A commitment to begin staged underground trials of a fully automated roof bolting system by October was one of the outcomes of a June meeting in Japan between Australian and Japanese research, mining and manufacturing organisations.
Attending the meeting were representatives from the CSIRO, Hydramatic Engineering, IHI, Mitsui Mining Machinery and the Japan Coal Energy Centre (JCOAL), the group set up to co-ordinate the automated bolting project.
The project also has Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) funding.
The rapid roadway development system will be designed to travel behind the mining machine, automatically inserting roof and rib bolts as it moves forward. Coal will be transferred across a bridge to the conveyor.
Leader of the Rapid Roadway Development project, the CSIRO's Mick Kelly, said many complex engineering design issues were discussed at the meeting, resulting in positive outcomes for the detailed construction of the Autonomous Conveying Bolting Module (ACBM). In addition, timeframes were defined for the manufacturing and underground trial of the module.
The major outcome of the meeting was an agreement to reduce the overall physical dimensions of the ACBM to an acceptable level. This decision requires a redesign of the roof bolt-feed system.
By increasing the speed of this component it can be removed from the critical path. It is hoped this will remove the need for a bolt carousel and reduce engineering complexity. Hydramatic will test this aspect in its workshop.
Materials to the bolter will be fed via one consumable cassette located on each side of the ACBM containing roof bolts, rib bolts and chemical and 'positively located' with a hydraulic pin.
A 110kW motor will power the ACBM with two variable volume load sensing pumps. The flameproof enclosures will be designed and built by AT Flameproof.
The rib bolter will be located under the deck plate of the ACBM and have rib bolts dropped into it from the cassette above and be able to swing out and lift up to install bolts. Advance rate for the system is 15m per hour. An engineering project manager will coordinate the manufacture of the ACBM.
A second meeting is scheduled in Australia for late August and will include a detailed design risk assessment for the ACBM. Engineering drawing sign off is expected by early November followed by component manufacturing. Technology transfer to industry will begin during the full production trial.
