For three years, NASA, CMU, and Joy Mining Machinery have teamed together to develop technologies required to automate a broad range of underground mining operations. This product is useful for matching the volume of cut coal with the capacity of the haulage vehicles and for increasing productivity via faster sequencing of mining operations. This product is useful for eliminating trim cuts, reducing extra roof bolts, and increasing productivity via faster sequencing. Project Status NASA, CMU, and Joy Mining Machinery have developed beta products for use in underground coal mines, but testing has been limited. In early 2000, the team tested the products at Cumberland mine in Pennsylvania and Rend Lake mine in Illinois.
Results are encouraging.
We are commencing a DoE-FETC funded program to assess, quantify, and optimize performance gains of these products through extensive underground testing. In the coming year, we expect to mature the two beta products into commercial products. The picture below shows the products mounted on a production continuous mining machine in Cumberland mine.