Patent ID: 8469455

Claim:
A method for controlling a cutting extraction machine used in coal mining comprising the steps of: (a) conducting a plurality of extraction runs wherein in each extraction run the cutting extracting machine is moved in a longwall along a working front in longwall mining; (b) observing during each extraction run heat radiation of a working face newly exposed by the extraction machine using an infrared camera disposed on a machine body of the extraction machine via production of heat images; (c) determining at the end of each extraction run a progression of a key bed package with regard to at least one of an upper delimitation surface of the longwall and a lower delimitation surface of the longwall using the heat images of the working face recorded during the extraction run and generating control data for a subsequent extraction run of the extraction machine based on the progression of the key based package; wherein the heat radiation of the working face is observed perpendicular to and at a distance from a cutting zone of cutting tools of the extraction machine; wherein within the heat images, border surfaces between layers of coal macerals having different heat conductivity are determined via edge detection using Hough transformation; and wherein the key bed package is determined based on a characteristic sequence of border layers between coal macerals having different heat conductivity.