Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.
Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/130908
underground safety equipment continued IE had to manage the entire MSHA approval process. Until this point, the company had built and rebuilt plenty of individual units for longwall power centers. "Strategically this is the place where we wanted to be for a couple of years," Blackburn said. "We have made the investment in personnel and technology. There are a number of opportunities that we are pursuing right now, which will bear fruit over the next couple of years." The company is currently servicing the electrics on 15 U.S. longwall systems. Longwall electrical systems are delivered in mechanically engineered structures suitable for underground use. Both the IE units delivered to Foresight used panels mounted on roll-out assemblies, including the VFDs for the emulsion pumps, a first for the industry. The roll-out VFD chassis has set a new standard for easy access, maintenance and replacement of VFDs. Another place where IE systems are setting the industry standard is in the transformer design, where it uses a step-lap miter core. "It's our standard design at IE," said Shawn Norton, IE head of project engineering. "We build our own transformers. With a step-lap miter core, we're increasing efficiencies and meeting IEEE standards. The coal industry doesn't have to meet those standards, but we do." "We made a multimillion dollar investment in a Georg core cutting machine," Blackburn said. "We made this investment to better serve our customers. The transformers we use in the coal mining business are large. The main longwall power center is 9 MVA, along with a 3 MVA transformers and two 750 KVA units. Our high-efficiency transformers will save each longwall cus- May 2013 The main power center for the 25-KV Deer Run system is mounted on a crawler. tomer a couple thousand dollars a month in their power bill, not to mention the lower noise and maintenance needs and extended product-life." Pat Lemmon, IE project manager for the longwall projects at the Mach and Deer Run mines, explained that aside from these draw-out VFDs and high-efficiency transformers, there is nothing particularly distinctive about the Mach electrical system. "However, the Deer Run system is 25 KV class, and the main power centers are mounted on a Joy 14CM crawler frame, which makes it somewhat unique," Lemmon said. "Ordinarily, they would be skid-mounted or mounted on rubber tires. This crawler-mounted system has the ability to move itself." www.coalage.com 45