In order to solve the key technical problem of accurate perception of the straightness of a scraper conveyor in intelligent mining of coal mines, a three-dimensional (3D) curvature sensor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is designed and developed based on the curvature sensing principle of FBG. The grating string embedded in the FBG curvature sensor is simulated under the radius of curvature of 100 m, 200 m, 300 m, 400 m and 500 m. The results show that the strain of the built-in FBG string is linearly related to the curvature at the bend of the FBG string. The simulation results are consistent with the theoretical results, which verifies the rationality of the sensor design. Based on the discrete curvature information obtained by the 3D curvature sensor of FBG, the curve reconstruction algorithm is derived by using the method of fitting recursion, and the bending shape fitting perception and curve reconstruction of the scraper conveyor is realized. A test platform for the three-dimensional bending of the scraper conveyor is set up. The measuring effect of perceived and actual shape at the straight and bending states of the scraper conveyor is verified. The test results show that the measured curve is basically the same as the perceptual curve in the three-dimensional bending configuration of the scraper conveyor, and the error of the direction of each coordinate axis is not more than ±15 mm, which can meet the requirements of the accuracy of detecting the straightness of the intelligent work.

The hydraulic support is the key equipment of surrounding rock support in a stope, and thus monitoring the attitude of the hydraulic support has an important guiding role in the support selection, operation control and rock pressure analysis of the working face. At present, attitude monitoring technology for hydraulic support mainly includes inertial measurement, contact measurement and visual measurement. Aiming at the technical defects of imperfect attitude perception models, incomplete perception parameters and the low decision-making ability of such systems, the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) pressure sensor and the FBG tilt sensor are developed independently by combining with FBG sensing theory. The pressure sensitivity of the FBG pressure sensor is 35.6 pm/MPa, and the angular sensitivity of the FBG tilt sensor is 31.3 pm/(°). Additionally, an information platform for FBG sensing monitoring for hydraulic support attitude is constructed based on. NET technology and C/S architecture. The information platform realizes real-time monitoring, data management, report management, production information management and data querying of hydraulic support attitude monitoring data. An AdaBoost neural network hydraulic support working resistance prediction model is established using MATLAB. The AdaBoost neural network algorithm successfully predicts the periodic pressure of the coal mining face by training with the sample data of the working resistance of the hydraulic support. The predicting accuracy is more than 95%.

The operating attitude of a shearer based on a three-dimensional (3D) space scale is the necessary basic information for realizing intelligent mining. Aiming to address the problem of the insufficient perception accuracy of shearers, in this paper, the rotation model of the actual turning mechanism of the strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) of shearers is established, and the error propagation characteristics of different single-axis rotation modulation schemes are revealed. Through theory and simulation, the optimal rotation modulation scheme is determined to be the improved four-position turn–stop modulation with a rotation of <360°. The experiment shows that the 24 h positioning error of this scheme is 3.7 nmile, and the heading angle changes by 0.06°, which proves that this scheme can effectively improve the attitude perception accuracy of the inertial navigation system (INS). The field application of the shearer operating attitude perception based on this scheme shows that the positioning error after error compensation is 17% of that before compensation, and the heading angle error is 75% of that before compensation, which verifies that this scheme can significantly improve the accuracy of shearer operating attitude perception in field applications. This scheme can achieve higher precision perception accuracy based on SINS and has broad application prospects in the field of high-precision pose perception of coal mining machines, roadheaders, and other equipment.

“Three straight and two flat” is the inevitable demand when realizing the intelligent mining of a fully mechanized mining face. To address the crucial technical issue of lacking accurate perception of the shape of the scraper conveyor during intelligent coal mining, a three-dimensional curvature sensor involving fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is used as a perceptive tool to conduct curve reconstruction research based on different local motion frames and to reconstruct the shape of the scraper conveyor. Firstly, the formation process of the ‘S’-shaped bending section of the scraper conveyor during the pushing process is determined. Based on the FBG sensing principle, a mathematical model between the variation in the central wavelength and the strain and curvature is established, and the cubic B-spline interpolation method is employed to continuously process the obtained discrete curvature. Secondly, based on differential geometry, a spatial curve reconstruction algorithm based on the Frenet moving frame is derived, and the shape curve prediction interpolation model is built based on a gated recurrent unit (GRU) model, which reduces the impact of the decrease in curve reconstruction accuracy caused by damage to some grating measuring points. Finally, an experimental platform was designed and built, and sensors with curvature radii of 6 m, 7 m, and 8 m were tested. The experimental results showed that the reconstructed curve was essentially consistent with the actual shape, and the absolute error at the end was about 2 mm. The feasibility of this reconstruction algorithm in engineering has been proven, and this is of great significance in achieving shape curve perception and straightness control for scraper conveyors.