One of the most significant goals in coal mining technology research is the automation of underground coal mining machinery. A current challenge with automating underground coal mining machinery is measuring and maintaining a coal mining horizon. The coal mining horizon is the horizontal path the machinery follows through the undulating coal seam during the mining operation. A typical mining pr...

The drive toward increased safety for coal miners has led to the development of computerassisted methods of underground coal mining. The development of control architectures for the control of the movement of continuous mining machines (tramming control) is an important part of this overall effort. The tramming control algorithm design described is in concert with hierarchical architecture desi...

Association of methane with coal poses a serious explosion risk in underground coal mining. Besides, it is a potent green house gases significantly contributing to global warming. Therefore, its commercial exploitation is being widely recognised as (a) a fuel resource to bridge the energy gap (b) making coal mining safer (c) providing cleaner energy and (d) checking the building of green house ...

OBJECTIVES We describe inconsistencies in disease and illness reporting in U.S. mining, identify under-reporting of disease and illness in U.S. mining, and summarize selected disease and illness in U.S. mining from 1983 through 2001. METHODS We summarized information on mining-related disease and illness data for the years 1983-2001 from the Mining Safety and Health Administration database (M...

OBJECTIVES We examined the health-related quality of life of residents in mountaintop mining counties of Appalachia using the 2006 national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. METHODS Dependent variables included self-rated health; the number of poor physical, poor mental, and activity limitation days (in the past 30 days); and the Healthy Days Index. Independent variables included me...

Nowadays we can observe the change of the structure of energy resources, which leads to the increasing fraction of a renewable energy sources. Traditional underground coal mining loses its significance in a total but there are countries, including Poland, which economy is still coal based. A decreasing coal resources imply an exploitation a becoming harder accessible coal beds what is connected...

Information on radiographic evidence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) is presented for a group of 3,194 underground bituminous coal miners and ex-miners examined between 1985 and 1988. Prevalence of CWP was related to estimated cumulative dust exposure, age, and rank of coal. On the basis of these data, miners of medium to low rank coal, who work for 40 years at the current federal dust li...

The large-scale coal mining has caused serious environmental pollution and ecological damage in the coal mining areas in China. The serious conditions are listed as below: the geological disasters such as landslide, dilapidation, mud-rock flow and so on aroused by mining subsidence; the side effects such as land occupying, side sloping, filtrating and raised dust brought by the waste rock and g...

Although rates of pneumoconiosis in coal miners have declined substantially in the United States since the passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, new cases continue to occur, including cases of rapidly progressive disease. In contrast, Australia’s underground coal mining industry has reported few new cases of pneumoconiosis for more than 20 years. Mortality from coal wo...