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Armored Face Conveyors (AFCs)

Armored Face Conveyors (AFCs)
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Moving Mountains No matter how fast your shearer can cut, you can’t keep cutting until you move the coal away from the face. Cat® Armored Face Conveyors (AFCs) are designed to keep things moving and to carry the maximum possible amount of coal smoothly away from the coalface. They are designed for high availability and economy in operation. They are easy to maintain and offer long service life and a great return on investment to mine operators. Best in the Long Run Cat AFCs excel through cutting-edge technology, quality, experience and superior product support. Of course, that’s what any...

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Meeting all Needs From AFC tail drive to entry belt conveyor return end, Cat AFC systems are designed for a variety of performance requirements in low, medium and high seams, for short and long faces. Caterpillar meets the demand of today’s high-capacity shearers and, of course, our own automated plow systems. The PF Range The line pan is the backbone of the AFC– literally. It not only conveys material from the face, but also acts as the guide rail for the shearer – with traction forces of up to 1 000 kN. Caterpillar offers a range of line pans to suit different needs. These range from the...

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Engineered to Perfection There are many parts to an Armored Face Conveyor: shearer haulage system, drives, drive frames and sprockets, gearboxes, line pans, chain conveyors as well as entry conveyors and belt tailpieces. Each of these components has to be engineered to perfection, but also has to work together optimally with the other parts of the system. 3D-Simulation of a shearer on a Cat PF6 face conveyor at the head end under extreme bending Cat AFC components achieve this. Each is designed for powerful, reliable and economical operation with low maintenance over a long service life,...

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Drive Modules The latest development is a drive frame with replaceable one-piece sprocket/shaft/bearing – a “drive module”. These are available in various sizes to suit individual power requirements, right up to 2 x 1 800 kW (2,412 hp) per drive. The drive module is identical for both main and tail drive. The drive frames are independent of the gearboxes used – flange plates and stub shafts are used for interfacing. Two hydraulic cylinders are integrated in the frames for disassembly of the drive module. These are powered by an external pump. There are similar designs for smaller drive...

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Gearboxes Caterpillar offers gearbox solutions – simple planetary or bevel-spur gearboxes for low-power requirements and the installation of a clutch between motor and gearbox for medium-power installations. The UEL gearbox – a planetary gearbox with an integrated clutch – is designed for higher-power requirements. This friction clutch is closed through face support hydraulic fluid. A hydraulic control system allows the clutch to be set to a certain torque. Overload Protection Overload protection is achieved by measuring the slip of each gearbox. In the event of a chain stall, both motors...

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PowerChain The wide, arc-shaped cross-section of the vertical links allows a low-profile line pan and the special shape of the horizontal link provides a large running surface where required, drastically reducing surface pressure and chain-joint wear. The method for attaching the flight bar is patented. The PowerChain 42 x 140 mm (1.7 x 5.5 in) has a breaking force of 2 370 kN, the PowerChain 52 x 175 mm (2.0 x 6.9 in) of 3 610 kN. Benefits PowerChain and sprocket in use with a Cat beam stageloader •• Faster removal of mined coal by providing highreliability, high-availability...

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Line Pans for Every Need Rolled steel is smoother, stronger and harder-wearing than a casting and generates less friction and noise. That’s why Caterpillar has focused on rolled steel designs for line pans. All aspects of the line pans have been engineered with reliability, productivity and serviceability in mind. Maximum Contact Profile shape of PF conveyors The profiles are designed to maximize the contact area between the flight bar and the profile, thus minimizing contact pressure during operation. •• inimizes friction, reduces power requirements for the M face conveyor and results in...

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Welds without Wear PF5 profile design with wear pattern Cat PF line pans have a rolled profile design. Each of the identical profiles are attached with two welds to the top plate of chosen length and width. This results in great flexibility in pan design. Only one of the welds is located in the wear area of the line pan in the top strand. •• High stability of the pan ensured by three welds even when the top plate is totally worn out Wear-resistant Top Plate The top plate is made of wear-resistant material. The thickness varies from 30 mm (1.2 in) (PF3) to 50 mm (2.0 in) (PF5). •• Long...

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PF6 – the State-of-the-Art Line Pan Wear is the weak point in line pan design. Hauling millions of tonnes of coal away from the longwall is clearly going to result in high levels of wear. Back in 2002, we decided to try something revolutionary. A group of experts from different countries with many years of experience on various conveyor types was brought together to create a new type of pan that would combine the benefits of rolled and cast line pans to provide an optimum solution to mining industry needs. The First to Really Last and Last The team developed an innovative pan design meeting...

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Optimized Contact Surfaces Profile of the PF6 shearer line pan The special shaping of the bottom race – which almost doubles the contact surface – reduces flightbar shoulder wear and substantially reduces friction. The curved transition at the pan ends greatly reduces noise during operation of the chain conveyor. •• Minimal friction and power loss, longer flightbar and profile service life, lower noise Maximum Pan Stability The frame of the pan consists of two C profiles connected by a baseplate. Two tried-and-tested PF5 profiles are welded to the bottom plate of the top trough and then...

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