Inden is a strip-mining site in the Rhineland brown coal mining district. The field is approximately 4500 hectares in size and its coal seams are up to 45 metres thick, lying as far as 230 metres beneath the earth’s surface. Bulkscan LMS511 laser volume flowmeter measures the bulk material on the conveyor belts and so varies the slew speed of the bucket-wheel excavator.
Laser measuring optimises material removal and enables driverless operation of tripper cars
Yard by yard, the swinging booms of the bucket-wheel excavators cut through the earth. The bucket wheel moves the excavated earth onto a belt located on the boom, from where it is transported to an overland conveyor system. RWE Power has installed a Bulkscan LMS511 above the first belt on the boom. The laser volume flowmeter quickly and precisely measures the profile of the bulk materials and, using the belt speed, calculates the current volume flow. “This value is used in the bucket-wheel excavator control in order to vary the slew speed, and therefore the output, so that the most uniform volume flow possible is ensured. The resulting avoidance of peak loads also reduces system wear,” says RWE Power’s Bernd Steyer.
The proper alignment and positioning of the tripper car is also ensured with the help of laser measurement technology. The laser scanners are attached to the structure of the tripper cars in such a way that a vertical scan of the overland conveyor’s belt frames takes place in both the front and rear areas. “The laser scanners on the tripper car ensure exact positioning relative to the overland conveyor system. An additional function is the accurate control of the tripper car ramp section height relative to the overland conveyor,” says RWE Power’s Manfredo Cammaleri.
Currently, the predecessors of the LMS511 are still in use on the tripper cars. However, the LMS511 devices are now being trialled on both the tripper cars and bucket-wheel excavator booms.
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