|
|
|
Technology Categories
|
| Definition Of: |
Surface mining equipment
- An Auger machine is a large, horizontal drill, generally 3 feet or more in diameter and up to about 100 feet long. It can remove coal at a rate of more than 25 tons per minute.
- A bucket-wheel excavator is a continuous digging machine equipped with a broom on which is mounted a rotating wheel with buckets along its edge. The buckets scoop up material, then empty onto a conveyor leading to a spoil bank. It is best suited for removing overburden that does not require blasting. This excavator is not widely used in the United States.
- A bulldozer is a tractor with a movable steel blade mounted on the front. It can be used to remove overburden that needs little or no blasting.
- A carryall scraper (or pan scraper) is a self-loading machine, usually self-propelled, with a scraper-like retractable bottom. It is used to excavate and haul overburden.
- A continuous surface miner, used in some lignite mines, is equipped with crawlers, a rotating cutting head, and a conveyor. It travels over the bed, excavating a swath up to 13 feet wide and 2 feet deep.
- A dragline excavator removes overburden to expose the coal by means of a scoop bucket that is suspended from a long boom. The dragline digs by pulling the bucket toward the machine by means of a wire rope.
- A walking dragline is equipped with large outrigger platforms, or walking beams, instead of crawler tracks. It "walks" by the alternate movement of the walking beams.
- A drilling rig is used to determine the amount and type of overburden overlying a coal deposit and the extent of the deposit, to delineate major geologic features, and to drill holes for explosives to fragment the overburden for easier removal.
- A front-end loader is a tractor with a digging bucket mounted and operated on the front. It is often used to remove overburden in contour mining and to load coal.
- An hydraulic shovel excavates and loads by means of a bucket attached to a rigid arm that is hinged to a broom.
- A power shovel removes overburden and loads coal by means of a digging bucket mounted at the end of an arm suspended from a broom. The shovel digs by pushing the bucket forward and upward. It does not dig below the level at which it stands.
- A thin-seam miner resembles an auger machine but has a drum-type cutting head that cuts a rectangular cross section.
|
| |
EIA Energy Dictionary INDEX:
List of Terms: Terms beginning with "A", Page 1 |
|
Page Number:
1 2 A: Page 1 of 2.
|
|
|
| Copyright © 2008 TechDictionary.org. All rights reserved. |
|
|