Industry-Leading Intelligence Training Center Established at Shendong’s Coal Mine

On June 5, an intelligence training center jointly established by Shendong Coal, affiliated to China Energy, and China Coal Technology & Engineering Group was launched at Daliuta Coal Mine. The center adopts VR/AR, naked-eye 3D, 3D visualization, AI, digital twinning and other technologies. In this innovative fashion, the industry-leading intelligence training center has transformed complex coal-mine skill expertise and safety warning campaigns into immersive, interactive, collaborative and game-like educational experiences, thus improving students’ learning interest and training effect, and empowering coal mines with technologies to help upgrade safety and skill training.

Staff learning at the intelligence training center.

The center is divided into five areas: multi-person collaborative training area, VR multi-field training area, VR accident case experience area, AR equipment maintenance area, and theory training area.

The multi-person collaborative training area adopts three-dimensional visualization technology, so that trainees can experience the scene of the underground working face in an immersive way. The three-dimensional visualization of people, machines and environment is displayed dynamically, and the digital virtual environment and the underground physical environment are unified in real time.

The VR multi-field training area offers real interactive training scenes through VR immersive experiences. Based on the standard working process of the company’s underground coal mines, trainees can conduct virtual control of the shearer, walk freely, and check the operation state by parameters of the shearer in real time for process training. Meanwhile, it innovatively combines process training with violations and accidents.

The VR accident case experience area allows trainees to access coal mine safety education through VR helmet immersion. The accident cases are classified into seven categories: accidents with water, fire, gas, roof, coal dust explosion, mechanical failures, auxiliary transportation failures, etc. All accident cases in the system are developed and produced according to realistic coal mine accident cases in recent years.

In the AR equipment maintenance area, trainees learn the maintenance standard operation process of main equipment such as the shearer and the hydraulic support through MR technology and get to master the standard process of fault treatment and maintenance through the guidance of intelligent operation based on expert knowledge base. Besides, with AR equipment, the trainees can set their hands free to realize the extension of ability and accumulation of knowledge and experience anytime and anywhere.

Through AR augmented reality technology and naked-eye 3D technology in the theory training area, trainees can grasp the process of disassembly and assembly of major large coal mine equipment and master the structure of each equipment.