The Recent Technological Development of Intelligent Mining in China

In the last five years, China has seen the technological development of intelligent mining and the application of the longwall automation technology developed by the Longwall Automation Steering Committee. This paper summarizes this great achievement, which occurred during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), and which included the development of a set of intelligent equipment for hydraulic-powered supports, information transfers, dynamic decision-making, performance coordination, and the achievement of a high level of reliability despite difficult conditions. Within China, the intelligent system of a set of hydraulic-powered supports was completed, with our own intellectual property rights. An intelligent mining model was developed that permitted unmanned operation and single-person inspection on the work face. With these technologies, the number of miners on the work face can now be significantly reduced. Miners are only required to monitor mining machines on the roadway or at the surface control center, since intelligent mining can be applied to extract middle-thick or thick coal seams. As a result, miners’ safety has been improved. Finally, this paper discusses the prospects and challenges of intelligent mining over the next ten years.