanned intelligent mining control technology develop rapidly, and the domestic SAC hydraulic support electro-hydraulic control system, SAM face automation system and SAP intelligent liquid supply system were widely used. To solve the problem of mining imbalance, it had developed the “driving and anchor machine + anchoring and breaking + large-span reloading” intellectualized driving and anchor machine, boom-type roadheader + temporary support system and TBM full face hard rock tunneling system. Intelligent frequency conversion energy-saving transmission supports energy saving in mines, comprehensive domestic innovation of coal machinery equipment and rapid improvement of intelligent manufacturing capacity. More than 30 kinds of coal mine robots had been developed and applied in NingTiaoTa coal mine of Shaanxi coal, achieving good results. The intelligent technology of coal mine developed rapidly and iteratively. This paper analyzed the classification and correlation of coal mine data flow, proposed the overall technical framework of smart coal mine and the basic data processing theory of “hierarchical extraction- association analysis-virtual-real mapping”, summarized the coupling and iterative development progress of smart coal mine system and the construction progress of smart coal mine technical standard system, and finally puts forward the development idea of intelligent coal mine. It is necessary to build a data value ecology based on “coal intelligence cloud”, push forward the research and development of intelligent mining technology and equipment under complex conditions and coal mine robot cluster. Furth more a coal mine intelligence ecology that integrates system intelligence and human wisdom should be built, which could boost the high-quality development of enterprises.