The Novel Approach to Mechanically Switched Capacitors Sizing for a Longwall Shearer

The widespread use of renewable energy sources has led to a slight decrease in a demand for thermal coal and, as a result, in the profitability of underground coal mining. In this regard, increasing the energy efficiency of the electrical complex of a coal mine becomes especially important. One of the ways to improve energy efficiency is to install reactive power compensation devices. However, due to preliminary studies of the process of reactive power consumption, there are no recommendations on the choice of the number of control steps for high-voltage explosion-proof mine capacitor units. This article is devoted to the study of the optimal arranging of the EPMCU for power factor correction of the longwall shearer of a coal mine. The assessment of the nature of the electric load of the shearer was carried out on the basis of a large amount of current load measurements. Analytical and optimization methods were used to select the power of the EPMCU steps. It is shown that the use of step compensating devices makes it possible to increase the efficiency of for power factor correction.