Systems and methods for monitoring longwall mine roof stability

1. A longwall mining system comprising:

a plurality of powered roof supports, each powered roof support including a controllable hydraulic piston configured to apply an adjustable support pressure on a mine roof;

a shearer configured to move across a mine face as the plurality of powered roof supports are arranged in a series along the mine face; and

an electronic control unit configured to

receive data from each powered roof support of the plurality of powered roof supports indicative of fluid pressure within each respective controllable hydraulic piston, and

monitor a condition of the mine roof based on changes in the received data over a period of time,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to monitor the condition of the mine roof based on changes in the received data over a period of time by generating a graphical pressure map, the graphical pressure map including

a plurality of parallel display lines each providing an indication of fluid pressure within a different one of the controllable hydraulic pistons of the plurality of powered roof supports over the period of time, and

a shearer position line indicative of a position of the shearer relative to the plurality of powered roof supports over the period of time overlaid onto the plurality of parallel display lines.

2. The longwall mining system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to monitor the condition of the mine roof by detecting temporally similar changes in the fluid pressure in multiple adjacent powered roof supports indicative of a mine roof collapse event.

3. The longwall mining system of claim 2 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to monitor the condition of the mine roof by determining a linear best fit collapse line in the graphical pressure map based on the detected changes in the fluid pressure indicative of the mine roof collapse event.

4. The longwall mining system of claim 3 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to monitor the condition of the mine roof by

comparing a slope of the linear best fit collapse line to a sudden collapse slope threshold, and

determining that a portion of the mine roof extending across more than one powered roof support has suddenly collapsed when the slope of the linear best fit collapse line exceeds the sudden collapse slope threshold,

wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to transmit an alert to a remotely located computer in response to determining that the portion of the mine roof has suddenly collapsed.

5. The longwall mining system of claim 3 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to monitor the condition of the mine roof by comparing a slope of the linear best fit collapse line to a slope of at least a portion of the shearer position line, and

wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to adjust a speed of the linear movement of the shearer across the mine face based on a difference between the slope of the linear best fit collapse line and the slope of the shearer position line.

6. The longwall mining system of claim 3 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to monitor the condition of the mine roof by calculating an average temporal spacing between the linear best fit collapse line and at least a portion of the shearer position line, and

wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to

lower, advance, and set each powered roof support after a delay in response to the shearer moving past the individual powered roof support along the mine face, and

adjust a duration of the delay based on the average temporal spacing between the linear best fit collapse line and the shearer position line.

7. The longwall mining system of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface including a display, and wherein the electronic control unit is configured to output the graphical pressure map to the display of the user interface.

8. The longwall mining system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to transmit the fluid pressure data to a remotely located computer system, and wherein the remotely located computer system is configured to receive fluid pressure data from a plurality of longwall mining systems and to develop optimized mining procedures based on the received fluid pressure data.

9. The longwall mining system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to adjust operation of the longwall mining system based on the monitored condition of the mine roof.

10. The longwall mining system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to determine a value indicative of the adjustable support pressure applied to the mine roof by each individual powered roof support based on the fluid pressure within each respective controllable hydraulic piston.

11. A method of monitoring a condition of a mine roof using a longwall mining system, the method comprising:

operating a plurality of powered roof supports arranged in a series along a mine face to apply an adjustable support pressure on the mine roof;

operating a shearer to move across the mine face cutting into the mine face;

receiving data from each powered roof support of the plurality of powered roof supports indicative of the adjustable support pressure applied by each individual powered roof support to the mine roof;

generating a graphical pressure map based on the data received from each powered roof support, the graphical pressure map including

a plurality of parallel display lines each providing an indication of the adjustable support pressure applied to the mine roof by a different one of the powered roof supports over a period of time, and

a shearer position line indicative of a position of the shearer relative to the plurality of powered roof supports over the period of time overlaid onto the plurality of parallel display lines; and

monitoring a condition of the mine roof based on changes in the adjustable support pressure shown in the graphical pressure map.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the data received from each of the powered roof supports includes a measure of pressure applied by an actuator of the powered roof support.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein operating a plurality of powered roof supports includes controllably adjusting a fluid pressure within a cylinder of a hydraulic piston of at least one of the powered roof supports, and

wherein the measure of pressure applied by the actuator of the powered roof support includes a measure of the fluid pressure within the cylinder of the hydraulic piston of the at least one powered roof support.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising displaying the graphical pressure map on a user interface.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

transmitting the graphical pressure map to a remotely located computer system, and

analyzing the graphical pressure map and a plurality of additional graphical pressure maps to develop optimized mining procedures based on the adjustable support pressure applied to the mine roof by the plurality of powered roof supports.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein monitoring the condition of the mine roof includes detecting temporally similar changes in the adjustable support pressure applied to the roof by multiple adjacent powered roof supports indicative of a mine roof collapse event.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising adjusting operation of the longwall mining system based on the monitored condition of the mine roof.

18. A control system for a longwall mining system, the control system including a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the control system to:

operate a plurality of powered roof supports arranged in a series along a mine face to apply an adjustable support pressure on the mine roof;

operate a shearer to move across the mine face cutting into the mine face;

receive data from each powered roof support of the plurality of powered roof supports indicative of the adjustable support pressure applied by each individual powered roof support to the mine roof;

generate a graphical pressure map based on the data received from each powered roof support, the graphical pressure map including

a plurality of parallel display lines each providing an indication of the adjustable support pressure applied to the mine roof by a different one of the powered roof supports over a period of time, and

a shearer position line indicative of a position of the shearer relative to the plurality of powered roof supports over the period of time overlaid onto the plurality of parallel display lines; and

monitor a condition of the mine roof based on changes in the adjustable support pressure shown in the graphical pressure map.

19. The control system of claim 18 , wherein the data received from each of the powered roof supports includes a measure of pressure applied by an actuator of the powered roof support.

20. The control system of claim 19 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the control system to operate the plurality of powered roof supports by controllably adjusting a fluid pressure within a cylinder of a hydraulic piston of at least one of the powered roof supports, and

wherein the measure of pressure applied by the actuator of the powered roof support includes a measure of the fluid pressure within the cylinder of the hydraulic piston of the at least one powered roof support.

21. The control system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the control system to display the graphical pressure map on a user interface.

22. The control system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the control system to adjust operation of the longwall mining system based on the monitored condition of the mine roof.

23. The control system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the control system to monitor the condition of the mine roof by detecting temporally similar changes in the adjustable support pressure applied to the mine roof in multiple adjacent powered roof supports indicative of a mine roof collapse event.