Computer-aided design of robotised technology for manufacturing working units of mining machines

摘要

The robotised mounting of pickboxes at the working unit’s side surface of a mining machine is comprised of a number of sequential operations. The number of such sequences is often high and results from the number of pickboxes to be fitted to the side surface (with up to 90 for a single unit). Each pickbox is positioned individually as its location on the working unit’s side surface and arrangement in the space is described with a different set of data determined at the design phase of a mining machine working unit. Hence, the programmes controlling the operation of a robotised station are long and complex. This article examines the application of computer tools in the design process of a technology for the robotised mounting of pickboxes on the mining machines working unit’s side surface. The solution developed as a result of this study enables the automation of the generation of a source code of a control programme for a robotised station. This has been achieved by exchanging digital data between an application dedicated for the design of such type of working units and the computer programmes intended for the offline programming of industrial robots. The article presents an algorithm of a programming procedure of a robotised station and its practical application with an example of a mounting process of pickboxes on the side surface of a roadheader cutting head. The tests of the established algorithm, carried out on an experimental station created at the research laboratory of the Institute of Mining Mechanisation, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Silesian University of Technology, have ascertained the suitability of the developed method for industrial purposes.