‘1062-731, Sura of Mang Science, 2016 Vol 526. Gignal Rune Tar © SA Bodopene, VS Tudeh 1 Melpp 12159 153.150 © inde: Pubtaling Lad, 2016 ote pubtshed mn Fedo Techie BeBlemy Rey abot Polzw hh Hhopacny Hh 2016 SCIENCE OF MINING MACHINES Improvement of Cutting Tools to Enhance Performance of Heading Machines in Rocks S.A. Prokopenko”’, V. S. Ludzish’, and I. A. Kurzina® “Tomsk Polyteclowe University pr Lenina 3Q Tomsk 654059 Russia e-mail: sibge@mal te "TostNIl Science Center ul. Institutskaya 3, Kemerove, 650002 Russia “Tomsk State University, pr Lenina 36, Tomsk 634050 Russia Received December 4, 014 Abstract—The determinants are found and the matsix is developed for rate of weer of heading machine cutting tool. Influence of rock strength on active life of heading machines is assessed. The authors describe field studies into the natwe andsate of wear of cutters. The design of multiuse tangential revolving cutter of prolonged operating life is engineered and trialed. It is proposed to enhance rock cutting efficiency using @ tool with a cutting wheel. Keywords: Mine heading machine, cutter, design, efficiency, wear, strength, rock mass, cutting wheel DOM: 10.1134451062739116010248 Rock-breaking tools currently in operation on Russian and foreign manufacture heading machines and cutterloaders in coal ripping and drawing are mainly represented by tangential-rotary picks (TRP) demonstrated in Fig. 1 Picks deteriorate while in service and are replaced. The rate of wear depends on the strength ration of rocks and metal, on the shape and design of the tool and on the operation mode of picks. A mine with an annual capacity of 6-7 Mt consumes 15-20 thou pick per year at the price of RUB 5-8 million. In 2013 Russia produced 352 Mt of coal, out of which 101 Mt of coal is extracted with underground method [1] Round 80% of underground coal mining in Russia bases in Kuzbass, Annually, Kuzbass mines consume 250-250 thousands of picks. The major producers and suppliers of picks in Russia are the machine building plants in Novokuznetsk, Yurga and Kopeisk, as well as the foreign manufacturers Kennametal, Sandnik, Betek [2-6] (b) Fig. 1. Cutting heads of (a) cutter-loader and (b) heading machine equipped with picks 153154 PROKOPENKO et al. Wear Strong Medium Weak Time Weak Medium Strong Rock mass Fig. 2. Quality assessment matrix for ate of wear ofa pick in different stength rock breaking Coal and rock breakage efficiency is mostly governed by strength of rocks and picks. By quality, rocks can be poor (compressive strength a, to 40 MPa), fair (40-70 MPa), and good (over 70 MPa). Considering diverse ground conditions, manufacturers produce picks of various strength characteristics light (coal with o, =8-20 MPa), medium (coal and dirt rocks with o, =20-50 MPa), heavy and super heavy (coal and dirt rocks with @, = 20-70 MPa and hard impurities with o, = 70-100 MPa) [8]. Unfortunately, itis not always feasible in mines to adhere to picks/rocks strength ratio as rock feature variable structure and properties, supplies service is non-operative, etc Different strength ratios condition different intensity of tool deterioration and rock damage. By varying strength ratios, itis possible to find rate of wear of a pick in the course of rock destruction. For instance, medium-strong pick in poor rocks have rate of wear and length of life comparable with strong picks in fair rocks. The qualitative assessment of rate of wear of picks under different conditions is possible using the matrix in Fig. 2 Rock mass strength governs the life of picks and, affecting machine units and gears through the agency of picks, the life of a mining machine. The plot based on the data from [9] shows that as rock strength grows from 30 to 80 MPa the first overhaul period of a mining machine reduces on average from 55-60 to 10-12 thou m? (Fig 3) To overcome negative influence of rock mass on mining machines, capacity of drives is increased, or gears and connections are reinforced, or rock breaking tool is re-designed. Aiming to improve rock breakage efficiency, itis required that cutting tools are perfect and strong ‘The current picks are tangential-rotary. The pick is a specially treated steal body composed of a cylindrical shank and conical head. To make a pick more wear-resistant, its head is reinforced with a carbide tip (see Fig, 4) [10] _ = 42 gy 40 22 £2 2 oO 3 ao GO «100120 Rock strength, MPa Fig. 3. Effect of rock stength on active life of heading machine JOURNAL OF MINING SCIENCE Vol.$2 No.1 2016IMPROVEMENT OF CUTTING TOOLS TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE OF HEADING MACHINES 155 By the research into degree and nature of wear of picks in Kuzbass mines, the narrow tip of the pick head suffers the most intensive damage. Figure 5 shows a waste pick of heading machine KP-21 It is found that pick heads have mostly even wear of narrow tip. The average wear of heads makes 20-40% of their length. The remaining portion of the pick head is almost not damaged and its wear is shallow of 1 mm. The full-scale research data on rate of wear of pick heads (length reduction) in good rock mass (g, =80 MPa and higher) are depicted in Fig. 6 where curve J is shortening of the pick head starting from initial 70 mm and curve 2is overall wear of the pick head. A pick is run until the carbide tip shows wear and is replaced with a new pick then. There are proposals on extension of pick head life by reinforcing it with cutter plates [11, 12]. At the same time, there were no solutions on how to utilize the remaining pick and it went to waste, which lowered economic efficiency of rock breakage process, (b) Fig. §. (a) Wom pick and (b) its head. w ; a 10 % = 60: 3 ¢ 2 2 aw 3 3 so 3 i. é mo 2 Time, h Fig. 6. Rate of pick head wear. JOURNAL OF MINING SCIENCE Vol. $2 No.1 2016156 PROKOPENKO et al. Fig, 7. Multiuse picks for heading machine KP-21 Based on the research findings on rate and nature of wear of picks, their design and operating conditions, a new, repairable and longer life pick has been designed. It has been proposed to make picks with replaceable heads, which makes the pick multi-usable (Fig. 7) With the replaceable head and with feasible pivot tum, the tool acquires a second unit of rotation (the first unit is in the pick box), which facilitates tuning, ensures even wear and allows long-term operation of the tip. As soon as completely worn, the tip is replaced while the pick body is nonexpendable. Commercial trial in Kuzbass mines in cutting coal with ¢, =11 MPa and 70% of strong rocks with o, =60—80 MPa exhibited good capability of replaceable heads and longer life of picks. Owing to replaceability of worn heads and longer life of picks, metal consumed to manufacture and operate the picks reduces 20 times [13]. ‘Also, it is found that the conical shape of the tip is of little use in rock cutting. The mechanism of rock destruction with such picks is shearing-and-tearing out [14, 15]. The reason is that a pick embedded in rocks does not cut it for the pick has no cutting edge, and rock under the pick is deformed, compacted and crushed. Upon reaching critical stresses, brittle shear takes place and different size and shape particles are detached from the rock mass. This mode of destruction requires high force to embed the tool into rocks, high power supply of a shovel and high strength of the machine units and transmissions. According to [14], the distribution of energy for coal breakage by a tangential pick is 50-78% goes to form a crushed core, 20-46% is lost for pick and coal fiction and 1%is spent to cleave coal Aside from taking much energy, the crushed rock core is a source of intensive dust formation at the face. Dust and methane generate explosion-hazardous mixture, and pick-and-rock friction leads to sparking. These factors often cause mine explosions, and special facilities and measures need to be undertaken to prevent this. Itis possible to eliminate the said shortcomings through changing from tearing to cutting with shaping the carbide tip not as a cone but as an edge As a consequence, picks have higher cutting ability at lower force, energy input and dust formation due lesser amount of fine particles. The design of a pick with an edge tip in the form of a cutting disk is shown in Fig 8 L ¥ ? ~— Fig, 8, Multiuse pick with a cutting disk. JOURNAL OF MINING SCIENCE Vol.$2 No.1 2016IMPROVEMENT OF CUTTING TOOLS TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE OF HEADING MACHINES 157 ‘The carbide cutting disk is positioned in an axial groove of the replaceable head. The disk is secured on a pivot mate as a screw twisted in a thread hole in the body of the replaceable head. To be protected from damage, the screw head is buried into the thread hole. The disk has a solid sharp edge with an angle of 60-80°. The replaceable tip is attached to the main body of the head by means of expanding hal fring on a pivotal projection ‘The cutting head of a mining machine rotates and embeds the pick into rock. From the moment the contacts rock, owing to friction force and two pivotal units of the tool, the disk is tumed in the line of least resistance. The cutting edge mates the line of the pick motion on the rock surface, and penetrates and cuts the rock. Rock breakage is easier as the cutting edge has higher penetration capability that a conical tip. The heading machine gears operate without dynamic overloading and with lower energy consumption. A certain pattern of picks on the cutting head of the mining machine allows the wanted density of the rock cutting line and fragmentation. Due to sotation of the disk, the cutting edge wear is even and takes longer time. After unescapable dulling of the cutting edge, the screw-pivot is unscrewed from the thread hole, anew disk is installed, and the replaceable head is ready for further operation. The life of the head is longer. In case of over-wear of the disk and damage of the replaceable head, itis replaced with a new one while the pick—the shank and the main head—run on. This allows much longer life of the pick as compared with the known engineering solutions ‘The layout of the manufacture article and the mechanism of rock destruction by a single pick and by a cutting head of a heading machine are at the stage of formulation. In the first approximation, the mechanism is comparable with the destructive action of a disk shearing tool being studied since the 1990s [16, 17]. Recently the research increasingly uses computer modeling [18, 19] As itis, advantages of the new pick are appreciable. For instance, rotation ability of the head tip facilitates rotation of the cutting edge and its installation owing to friction force along the line of cutting. Since the length of the cutting edge of the disk is a few orders more than the length of a conical tip, the life of the pick is consistently longer. This means that penetration force of the tool will for a long time be at a lower level. The penetration force can be evaluated using the plot in Fig 9 [14]. The sharp cutting edge of the disk ensures long-term and much lower penetration force (curve 1) as compared with a conical carbide tip of the current picks. The sharp edge needs the force of 4.7 KN to penetrate rock for 1 mm, while the quickly dulling conical tip requires 70% higher force According to researches [20], energy input of cutting machines with conical TRP being dulling increases by 20-60% in a day already. Energy consumption of the new picks is 3.5 kW-h/ m? and is 5.5 kW-h/ m? by the end of the day (Fig. 10). FkN O02 04 06 08 10h,mm Fig. 9, Penetration force F versus penetation depth h for cone J end ellipeoid 2 JOURNAL OF MINING SCIENCE Vol. $2 No.1 2016158 PROKOPENKO et al. W= 0.067 + 3.10 355 Fig, 10, Bar chart for energy consumption and heeding cycle in-between two subsequent repair shifts, Quick dulling of current TRP often results from gumming of pick boxes with chips, and the tool rotation is stopped. Continued operation of a pick under such conditions leads to fast wear of the pick. head, reduction in the edge angle and even to breaking-out of carbide insert and failure of the pick ‘The edge pick with the longer cutting edge operates longer in the made of low energy input ‘The design of a coal pick with a carbide insert in the form of a cutting disk enables transferring useful energy from rock overgrinding and ffiction overcoming to crack formation, which facilitates the pick penetration in rocks and enhances destruction efficiency. A dulled disk is replaced with anew disk, and if ahead tip is damaged, both can be replaced directly in mine. The need to replace the pick itself arises after the replaceable head has been used 10 or more times. CONCLUSIONS ‘The main factors to affect coal and rock breakage efficiency are strengths of rocks and picks Different combinations of values of rock and pick strengths condition different rates of the pick wear and rock mass destruction. Higher strength of racks increases consumption of picks and reduces life of mining machines. When rock strength grows from 30 to 80 MPa the machine overhaul period is shortened on average from 55-60 to 10-12 thou m’ ‘The currently operating tangential-otary picks, though beneficial, have a significant drawback— they are disposable, which lowers their economical and life efficiency. The in-situ research into nature and rate of wear of picks, and into their operating conditions and modes has allowed designing a multiuse pick with a replaceable head tip. Commercial trial of the new picks proves their longer service by an order of magnitude as compared with the current cutting tools. It is found that conical tip cutter breaks rocks by shearing and tearing. Rock breakage in this case consumes much force of the tool and high energy of a mining machine, The crushed rock core formed in front of the conical tip is a source of dusting. Dust and methane make an explosive mixture, while pick and rock friction can induce sparking, These factors are the evidence of high explosion hazard of the current picks and require development of special countermeasures ‘These shortcomings are avoided by changing the tearing mode of rock breakage to cutting and by replacing a conical carbide element by an edge carbide insert. Equipment of the rotary tip of the pick head with a replaceable cutting disk facilitates the tool penetration in rocks for a longer period of time, prevents from formation of a compact crushed rack core in front of the tip and reduces friction. ‘The option of the tip replacement and replaceability of a wom disk considerably extends the operation life of coal picks. Accordingly, rack breakage efficiency of mining machines grows. REFERENCES 1. Russia's Coal Mining Industry 2013 Summary, Ugol’, 2014, no. 3 2. 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Dulling). © Available at hp’ //ea dgtu.donetskc wa: 80804 spui/bitstream/123456789/26246/1/shhichni pdf Last visited Mar 20, 2015 JOURNAL OF MINING SCIENCE Vol. $2 No.1 2016Journal of Mining Science is copyright of Springer, 2016. All Rights Reserved