Mine Machinery

Power Generation & Transmission in Mines Mechanical Power Transmission: belt drives, chain drives and gear drives; couplings (rigid, flexible, fluid); clutches and brakes used in mining machinery; basic selection criteria for mining duty. Hydraulic Power Systems: fundamentals of hydrostatic and hydrodynamic transmission; hydraulic fluids; hydraulic pumps (gear, vane, piston), motors, cylinders and accumulators; directional, pressure and flow-control valves; hydraulic couplings and torque converters; applications in mines. Pneumatic Power and Compressed Air: principles of compression; single-stage and multi-stage reciprocating compressors; rotary and screw compressors (overview); intercoolers, after-coolers, receivers and unloading arrangement; layout of compressed-air pipelines; transmission losses; in-bye compressors.

Wire Ropes & Haulage Systems Wire Ropes: applications in surface and underground mines; construction, lays, classification (round-strand, locked-coil, non-stranded, flattened-strand); factor of safety; examination, testing, care and maintenance; capping (white-metal and resin) and splicing; rope capels; rope-changing procedure. Track Haulage: direct, endless, main-and-tail and gravity haulage systems; pull and power calculations; safety devices — Lilly controller, stop blocks, runaway switches, drag, manholes and refuge holes. Locomotive Haulage: trolley-wire, diesel, battery and flameproof locomotives; track laying and maintenance; mine cars and tubs; productivity calculations for haulage systems.

Conveyors, Aerial Ropeways & Hoisting Systems Belt Conveyors: construction and main components — drums, idlers, pulleys, fabric and steel-cord belting; drive arrangements; tensioning devices (gravity, screw, hydraulic take-up); loading and discharge arrangements; safety and sequence-control devices; capacity and power calculations; splicing and maintenance. Chain Conveyors: armoured face conveyor (AFC) and panzer conveyor — construction, drive units, chain types and applicability at longwall faces; scraper-chain and shaker conveyors — construction and application. Aerial Ropeways: monocable and bicable systems; construction, layout, rope-tensioning and applications. Hoisting — Shaft Arrangement: headgear, shaft fittings; cages, skips and their suspension gear; detaching hooks; principal safety devices.

Winding Systems and Face / Development Machinery Drum Winders: cylindrical and conical drums; winding cycles; mechanical and electrical braking (dynamic, regenerative and plugging). Electric Winders: AC and DC drives; speed control (overview); safety circuits and interlocks. Koepe Winding: ground-mounted and tower-mounted Koepe winders; single and multi-rope friction winding; comparison with drum winding. Winding Calculations: torque–time and power–time diagrams; horse-power requirement; selection of winder for given duty cycle. Drilling Machines: jack-hammers, jumbos, drifters and wagon drills; rotary coal drills; DTH and rotary blast-hole drills for opencast mining; selection criteria and productivity assessment. Coal Cutting & Cutter Loaders: conventional coal cutters and ploughs; single-ended and double-ended ranging-drum shearer (DERDS); interface with powered supports. Road Headers: boom-type road headers; rock-tool interaction; selection based on rock strength. Underground Loading & Transport: rocker shovel, gathering-arm loader, side-discharge loader (SDL), load-haul-dump (LHD), shuttle cars and underground trucks; productivity calculation; continuous miner systems. Surface Mining Equipment: rope shovel, hydraulic excavator, dragline (with range-diagram concept), bucket-wheel excavator, continuous surface miner, scrapers, dozers, front-end loaders; productivity calculation for shovel–dumper combination.

• Mine Drainage Pumps and Comminution Machinery Mine Drainage: sources of mine water; drainage planning; dewatering of opencast and underground mines. Types of Mine Pumps: reciprocating, centrifugal (single-stage and multi-stage), turbine, submersible, sinking pumps and sludge pumps; pump fittings and ranging arrangements.
• Pump Characteristics: head–discharge, power and efficiency curves; net positive suction head (NPSH) and cavitation; series and parallel operation; pump selection for given duty. Comminution Theories: Rittinger's, Kick's and Bond's laws; energy considerations and grindability indices. Crushers: jaw, gyratory, cone and roll crushers — construction, operation and selection criteria. Grinding Mills: ball, rod, tube and pebble mills; critical speed; open and closed-circuit grinding (overview).