Influence of the Drum Position Parameters and the Ranging Arm Thickness on the Coal Loading Performance

The poor coal loading performance of a shearer drum primarily restricts the widespread application of the shearer and affects the mining efficiency in thin seam mining. The coal loading performance of the shearer drum is influenced by several factors, such as geographical environment, drum structural parameters, and motion parameters. In addition to the above factors, in the actual production, the coal loading performance of the shearer drum is also affected significantly by the drum position parameters and the structural parameters of the connected equipment, e.g., the thickness of the ranging arm. The influence of the parameters on the coal loading performance of the shearer drum was studied using a three-dimensional (3D) discrete element method (DEM) simulation in the current study, and the trends of the influential parameters were obtained. Therefore, the results of this study can provide technical guidance for thin seam shearer structural design, associated equipment selection, and mining technology selection, thus improving the mining efficiency and reducing the labor cost