2011
INTERNATIONAL MINING FORUM 2011
42
Stefan Bauckmann, Michael Myszkowski – Caterpillar Global Mining, Germany
Operational experiences with the plow system at the Pinnacle Mine in the USA
This article provides a brief historical overview of longwall plow system deployment in the United States before descri-
bing the automated features and benefits of the highest-powered Bucyrus automated plow system that commenced
service in November 2010 at the Pinnacle Mine near Pineville, West Virginia. The plow was invented in Germany in 1941
and later refined by Wilhelm Löbbe, chief engineer at Westfalia Lünen (a predecessor company of Bucyrus Europe), in
an attempt to modernize and mechanize underground coal mining. Löbbe also invented the ”Panzerförderer” or armored
face conveyor (AFC) even prior to this date. Löbbe improved plow performance by reducing the cutting depth and incre-
asing the cutting speed. The ”fast plow”, having an installed power of approx. 2 x 140 hp (2 x 100 kW), achieved a daily
output of over 1,100 sht (1,000 t )for the first time in 1950. By the mid 1980’s installed power had drastically increased
to 2 x 340 hp (2 x 250 kW). To match this power the plow chain size increased also 34 mm diameter which allowed plow
speeds of 350 ft/min (1.8 m/s) to be achieved.
Jan Matula – OKD, a.s., Czech Republic
Experience with plow equipment at OKD
OKD has rich experience with plowing as the first mechanized shields were deployed already in 1973. New or completely
refurbished plow sets with shields have been acquired in the scope of POP 2010 project between 2008 and 2011. OKD
had high expectations when investing in new plow sets with a planned daily production exceeding 1,000 tons. However,
these goals have not been achieved due to adverse geological conditions combined with equipment issues. It is expec-
ted that share of plow production will grow in future at OKD so the company needs to do its best to fix all the problems
currently incurred at the operations.
Abstracts of the conference papers