Rotary boring mining machine inertial steering system

1. A mining system with advanced directional guidance configured to enable precise excavation of geological material without a need to advance a survey line over a long distance and/or a nonlinear excavation path, the mining system comprising:

a mining machine having a steerable drive mechanism configured to advance the mining machine along an intended excavation path, a cutting mechanism configured to separate geological material from a mining face of the excavation path, an auger mechanism configured to collect the separated geological material, and a conveyor mechanism configured to convey the collected geological material to a rear of the mining machine;

a conveyor assembly configured to convey the geological material from the rear of the mining machine to a mine exit;

a bridge operably coupled to the mining machine, the bridge being configured to align behind the miner machine to aid installation of hardware of the conveyor assembly behind the mining machine; and

an inertial guidance system configured to sense movement of the mining machine and provide directional guidance as an aid in guiding the mining machine along the intended excavation path and aligning the bridge substantially perpendicular to the mining face, the initial guidance system including—

at least one accelerometer configured to sense acceleration along an x-axis of the mining machine, along a y-axis of the mining machine, and a z-axis of the mining machine;

at least one gyroscope configured to sense rotation about the x-axis of the mining machine, rotation about the y-axis of the mining machine, and rotation about the z-axis of the mining machine; and

a programmable logic controller configured to receive sensed acceleration data from the at least one accelerometer and/or rotation data from the at least one gyroscope, determine movement of the mining machine as a function of time, and compute directional guidance to maintain advancement of the mining machine along the intended excavation path,

wherein the inertial guidance system is also configured to provide the directional guidance to aid in maintaining the bridge and the conveyor assembly in alignment with the mining machine.

2. The mining system of claim 1 , wherein the inertial guidance system further includes a memory in which the movement of the mining machine as a function of time is stored.

3. The mining system of claim 1 , wherein the inertial guidance system further includes a display.

4. The mining system of claim 3 , wherein the display is configured to graphically display the movement of the mining machine as a function of time.

5. The mining system of claim 3 , wherein the display is configured to graphically display a comparison of the intended excavation path to an actual excavation path of the mining machine.

6. The mining system of claim 3 , wherein the display is configured to graphically display previous excavation paths excavated by the mining machine as well as un-mined material necessary for structural support between adjacent excavated paths in a map format.

7. The mining system of claim 3 , wherein the display is configured to graphically display the computed directional guidance of the mining machine.

8. The mining system of claim 1 , wherein the inertial guidance system further includes a communication bus configured to transmit the computed directional guidance to the steerable drive mechanism.

9. The mining system of claim 1 , wherein the steerable drive mechanism is configured to automatically steer the mining machine according to the directional guidance.

10. The mining system of claim 1 , wherein the inertial guidance system comprises three accelerometers, wherein a first accelerometer is configured to sense acceleration along the x-axis of the mining machine, a second accelerometer is configured to sense acceleration along the y-axis of the mining machine, and a third accelerometer is configured to sense acceleration along the z-axis of the mining machine.

11. The mining system of claim 1 , wherein the inertial guidance system comprises three gyroscopes, wherein at least one gyroscope is configured to sense rotation about the x-axis of the mining machine, at least one gyroscope is configured to sense rotation about the y-axis of the mining machine, and at least one gyroscope is configured to sense rotation about the z-axis of the mining machine.

12. A method of providing direction guidance to a mining system, so as to enable precise excavation of geological material without a need to advance a survey line over a long distance and/or a nonlinear excavation path, the method comprising:

providing a mining machine having a steerable drive mechanism configured to advance the mining machine along an intended excavation path, a cutting mechanism configured to separate geological material from a mining face of the excavation path, and an inertial guidance system including—

at least one accelerometer configured to sense acceleration along an x-axis of the mining machine, acceleration along the y-axis of the mining machine, and along a z-axis of the mining machine;

at least one gyroscope configured to sense rotation about the x-axis of the mining machine, rotation about the y-axis of the mining machine, and rotation about the z-axis of the mining machine; and

a programmable logic controller configured to receive sensed data from the at least one accelerometer and the at least one gyroscope and compute directional guidance in order to maintain a prescribed heading;

providing a bridge operably coupled to the rear of the mining machine, the bridge being configured to align behind the miner machine and substantially perpendicular to the mining face;

advancing the mining machine along an intended excavation path;

sensing movement of the mining machine;

determining movement of the mining machine as a function of time;

providing directional guidance from the inertial guidance system to maintain advancement of the mining machine along the intended excavation path; and

providing the directional guidance from the inertial guidance system to maintain the bridge in alignment with the mining machine and substantially perpendicular to the mining face.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the inertial guidance system further includes a memory in which the movement of the mining machine as a function of time is stored.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the inertial guidance system further includes a display.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising displaying the movement of the mining machine as a function of time.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising displaying a comparison of the intended excavation path to an actual excavation path of the mining machine.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising displaying previous excavation paths excavated by the mining machine as well as un-mined material necessary for structural support between adjacent excavated paths in a map format.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising displaying the computed directional guidance of the mining machine.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising transmitting the computed directional guidance to the steerable drive mechanism.

20. The method of claim 12 , further comprising automatically steering the mining machine according to the directional guidance.

21. The method of claim 12 , wherein the inertial guidance system comprises three accelerometers, wherein a first accelerometer is configured to sense acceleration along the x-axis of the mining machine, a second accelerometer is configured to sense acceleration along the y-axis of the mining machine, and a third accelerometer is configured to sense acceleration along the z-axis of the mining machine.

22. The method of claim 12 , wherein the inertial guidance system comprises three gyroscopes, wherein at least one gyroscope is configured to sense rotation about the x-axis of the mining machine, at least one gyroscope is configured to sense rotation about the y-axis of the mining machine, and at least one gyroscope is configured to sense rotation about the z-axis of the mining machine.