Heading with Remote Control

STONAVA – Safer operation, quicker advance of heading, less hard manual work, better work comfort. This is an assessment, made by the drifter crew of Zbygniew Kowalski, Senior Foreman in the ČSM Mine, “South” Mining Plant, in respect of the remote controlled carriage designed for drilling and tightening the bolts. At the heading level, it is mounted onto the shearer loader MR 340, which was purchased from Sandvik within the POP 2010 Programme, similarly to the ABSE equipment.

“When they had it in their hands for the first time, it took them sixty minutes. Now they manage to do it in thirty-five minutes. I am talking about tightening and drilling four bolts off, pushing out and in the carriage,“ Jiří Korbel, Preparation Supervisor, “South” Mining Plant, provided his explanation. The new equipment was provided to the Alpex working party of Bogdan Bajaczyk, Mining Field  Supervisor, who uses it at Level V, Section 401 325 to drive the roadhead in an advancing heading of the future Coal Face 401 305, opened within the POP 2010 Programme.

“In the past, the shearer loader moved back, and afterwards, the guys took hand drills (super turbo bolters) to drill holes in the roof and to mount bolts into them. Now they also move back, but then the carriage is pushed out and only one worker goes to the heading in order to fix the Hilti bolt into the drilling mechanism, then he stands next to it and controls everything by remote control,“ Jiří Čuba, the preparation mechanic described the procedure. However, the operator does not have any small remote control box, as the TV remote control looks like, but a proper control box provided with a shoulder strap.

The drilling equipment ABSE, as an accessory to the shearer loader, is still in trial operation, and in the second week of May, it has completed almost fifty metres. Klaus-Dieter Beck, Chief Executive Officer of OKD and  Leo Bayer, Chief Operating Office of OKD also went to see the remote controlled carriage. “In any case, they were satisfied. And the miners are also happy about the equipment,“ said Korbel, Preparation Supervisor.

The said heading is to be 780 m long after completion, and it is being opened in section TH 29/18, each 0.8 m with erections (on four bolts). There is a central air conditioning system there, and the local conditions have also improved due to the introduction of combined ventilation with the main air duct. According to Karel Blahut, Chief Engineer of the shaft, a team of capable people was working on the introduction of all such new equipment.

(Radek Lukša)