Sustainable Mining in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

The mining sector historically drove the global economy but at the expense of severe environmental and health repercussions,posing sustainability challenges[1]-[3].Recent advancements on artificial intelligence(AI)are revolutionizing mining through robotic and data-driven innovations[4]-[7].While AI offers mining industry advantages,it is crucial to acknowledge the potential risks associated with its widespread use.Over-reliance on AI may lead to a loss of human control over mining operations in the future,resulting in unpredictable consequences.

CNN coal and rock recognition method based on hyperspectral data

Aiming at the problem of coal gangue identifcation in the current fully mechanized mining face and coal washing,this article proposed a convolution neural network(CNN)coal and rock identifcation method based on hyperspectral data.First,coal and rock spectrum data were collected by a near-infrared spectrometer,and then four methods were used to flter 120 sets of collected data:frst-order diferential(FD),second-order diferential(SD),standard normal variable transformation(SNV),and multi-style smoothing.The coal and rock refectance spectrum data were pre-processed to enhance the intensity of spectral refectance and absorption characteristics,as well as efectively remove the spectral curve noise generated by instrument performance and environmental factors.A CNN model was constructed,and its advantages and disadvantages were judged based on the accuracy of the three parameter combinations(i.e.,the learning rate,the number of feature extraction layers,and the dropout rate)to generate the best CNN classifer for the hyperspectral data for rock recognition.The experiments show that the recognition accuracy of the one-dimensional CNN model proposed in this paper reaches 94.6%.Verifcation of the advantages and efectiveness of the method were proposed in this article.

Tribo-corrosion interaction of the parallel steel wires in the suspension bridges

The effect of contact load and relative displacement on tribo-corrosion interaction of parallel steel wires of main cable in the suspension bridge was investigated in this study.A self-made tribo-corrosion test bench was employed to conduct tribo-corrosion tests of parallel steel wires in 3.5%(wt%)NaCl solution and deionized water under different contact loads and different relative displacements.The friction coefficient and wear coefficient of wires were presented.Electrochemical corrosion behavior(Tafel polarization curves,Nyquist diagram,and equivalent circuit diagram)was characterized by electrochemical analyzer.Wear morphology was observed by scanning electron microscope.Wear volume loss and corrosion‒wear interaction were quantitatively demonstrated by high-precision weighing balance.The results show that the electrochemical corrosion ability of the steel wires increases with the increase of the contact load or relative displacement.The increased contact load or relative displacement increases the volume loss of corrosion‒wear and pure wear,but decreases the wear coefficient.The wear mechanisms in 3.5%NaCl solution are adhesive wear,abrasive wear,and corrosive wear as compared to adhesive wear and abrasive wear in deionized water under different contact loads.The wear mechanisms of parallel steel wires are slightly different under different relative displacements.But the main wear mechanisms are similar to that under different contact loads.The interaction effects of corrosion and wear produced by the contact load and relative displacement are all the synergistic effects.

Influence and optimization of swirler parameters on elbow wear of deep coal fluidization pipeline transportation system

Elbow wear is a major threat to the multiphase pipeline transportation industry,which has a negative impact on the stable operation of the transportation system.In order to find the wear reduction methods of elbows in the fluidization pipeline transportation system for 2000-meter-deep coal resources,the swirler was installed upstream of the elbows,and wear simulations and tests of three kinds of elbows were carried out.The results showed that the maximum wear rate(MWR)of elbows increased and then decreased along the elbow angle.Due to the different directions of gravity,the heavy wear position(HWP)of the horizontal-vertical(H-V)elbow was in front of the vertical-horizontal(V-H)elbow.Because the downstream portion of the horizontal-horizontal(H-H)elbow was still a horizontal pipe,the HWP of the H-H elbow almost covered the whole elbow.The swirler placed upstream of the elbows could make the particles at the elbow move to the intrados of the elbows,resulting in less collision between the particles and the extrados of the elbows,thus reducing the wear of the elbows.The wear reduction effects of swirlers on three different elbows were favorably connected with the guide vane angle(GVA)and negatively correlated with the guide vane length(GVL),decreased first and then increased as the guide vane height(GVH)increased,and were little affected by the guide vane number(GVN)and the guide vane thickness(GVT).The mathematical models between the MWR of the elbows and guide vane parameters were established.By bench tests,the wear reduction effect of three kinds of elbows under the optimal guide vane parameters was 58.4%,76.9%,and 78.6%,respectively.The errors between the bench test results and the simulation results were around 10%.

Synthesis and Characterization of PVA-HA-Silk Composite Hydrogel by Orthogonal Experiment

PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel was synthesized with polyvinyl alcohol （PVA）, nano-hydroxyapatite （HA） and natural silk by using the method of repeated freezing and thawing. A series of tests were performed to study water content, stress relaxation behavior, elastic modulus, and creep characteristics of PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel. Orthogonal experimental design method was used to analyze the influence degree of PVA, HA and silk （three kinds of raw materials） on mechanical properties and water content of the PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel to select the best material ratio according to their overall performance. The results demonstrate that the mass percentage of PVA has the greatest impact on the water content, followed by HA and silk. Compression stress-strain variation of PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel presents a nonlinear relationship, which proves that it is a typical viscoelastic material. Comparing the mechanical properties of 16 formulas, the formula of PVA-HA-silk composite hydrogel with mass percentage of PVA 15%, HA 2.0% and silk 1.0% is the best.

Research on the Interstitial Fluid Load Support Characteristics and Start-Up Friction Mechanisms of PVA-HA-Silk Composite Hydrogel

Hydrogel has been extensively studied as an articular cartilage repair and replacement material. PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel was prepared by freezing-thawing method in this paper. Mechanical properties were determined by experiments and the friction coefficient of PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel against steel ball was verified using micro-tribometer. Finite Element Method （FEM） was used to study the lubrication mechanism of PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel and the relation between the interstitial fluid load support and the start-up friction resistance. The results show that the elastic modulus and the permeability are 2.07 MPa and 10^-15m^4N^-1s^-1, respectively, and the start-up friction coefficients of PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel are in the range of 0.154）.2 at different contact loads, contact time and sliding speeds. The start-up friction resistance of PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel increases with the contact load and contact time. With the increase in sliding speed, the start-up friction resistance of PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel decreases. There is an inverse relation between the start-up friction resistance and the interstitial fluid load support. The change of fluid flow with the increase in sliding displacement has an important effect on the interstitial fluid load support and friction resistance. The interstitial fluid load support decreases with the increase in contact load and contact time, while the interstitial fluid load support reinforces with the increase in sliding speed. Moreover, PVA-HA-Silk composite hydrogel has mechanical properties of recovery and self-lubricating.

Low-Carbon Routing Based on Improved Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for Electric Trackless Rubber-Tyred Vehicles

Trackless rubber-tyerd vehicles are the core equipment for auxiliary transportation in inclined-shaft coal mines,and the rationality of their routes plays the direct impact on operation safety and energy consumption.Rich studies have been done on scheduling rubber-tyerd vehicles driven by diesel oil,however,less works are for electric trackless rubber-tyred vehicles.Furthermore,energy consumption of vehicles gives no consideration on the impact of complex roadway and traffic rules on driving,especially the limited cruising ability of electric trackless rubber-tyred vehichles(TRVs).To address this issue,an energy consumption model of an electric trackless rubber-tyred vehicle is formulated,in which the effects from total mass,speed profiles,slope of roadways,and energy management mode are all considered.Following that,a low-carbon routing model of electric trackless rubber-tyred vehicles is built to minimize the total energy consumption under the constraint of vehicle avoidance,allowable load,and endurance power.As a problem-solver,an improved artificial bee colony algorithm is put forward.More especially,an adaptive neighborhood search is designed to guide employed bees to select appropriate operator in a specific space.In order to assign onlookers to some promising food sources reasonably,their selection probability is adaptively adjusted.For a stagnant food source,a knowledge-driven initialization is developed to generate a feasible substitute.The experimental results on four real-world instances indicate that improved artificial bee colony algorithm(IABC)outperforms other comparative algorithms and the special designs in its three phases effectively avoid premature convergence and speed up convergence.

Vibrotactile Sensation:A Systematic Review of the Artificial Pacinian Corpuscle

Pacinian corpuscle is a tactile receptor that responds to high-frequency(20-1000 Hz)vibration and has high-pass filtering and mechanical signal amplification functions.It is the main receptor of vibration tactility closely related to fine touch sensation,which is the ability to perceive and localize objects’shape,texture,and size.Currently,it is still difficult to measure and calculate the friction generated by robots grasping objects.The resolution of touch and vibration sensors cannot satisfy the demand for understanding tribological behavior.The simulation of Pacinian corpuscles’structure and replication of its key functions will bring richer touch information to robots.In this review article,the structure and functions of Pacinian corpuscles are summarized from the internal structure of a single Pacinian corpuscle and the spatial distribution of multiple Pacinian corpuscles.Then,theoretical models and research on the bionics design of Pacinian corpuscles are introduced based on the three reception processes of Pacinian corpuscles:mechanical transmission,electromechanical transduction,and neural excitation.Finally,the bottlenecks of current research on the simulation of Pacinian corpuscles are summarized,followed by the proposal of research ideas on the simulation of Pacinian corpuscles.