An armored face conveyor(AFC) is a key piece of equipment for a fully mechanized long-wall mining system and is currently the only means for transporting bulk material in hard coal mines. To date, the AFC power train design has mainly been based on heuristics obtained via experience, coupled with simple calculations, which cannot take the dynamic behaviors and coupling effects of the components into consideration. Therefore, model-based and simulation-driven design is preferred. In this paper, a new design and analysis methodology for an AFC power train is presented to achieve the optimal dynamic characteristics and transmission performance. A preliminary design procedure for a power train is first introduced. Then, a system-level hydro-mechatronic model of the power train is built to evaluate and optimize the preliminary scheme. Sub-models, including those for the motors, fluid couplers, gearboxes, and chain, are obtained according to their individual disciplines and assembled to form the system-level model. The chain sub-system is discretized into multiple finite elements. Governing equations are established for each element based on the Newton Euler approach and assembled according to the topological structure of the chain system. In order to make the new approach applicable for engineers, a design and analysis software is developed, with a graphical user interface that involves the whole design process. MATLAB/SIMULINK is used as the computational engine, and Visual C++ is adopted to develop the interactive software framework. Simulations for the SGZ1000/2000 type AFC are provided as an illustrative case study to validate the effectiveness and practicality of the model and software package.
NIE RuiHE BaiYanYUAN PengFeiZHANG LianHongLI GuoPing
