Revista de la Facultad de Ingeniería U.C.V., Vol. 32, N°16, pp.

1009-1016, 2017

A New Simulation Method for Cargo Distribution on the Scraper

Conveyor Used in Coal Plough Face
Zhixiang Liu, Chunxue Xie*, Miao Xie, Jun Mao
College of Mechanical Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin 123000, Liaoning, China

*corresponding author(Chunxue Xie, E-mail:xiechunxue12@163.com)

Abstract
The computing method for cargo distribution on conventional scraper conveyor is usually put into effect through
enumeration method. The enumeration method, with complicated process and poor regularity, is not easy to be
implemented or applicable to any moment and position. The author studies the new numerical computation
method for cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor using an array simulated scraper conveyor in accordance
with the thoughts of computer programming. This method makes it possible to obtain the cargo distribution on
the scraper conveyor at any random moment, thus running resistance-related data for the study of dynamic
behaviors of scraper conveyor, tension changes and true time control. Through numerical calculation, the
research method in this paper is compared with the conventional method to verify its feasibility.

Key words: Scraper Conveyor; Cargo distribution; Array; Coal Plough; load spectrum

1. Introduction

The cyclic reciprocating motion of coal plough on the scarper conveyor and the faster speed of coal plough
compared with the motion of scraper conveyor result in the uneven cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor,
which will directly influence the running resistance of scraper conveyor. When studying the dynamic behavior
of scraper conveyor, some scholars assume that the cargoes are evenly distributed on the scraper conveyor or
there is an artificially set range of variation. However, the actual situation is that the cargo distribution is uneven
on the scraper conveyor. In this sense, the research into the cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor under
different conditions is as important as dynamic characteristics modeling and parameter selection in the study of
the actual operation of scraper conveyor and analysis of its dynamic behaviors.
(Mao Jun,Li Guixuan.) offer a study of the cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor used in plough face
and list the variations of loads along with the running of coal cutter during three different periods of time. These
researches obtain the cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor during the first several reciprocating motions of
coal plough through the analysis of the working conditions and by means of enumeration. This method is not
appropriate for gaining a good knowledge of the cargo situation conditions on the scraper conveyor or
applicable to any working conditions and time.
Under such circumstances, the author studies the new numerical computation method for cargo distribution
on the scraper conveyor using an array simulated scraper conveyor in accordance with the thoughts of computer
programming. This method makes it possible to obtain the cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor at any
random moment, thus running resistance-related data for the study of dynamic behaviors of scraper conveyor,
tension changes and true time control.
The working principle of scraper conveyor is to take the chute as the bearing structure of coal and scraper
blade fixed on the chain as the traction equipment. The actuating device drives the rotation of chain wheel and
the running of scraper chain, pushes forward the movement of materials along the chute and completes the
material transmission by overcoming the frictions of chute and baseplate.
The scraper conveyor is usually driven both by the head and tail as shown in Fig. 1. The head, as the drive
part, mainly consists of headstock, sprocket components, driving system and intermediate parts. The head could
not only provide the transportation system with driving force, but also tighten the chains and support the
accessories. The driving system of the scraper conveyor is composed of three-phase asynchronous motor, fluid
coupling and reducer. The coupling device of the conveyor is fluid coupling, which, when used together with the
asynchronous motor, can effective regulate the output characteristics of electrical machinery and protect the
electrical machinery. The high-power planetary reducer is often adopted to increase torque and decrease
velocity.

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 Revista de la Facultad de Ingeniería U.C.V., Vol. 32, N°16, pp. 1009-1016, 2017

Retarder
Hydraulic
coupler
Motor

chute Scraper
Sprocket

Figure 1. The Schematic Diagram of Scraper Conveyor Drive System

2. The Operational Process of Coal Plough on Scraper Conveyor

To simplify the research, the assumed conditions are set as: (1) not consider the length of coal plough; (2)
not consider the staying time of coal plough at the head or the tail; (3) not consider the empty mining distance in
the oblique cutting process of coal plough.
The movement process of coal plough on the scraper conveyor is presented in Fig. 2. Suppose the
movement of coal plough from the head of scraper conveyor to the tail is called downward movement while the
movement from the tail to the head upward movement.
Running direction of coal plough

Coal rock Coal plough

Tail of Head of
equipment Running direction of the scraper equipment
conveyor

(a) upward movement

Running direction of coal
plough

Coal rock Coal plough

Tail of Head of
equipment Running direction of the scraper equipment
conveyor
(b) downward movement
Figure 2. The Movement Process of Coal Plough on the Scraper Conveyor

As the movement speed of coal plough is higher than the chain speed of scraper conveyor, the coal and
rock cut by coal plough will not be immediately carried away by the scraper conveyor. As a result, it will give
rise to the overlapping of cut coal and rock during the upward and downward movement of coal plough, thus
reducing the difficulty of traditional computing method of cargo distribution.
Suppose the coal mining output of coal plough per unit length (mm) is:
kHB 
Qem  (1)
1000
In which, k is the coefficient of fullness, H the mining height of coal plough, m; B the cutting
depth of coal plough, m;  the solid density of coal and rock, kg/m3.

3. The New Numerical Computation Method for Cargo Distribution

Take the 240-meter-long scraper conveyor as an example to account for the new numerical computation
method for cargo distribution. The cargo distribution on the 240-meter-long scraper conveyor is equally divided
into 240,000 portions and expressed with two-dimensional array A[ ]. There are 240,000 elements on the array
A[ ] with the ith element standing for the load on the ith nm scraper conveyor.
(1)Operation Simulation of Coal Plough

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 Revista de la Facultad de Ingeniería U.C.V., Vol. 32, N°16, pp. 1009-1016, 2017

The coal plough moves back and forth from the head of the scraper conveyor to the tail at a certain speed.
The element cycling in this array plus 1 unit of load refer to the loads of the elements corresponding with the
places that the coal plough has passes by plus 1 more unit, meaning that the coal and rock cut by the coal plough
at the current place fall onto the scraper conveyor. Suppose coal plough moves at the speed of 2 m/s=2000 mm/s
and covers a distance of 2000 mm in 2s, and each element from the A[1]th and the A[2000]th on array A[ ] should
be added with one unit of loads. When the coal plough moves to the tail, the elements on array A[ ] are subject
to back recycling with one more unit of loads added until the coal plough stops working.
The array simulation process of coal plough operation is presented in Fig. 3. In process 1, the coal plough
is ready for operation. The elements in array A[1]~A[240000] are “0”, meaning that there is no material from
the 1st to the 240,000th nm on scraper conveyor. For a clearer description in the figure, the operation speed of
coal plough is supposed as 2mm/s. In process 2, the coal plough moves upwards at the speed of 2mm/s, which
means that the coal plough skips two lattices on the array in unit time. 1 should be added to the elements on the
places that coal plough passes by, which is expressed as A[i]=A[i]+1. In process 3, the coal plough moves
downwards at the speed of 2 mm/s, meaning that the coal plough skips two lattices on the array in unit time.
One unit of loads is also added to the elements on the places that coal plough passes by, as shown in
A[i]=A[i]+1.

Tail of
Head of
equipment
equipment

{
A[1]= A[2]= A[3]= A[4]= A[5]= A[i- A[i]= A[i+1] A[236 A[239
A[239 A[237 A[239
A[238 A[239 A[240
Array A[] 0 0 0 0 0
...
1]=0 0 =0
...
996]=0 000]=0
000]=0 997]=0 000]=0
998]=0 000]=0
999]=0 000]=0
Process 1
Coal 1 2
plough Coal plough ready to
run

{
Tail of A[1]=A[1]
+1
A[2]=A[2]
+1
A[3]=A[3]
+1
A[4]=A[4]
+1
A[5]=A[5]
+1
A[i-1]=A[i- A[i]=A[i]+
1]+1 1
Head of
equipment equipment
Process 2 A[1]= A[2]= A[3]= A[4]= A[5]= A[i- A[i]= A[i+1] A[239
A[236] A[239 A[238]
A[236 A[237]
A[237 A[239 A[239]
A[238 A[239 A[240]
A[240
Array A[] 1 1 1 1 1
...
1]=1 1 =0
...
996]=0
000]=0
=0 997]=0
000]=0
=0 998]=0
000]=0
=0 999]=0
000]=0
=0 000]=0
=0

Coal 1 2
plough
Coal plough running
upwards

Tail of A[1]=A[1]
+1
A[2]=A[2]
+1
A[3]=A[3]
+1
A[4]=A[4]
+1
A[5]=A[5]
+1
A[i]=A[i]+ A[i+1]=A[i
1 +1]+1
A[239996]=
A[239996]+1
A[239997]=
A[239997]+1
A[239998]= A[239999]= A[240000]=
A[239998]+1 A[239999]+1 A[240000]+1
equipment

{
A[1]= A[2]= A[3]= A[4]= A[5]= A[i- A[i]= A[i+1] A[236 A[237]
A[239
A[236] A[237 A[238]
A[239 A[238 A[239]
A[239 A[239 A[240]
A[240 Head of
Array A[] 1 1 1 1 1
...
1]=1 2 =2
...
996]=2
000]=2
=2 000]=2
997]=2
=2 998]=2
000]=2
=2 000]=2
999]=2
=2 000]=2
=2
Process 3 equipment

1 2 Coal
plough
Coal plough running
down

Figure 3. Array Simulation Process of Coal Plough Operation

Matlab program is shown below:

for t=1:1: length_Q_ unit_time
for step=1:1:v_ccm
if (flag_bmj==1)
position_bmj=(t-1)*v_bmj+step-((k+1)/2-1)*2*length_convery;
A(position_bmj)=A(position_bmj )+1 ;
else if (flag_bmj ==0)
position_bmj=Num_element -((t-1)*v_bmj+1+step-length_convery-(k/2-1)*2*length_convery)+2;
A(position_bmj)=A(position_bmj)+1;
end
distance_bmj=distance_bmj+1;
end
(2)Simulation of the Operation of Scraper Conveyor
The scraper conveyor is set to move in a fixed direction at the rate of 1m/s. In each second, the elements on
array A[ ] shift rightwards 1000 times. The replacement of the A[i]th element with the A[i+1]th element means
that the materials on the immth of the scraper conveyor are transported to the i+1mmth. The elements that have
been transported in the array A[ ] is replaced with “0”, which reveals that he materials at the corresponding
place on the scraper conveyor have been taken away.
The array simulation process of scraper conveyor is shown in Fig. 4. In process 1, the scraper conveyor is
ready for operation. The elements from A[1]~A[240000] in the array stand for the materials on the 1 st to the

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240,000th mm of the scraper conveyor before its operation. For a clear description, the scraper conveyor used in
coal plough is set to operate at the speed of 2 mm/s in process 2, which means that the scraper conveyor shifts
by two lattices rightwards in unit time. The elements in the array shifted will be reset. A[i]=A[i-2] and A[i-2]=0
mean that the materials on scraper conveyor are pushed rightwards. In process 3, the scraper conveyor is
supposed to move at a speed of 3 mm/s, which means that the scraper conveyor moves rightwards by three
lattices in unit time, and the elements in the array shifted will be reset, as shown in A[i]=A[i-3] and A[i-3]=0.
Matlab program is shown below:
%The parameters of the scraper conveyor is one hundred percent initialized. With the scraper conveyor
measuring 240,000 mm, the initialization of the array means the establishment of an empty array with 240,000
elements.
A=[];
for j=1:1: length_ conveyor
A(j)=0;
end
Num_element=length(A);
length_Q_ unit_time =20000;
Q_ unit_time =[];
for i=1:1: length_Q_ unit_time
Q_ unit_time(i)=0;
end
for t=1:1: length_Q_ unit_time
Q_ unit_time(t)=sum(A);
end

Tail of Head of
equipment equipment

{
A[1]= A[2]= A[3]= A[4]= A[5]= A[i- A[i]= A[i+1] A[236
A[239 A[237
A[239 A[238
A[239 A[239 A[240
Array A[] 3 4 4 3 5
...
1]=3 6 =3
...
000]=6
996]=6 000]=7
997]=7 000]=8
998]=8 000]=7
999]=7 000]=5
Process 1
1 2
The scraper conveyer is
not running
Chain speed of scraper conveyor

Head of
A[1]=0 A[2]=0 A[3]=A[1] A[4]=A[2] A[5]=A[3]
A[i-1]=A[i- A[i]=A[i- A[i+1]=A[i A[239996]= A[239997]= A[239998]= A[239999]= A[240000]= equipment
Tail of 1-vg] vg ] +1-vg] A[239994] A[239995] A[239996] A[239997] A[239998]

{
equipment

A[1]= A[2]= A[3]= A[4]= A[5]= A[i- A[i]= A[i+1] A[239 A[239 A[239 A[239 A[240
Process 2 Array A[] 0 0 3 4 4
...
1]=4 5 =3
...
996]=5 997]=6 998]=6 999]=7 000]=8
Discard

1 2
The scraper conveyer is
running
Chain speed of scraper conveyor

Head of
A[i-1]=A[i- A[i]=A[i- A[i+1]=A[i A[239996]= A[239997]= A[239998]= A[239999]= A[240000]=
equipment
A[1]=0 A[2]=0 A[3]=0 A[4]=A[1] A[5]=A[2]
Tail of 1-vg] vg ] +1-vg] A[239993] A[239994] A[239995] A[239996] A[239997]

{
equipment

Process 3 A[1]= A[2]= A[3]= A[4]= A[5]= A[i- A[i]= A[i+1] A[239 A[239 A[239 A[239 A[240
Array A[] 0 0 0 3 4
...
1]=2 3 =4
...
996]=5 997]=6 998]=6 999]=6 000]=7
Discard

1 2 3
The scraper conveyer is
running
Chain speed of scraper conveyor

Figure 4. The Array Simulation process of Scraper Conveyor Operation

4. Analysis of the Results of New Numerical Computation for Cargo Distribution

Matlab is employed for the numerical simulation of the computational method of cargo distribution studied
in this paper. H, the mining height of coal plough, is set as 3m with B , a cutting depth, of 0.8 m, v_bmj, the
speed of coal plough, of 1 m/s, 1.5m/s and 2 m/s, k , the coefficient of fullness, of 0.9 and  , the solid density
of coal and rock, of 900 kg/m3. L, the length of scraper conveyor, is 240 m with a chain speed of 1m/s and run
time of 1000s. The cargo distribution of scraper conveyor at the coal plough’s speed of 1m/s, 1.5m/s and 2m/s is
presented in Fig. 5~7.

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 Revista de la Facultad de Ingeniería U.C.V., Vol. 32, N°16, pp. 1009-1016, 2017

(a) The Distribution of Cargo along the Direction of (b) Change of Cargo Distribution on Scraper
the Length of Scraper Conveyor at the Terminal Time Conveyor Along with Time

(c) Situation of Scraper Conveyor at Different Time and Different Positions

Figure 5. Cargo Distribution of Scraper Conveyor at the Coal Plough’s Speed of 1m/s

(a) The Distribution of Cargo along the Direction of (b) Change of Cargo Distribution on Scraper
the Length of Scraper Conveyor at the Terminal Conveyor Along with Time
Time

(c) Situation of Scraper Conveyor at Different Time and Different Positions

Figure 6. Cargo Distribution of Scraper Conveyor at the Coal Plough’s Speed of 1.5m/s

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(a) The Distribution of Cargo along the Direction of (b) Change of Cargo Distribution on Scraper
the Length of Scraper Conveyor at the Terminal Conveyor Along with Time
Time

(c) Situation of Scraper Conveyor at Different Time and Different Positions

Figure 7. Cargo Distribution of Scraper Conveyor at the Coal Plough’s Speed of 2m/s

Fig. 5~7 (a) presents the distribution of cargo along the direction of the length of scraper conveyor at the
terminal time (1000s in the Figure). If different terminal time is set, different distribution of cargo along the
direction of the length of scraper conveyor can be obtained in order to study the different chain speed of scraper
conveyor and running speed of coal plough, thus providing sufficient data of running resistance for the study of
the changes of tension in each position of scraper conveyor.
Fig. 5~7 (b) introduces the change of cargo distribution on scraper conveyor along with time (0~1000s). It
is found that different distribution of cargo along the direction of the length of scraper conveyor can be obtained
if different computation time length is set. Such setting facilitates the study of the chain speed of different
scraper conveyor and the running speed of different scraper conveyor, supplying the data of running resistance
to the research on the whole machine running speed of scraper conveyor and load of drive motor.
Fig. 5~7 (c) reveals the loads of scraper conveyor at different time and places with a 3D diagram.
The same parameters are adopted for the conventional numerical computation of cargo distribution, thus
obtaining the change of the total loads of scraper conveyor along with time under different speed, as shown in
Fig. 8.

(a) The Speed of Coal Plough is 1m/s (b) The Speed of Coal Plough is 1.5m/s

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(c) The Speed of Coal Plough is 2m/s

Figure 8. Change of Total Loads of Scraper Conveyor Along with Time under Different Speed

The changes of the total loads of scraper conveyor at different speeds are obtained through the research
method in this paper basically comply with that obtained by conventional method, a fact testifying to the
feasibility of this research method. It should be ascertained that conventional method can obtain the changes of
total loads of scraper conveyor along with time but cannot generate the loads of any location of the scraper
conveyor at any time.

5. Conclusions

In accordance with the thoughts of computer programming, the author employs an array simulation scraper
conveyor to research the new numerical computation method for cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor.
This method makes it possible to obtain the cargo distribution on the scraper conveyor at any random moment,
thus running resistance-related data for the study of dynamic behaviors of scraper conveyor, tension changes and
true time control. The research results show that:
(1)The changes of the total loads of scraper conveyor at different speeds are obtained through the research
method in this paper basically comply with that obtained by conventional method, a fact testifying to the
feasibility of this research method. It should be ascertained that conventional method can obtain the changes of
total loads of scraper conveyor along with time but cannot generate the loads of any location of the scraper
conveyor at any time.
(2)By setting different computation terminal time, it is possible to obtain the distribution of cargo
distribution along the direction of the length of scraper conveyor at different time, which can provide sufficient
data of running resistance for the study of the changes of tension in each position of scraper conveyor.
(3)It is found that different distribution of cargo along the direction of the length of scraper conveyor can
be obtained if different computation time length is set. Such setting facilitates the study of the chain speed of
different scraper conveyor and the running speed of different scraper conveyor, supplying the data of running
resistance to the research on the whole machine running speed of scraper conveyor and load of drive motor.

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Natural Science Fund (grant No. 51774762).

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