Plow systems from Caterpillar make the plow the mining system of choice for low and medium seams under 1.8 m (5.9 ft). With features offered only by Caterpillar, our plow systems exceed the production performance of shearers and offer future-oriented solutions for hard-coal mining.

Key Features

• Preferred longwall mining machine for seams under 1.8 m / 5.9 ft
• Most powerful system available with up to 2 x 800 kW / 1,080 hp. Guarantees rapid production even in the event of geological faults. (Faults up to approximate seam height can be traversed.)
• High traveling speed up to 3.6 m per sec / 720 ft per min)
• Maximum capacity 3 500 tonnes per hour / 3,858 tons per hour
• Overload protection
• Load Sharing
• Effective horizon control and incremental plowing for full automation without operators being required on the face.

Automation and Incremental Plowing
Automation is the most important feature of a modern plow system. It turns a simple, robust tool into a high-performance mining machine. Features include:

• Continuous monitoring of position, speed and direction of the plow
• Control of defined advance of the line pan and thus of plow guide after each step independent of coal hardness, seam structure and faults
• Integrated error correction, ensuring correct alignment of the face conveyor when stepping cylinders are extended different amounts
• Automatic advance of the roof support as required
• Even, optimum loading of the face conveyor
• Plow chain overload protection
• No plow operator required at longwall during automatic operation
• Visualization of the status of the roof support, plow position, longwall, etc. at central computer

Plow Horizon Control
The Cat^® plow system's unique horizon control allows optimal control of the on-the-plow longwall horizon, minimizing mining of adjacent strata. Hydraulic cylinders that can be extended vertically against the outriggers allow the tilt of the face conveyor to be adjusted, controlling the cutting horizon of the plow body. In this way the plow can follow the seam up or down. The horizon control is also an important function for traversing geological faults.

Overload Protection
Overload (UEL) drives from Caterpillar regulate the power in drives for the plow chain and chain conveyors to stay within the optimum range. This protects the chains from overload, substantially reducing the risk of chain breaks. This protects all mechanically stressed parts of the plow body — in particular the plow bits.

Shock absorber
Our innovative shock absorber provides further protection of the plow and chain. The elastic coupling inserted into the plow pulling sledge contains elastomers whose elastic properties reduce the peak forces applied to the chain. This results in smoother plow operation, minimizing the load on plow chain, plow connectors and drives and extending their effective service life. The shock absorber is only available for the Gleithobel (GH plow).