TY - THES

T1 - Implementation of a new Continuous Miner Series into the market (focus on South Africa, US, India and other future significant markets). Focus on Coal, but other non-coal applications such as salt & potash. Defining the product specifications based on outperforming the competitors and how to reach this target

AU - Gruber, Patrick

N1 - embargoed until null

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - This Project Work should give a review of a process carried out by a major mining equipment supply company of how a new Continuous Miner Development could successfully be carried out. It also includes a basic review and outlook of current and future main markets involving the Underground Board and Pillar Mining Method utilizing double pass Continuous Miners. The focus of this thesis is based on the development and the technical as well as economical problems involved carrying out the project of developing a new product line of Continuous Miners into the market. The review and outlook of the Coal Mining markets should give a brief glimpse of what the mining equipment industry can expect to face within the next years to come. As it has been tried by numerous experts around the world to forecast the exact demands within the coming decades without overlaying results, this thesis will focus on the technical side of the problem discovered throughout the process of the product development. The first main chapter is basically a summary of results found during the investigations done during the elaboration of this Final Project Works for the SIMACS Course. The second main chapter deals with the implementation of a new Continuous Miner Series into the market, the MC400 series for medium to high seams based on the example for the prototype MC470-001 build for South African Board and Pillar Coal Mining. It reflects the basic product development process and stages of design to the build of a prototype for operational tests and its implementation underground. Furthermore this Project Work will have a brief outlook into Continuous Miner Design for Industrial Minerals (Salt, Potash, Trona and Phosphate).

AB - This Project Work should give a review of a process carried out by a major mining equipment supply company of how a new Continuous Miner Development could successfully be carried out. It also includes a basic review and outlook of current and future main markets involving the Underground Board and Pillar Mining Method utilizing double pass Continuous Miners. The focus of this thesis is based on the development and the technical as well as economical problems involved carrying out the project of developing a new product line of Continuous Miners into the market. The review and outlook of the Coal Mining markets should give a brief glimpse of what the mining equipment industry can expect to face within the next years to come. As it has been tried by numerous experts around the world to forecast the exact demands within the coming decades without overlaying results, this thesis will focus on the technical side of the problem discovered throughout the process of the product development. The first main chapter is basically a summary of results found during the investigations done during the elaboration of this Final Project Works for the SIMACS Course. The second main chapter deals with the implementation of a new Continuous Miner Series into the market, the MC400 series for medium to high seams based on the example for the prototype MC470-001 build for South African Board and Pillar Coal Mining. It reflects the basic product development process and stages of design to the build of a prototype for operational tests and its implementation underground. Furthermore this Project Work will have a brief outlook into Continuous Miner Design for Industrial Minerals (Salt, Potash, Trona and Phosphate).

M3 - Master's Thesis (University Course)

ER -