For general information on the OPC UA Companion Specification Mining and OPC UA in general, please refer to OPC 40560.

As explained in OPC 40560, the machine and system category-level documents serve as an abstraction layer for the types of machinery with similar functionalities. Consequently, this machine and system-level document may also rely on models defined in OPC 40563-1.

The armoured face conveyor is a transport device used in underground mining operations, especially in longwall mining. This device consists of one or multiple chains which are powered by engine at the head and tail ends of the longwall. Scrapers are attached to the chains and transport the extracted coal to the conveyor belt which is located at the head-end of the longwall. Beside the coal transport the AFC is used to generate cutting pressure of the shearer in combination with the roof support shields. The combination of a shearer, armoured face conveyor and roof support shields is commonly used in modern longwall mining operations. [1, P. 1159]

This document contains OPC UA type definitions for the armoured face conveyor machine.