New Method and Experiment for Detecting Relative Position and Posture of the Hydraulic Support

Hydraulic support is an indispensable equipment for coal mining face. To detect the position and posture of the hydraulic support and automatically control its straightness at the mining working face, we developed a device based on the principle that three noncolinear points determine a plane and proposed a novel method using it. First, the sensor parameters in the device were experimentally calibrated. Second, the accuracy of the device was evaluated in the single point detection experiment by measuring the position of the nine datum points. Through actual testing, our detection accuracy can reach 24.82mm. Third, our method was validated in the experiment of the plane detection. Finally, the detection device was installed on the hydraulic support mode. The change of the position and posture of the canopy in the movement of the hydraulic support lifting leg, realized the detection of position and posture of the adjacent hydraulic support, and the feasibility of the detection method was verified. Our research on the position and posture detection of the hydraulic support can lay an important theoretical foundation for the automatic control of the straightness of mining working face and the surveillance of the dangerous posture of the hydraulic support. Furthermore, it can provide a novel monitoring approach for preventing collapse of hydraulic supports under complex geological conditions such as large dip angles and large mining heights.