AU729364B2 - Transport apparatus for use in mines - Google Patents

Description

WO 99/24695 PCT/AU98/00920 -1- TRANSPORT APPARATUS FOR USE IN MINES This invention relates to transport apparatus and more particularly, though not exclusively, to transport apparatus suitable for use in mines tunnels and other excavations.

One particular application of the apparatus of the invention relates to its use in longwall mining systems.

Longwall mining is a mining system whereby equipment and effort are concentrated into a relatively small area of the mine. A longwall mine face can vary in width from 50 to 300m between one or more headings, which provide access for personnel, equipment, materials and services to the mine face, as well as for removal of the material from the face, and for ventilation of overall area.

The longwall mining system comprises two basic forms, namely advancing face system and retreating face system. An advancing face, as the term implies, advances, together with its roadways deeper into the area of material such as for example coal being mined, each day moving further away from the entrance main roadway. A retreat face starts at the furthest point required in the area of material to be extracted and retreats towards the entrance, using previously prepared roadways. In both cases the distance travelled varies according to the area of material to be extracted and the mining layout adopted. Longwall panels can vary in block length from 300 to 6000m and can be used to extract seam sections from 0.75m to 5m in a single pass.

In a longwall mining system secondary headings or gate roads are driven out from the entrance or main roadways into an area of coal to be mined. These provide the main intake and return airways for the longwall face as well as providing access to, and a region through which the mined material can be retrieved. Between these headings will be the block of material to be extracted by the longwall.

In the retreating face system the headings are driven to the boundary of an area to be P:\WPDOCS\DYS\spccic\7483610sp,,doc.28/1 I/0 -2worked and then are connected together across the block of material such as, for example, coal to form the longwall face. This drivage is normally referred to as the "set up entry" or "face line". The mine face thus developed will be equipped with an armoured flexible conveyor (AFC), commonly called a face conveyor, a power loader (shearer) which usually runs on the AFC, and a set of powered roof supports called chock shields. The coal is mined by the shearer moving to and fro along the face conveyor, taking slices of coal or webs 500mm to 1200mm thick. The mined material is loaded onto a belt conveyor which transfers the material to the mine entrance.

In longwall mining it is necessary to be able to transfer equipment which may include power lines to the coal face. This is done by the provision of a transport apparatus which Scan be in the form of a monorail to which a series of carriages are mounted. The carriages are arranged to support the service hoses and cables which deliver power to the mine face.

"i 15 A problem associated with longwall mining and in particular, to retreat face mining is the limited access available to and from the mine face. As retreat proceeds the cables and •o hoses are compressed into a reduced area so as to form loops and these loops further limit access to the mine face. Furthermore, during the mining operation it is often necessary to •supply various equipment to and from the region of the mine face. This often necessitates 20 the mining operation to be shut down and the belt conveyor is used to transfer the equipment S. to the mine face.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus which at least alleviates the aforementioned problem.

According to the present invention there is provided Transport apparatus suitable for use in mines, tunnels and the like, the apparatus including a primary transport device which includes a primary support rail having a remote section, a plurality of primary carriages which are movable along the support rail, the apparatus further including a secondary transport device Swhich includes a secondary support rail operatively connected to one or more carriages of the P:\WPDOCSfYS\Vcie\74g3610Wp .d.d-2aI 1/00 -3primary transport device, the secondary support rail being disposed in the region of the remote section of the primary support rail and including a plurality of secondary carriages which are movable along the secondary support rail, the secondary carriages being adapted to receive an object or equipment to transfer the object or equipment along the remote section of the primary support rail.

Preferably, the primary carriages in the region of the remote section of the primary support rail are operatively interconnected so as to form a substantially rigid series of carriages. The term rigid means that the primary carriages in region of the remote section move together along the rail in fixed position to one another.

Preferably, the primary carriages forming the services of carriages each include a :main body and at least one wheeled bogie which is adapted to travel along the primary rail, a cable support member and connector members interconnecting adjacent main bodies.

Preferably, the secondary carriages each include a main body and at least one wheeled bogie which is adapted to travel along the secondary rail, and connector members interconnecting adjacent main bodies so as to form a rigid series of carriages. The term rigid ooooo S* as used here has the same meaning as described above.

S Preferably, the transport apparatus further includes drive means movable along the secondary support rail and operatively connected to the secondary carriages to cause movement thereof; and a plurality of individual auxiliary carriages operatively connected to the drive means and being adapted for movement along the second rail towards or away from one another.

Preferably, the apparatus further includes hoist means on one or more of secondary carriages for raising and lowering the carrier.

Preferably, the apparatus is disposed within a mine heading having two gate roads and WO 99/24695 PCT/AU98/00920 -4a plurality of access roads therebetween and including an innermost access road wherein the remote section extends towards the mine entrance beyond the innermost access road. The system is, however, designed to operate in single or multi-heading panels.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described with reference to accompanying drawings, and in those drawings Figure 1 is a schematic side elevation of part of a transport apparatus according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a similar view to Figure 1 with a modified form of carrier; Figure 3 is a schematic side elevation of another part transport apparatus, the right side of the figure connecting with the left side of Figures 1 or 2; and Figure 4 is a schematic partial plan view of a longwall mine layout incorporating transport apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings Figure 4 illustrates in partial plan view a schematic illustration of part of longwall mine. The view shown is for a retreat face type system. The body of material to be mined is indicated by reference number 200. The mine face is indicated at 50 and mining takes place in the direction of arrow B towards the mine exit.

Along each side of the body of material to be mined 200 is a heading 52 which comprises two gate roads 55 and 56 with a series of pillars 57 therebetween the gate roads being interconnected by a series of access roads 54. The access road which is most remote from the mine entrance is indicated at 53. The parallel gate roads permit a ventilation cycle to be created with air being delivered down one gate road and returned to the mine entrance via the other gate road. Gate road 56 provides a roadway by which personnel can reach the mine face 50. The gate road 55 has a belt conveyor 58 therein along which the mined material is removed from the mine and a transport device in the form of a monorail 60 which transports WO 99/24695 PCT/AU98/00920 the service lines to the mine face 50. The access roads 54 permit access to between the roads and are also used to position power sources for the various equipment within the mine:.' A temporary support roof 59 is disposed at the mine face.

The transport apparatus 60 according to the invention is shown in detail in Figures 1 to 3. The appaiatus 60 is in the form of a monorail which comprises a primary support rail 62 which is secured to the roof of the gate road 55 by means of mounting brackets 64. The support rail 62 comprises a series of interconnectable rail sections 65. The apparatus further includes a plurality of primary carriages 70 which are suspended from rail 62 via wheeled bogies 72. The carriages 70 in the region of the mine face are coupled together through coupling members 76. Thus in the region of the mine face there is a series of the primary carriages which are connected together so as to form a rigid section. This rigid section is indicated by dotted line 61 in Figure 4. As will be noted the rigid section 61 extends past remote access road 53. Each carriage 70 includes a cable support member 78 for supporting the service cables thereon. A section of supporting cable is shown in phantom in Figure 2 and indicated by reference numeral 75. As the mine face advances the carriages 70 are pushed along the rail 62 by means of a stage loader 210 (see Figure Because of the rigid section of carriages the service cables 75 in this area to will not form loops in this region, the loops commencing to form in a region beyond the roadway 53.

The monorail apparatus 60 further includes a secondary support rail 80 which is operatively suspended from the primary carriages 70 by means of hook chains 82. The secondary support rail 80 is formed from a series of interconnected rail section 83. There is further provided a pair of secondary carriages 85 which are suspended from the rail 83 via bogies 86. The carriages 85 are interconnected by coupling section 87. The carriages are adapted to support an element such as tray 90 as shown in Figure 1, or carrier 91 as shown in Figure 2. Pneumatic, hydraulic, electric or manual hoists 94 are adapted to raise or lower the carrying element 90 or 91.

The secondary rail 80 is arranged in the gate road in the region of the rigid end section WO 99/24695 PCT/AU98/00920 -6- 61 adjacent the mine face. Thus the area adjacent the mined section can be kept clear providing ready access and not be blocked by service cables and the like.

As shown in Figure 3 the secondary carriages 85 are driven by drive means in the form of a traction drive 96. The traction device 96 is operatively connected a series of trolleys 98 which support air hoses 99 or other apparatus. The traction drive may in some instances be replaced by a winch or the like.

Finally, it is to be understood that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be incorporated into the various constructions and arrangements of parts without departing from the spirit or ambit of the invention.

Claims (8)

1. Transport apparatus suitable for use in mines, tunnels and the like, the apparatus including a primary transport device which includes a primary support rail having a remote section, a plurality of primary carriages which are movable along the support rail, the apparatus further including a secondary transport device which includes a secondary support rail operatively connected to one or more carriages of the primary transport device, the secondary support rail being disposed in the region of the remote section of the primary support rail and including a plurality of secondary carriages which are movable along the secondary support rail, the secondary carriages being adapted to receive an object or equipment to transfer the object or equipment along the remote section of the primary support rail.

2. Transport apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the primary carriages in the region .i of the remote section of the primary support rail are operatively interconnected so as to form a substantially rigid series of carriages.

3. Transport apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the primary carriages forming the series of carriages each include a main body and at least one wheeled bogie which is adapted .ooooi Sto travel along the primary rail, a cable support member and connector members interconnecting adjacent main bodies.

4. Transport apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the secondary carriages each include a main body and at least one wheeled bogie which is adapted to travel along the secondary rail, and connector members interconnecting adjacent main bodies so as to form a rigid series of carriages.

Transport apparatus according to claim 4 further including drive means movable along the secondary support rail and operatively connected to the secondary carriages to cause 4Nmovement thereof; and a plurality of individual auxiliary carriages operatively connected to P:AWPDOCS/DYSspccie7483610,pcdoc.2811 1100 -8- the drive means and being adapted for movement along the secondary rail towards or away from one another.

6. Transport apparatus according to any preceding claim further including hoist means on one or more of the secondary carriages for raising and lowering an object support by the carriages.

7. Transport apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the apparatus is disposed within a mine heading having two gate roads and a plurality of access roads therebetween and including an innermost access road wherein the remote section extends *.towards the mine entrance beyond the innermost access road.

8. Transport apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 28 t day of November, 2000 MACQUARIE MANUFACTURING PTY LTD By Its Patent Attorneys DAVIES COLLISON CAVE