Reduction of coal losses in operation of mining rope shovels

A significant part of operations that are engaged in surface mining of coal are currently using hydraulic excavators, i.e. backhoes and less often face shovels, which reduces losses and improves productivity. However, a certain number of strip mines, especially those where mining activities are coming to a close, are still using mining rope shovels mostly domestically produced and of outdated models. Based on the method developed by the authors earlier and partially described in this article, the calculation of the layer height is made which will prevent additional losses of coal from the insufficient cutting depth. Formulas for calculating the layer height are proposed for five models of domestically produced rope shovels. The differences in geometric parameters of relative location of the elements that are used in the method described do not make it possible to establish a unified dependence of the worked-out layer height on the influencing factors. However, this method can be used to define the layer height for any model of the rope shovels, but this will require to know its operating parameters, i.e. the height of the shipper shaft, the distance from the excavator rotation axis to the tail piece of the boom, the minimum digging radius, etc.