Youth shining brightly (young people here), working deep in the coal sea | coal mines | youth

Zhao Yunfei is at work.

External view of Yujialiang coal mine.

The above pictures are all taken by Zhao Yan

Zhao Yunfei comes from a poverty-stricken mountain village in Linzhou City, Henan Province.

Linzhou, you may not have heard of it, but you must have heard of the Hongqi Canal.

In the 1960s, 100000 local people, in order to change the fate of being trapped in drought for thousands of years, relied entirely on manual labor and spent nearly 10 years leveling 1250 mountain peaks and digging 211 tunnels. They built a water conservancy project about 1500 kilometers long on the mountainside of Taihang Mountain, creating a miracle in the history of water conservancy in the world and forging the spirit of self-reliance, hard work, unity and cooperation, and selfless dedication of the Red Flag Canal.

Zhao Yunfei's grandfather, uncle, and father were all stonemasons who built the Hongqi Canal in the past.

The stonemason, in the mountains, beats and sharpens stones year after year, accompanying them and making a living from them.

Zhao Yunfei may have followed the footsteps of his ancestors and become a stonemason. But with the development of the times, his life trajectory has turned. His construction site has shifted from the top of the mountain to the bottom; His object has shifted from stone to coal; His tools have shifted from hammers to machinery - modern intelligent machinery.

Do a line of fine line

Zhao Yunfei, born in 1989, has been dealing with stones since childhood. I live in a stone house, walk on a stone road, climb a stone mountain, and even if I fall or bump on a stone, it brings real pain. The Taihang Mountains, built with stones, gave him everything. His ancestors, his world, and his life are all related to stones, and even his physique is as hard and sturdy as stones.

Once, his dream was to step out of the mountains, stay away from rocks, and become a white-collar worker in the city. After taking the college entrance examination in 2007, he was admitted to North China University of Science and Technology with a major in Mining Engineering.

Going around, still dealing with stones.

He was a bit depressed, but quickly adjusted himself. Since we are destined to be with stones, let's honestly enter the world of stones. Moreover, human civilization emerged from the world of stones, from the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age, and then to the agricultural and industrial eras. Moreover, the Stone World is still an unknown world, containing infinite possibilities.

During his four years in university, he studied diligently and delved into various knowledge related to minerals. Due to his active efforts, he has successively received national scholarships, national inspirational scholarships, and Sun Yueqi scholarships, and his professional performance ranks among the top every year.

When graduating from university, Shendong Coal Group came to the school to select talents. He successfully obtained the pass to enter this world-class coal enterprise, and his position is in the second comprehensive mining team of Yujialiang Coal Mine under the group.

It can be said that joining Shendong is a joyful thing. The good news arrived at home, but my father's brow furrowed. Firstly, he is the only boy in the family, and his father hopes that he will return to his hometown after graduation and get married and have children early; Furthermore, in the impression of the old stonemason, the coal mine was deep underground, with dangerous stones everywhere in the cave, and he was worried about the safety of his children.

However, Zhao Yunfei's beliefs were as hard as stones, and he persisted in his own choices.

He is strong and hardworking, and his colleagues are willing to work with him.

He picked up an 85 kilogram water pump and walked away; He carried the 4.2-meter single pillar alone.

Once, when changing the feed switch underground, the car couldn't enter and had to rely on manual labor. The class monitor said, "Who will lift with me?"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Zhao Yunfei squeezed in from behind and said, "I'll give it a try."

The two of them lifted more than 50 meters and only then discovered that this "big guy" actually weighed 170 kilograms!

I'm not afraid to sweat hard, but soon, a more complex test came.

His major is mining engineering, and the most suitable position is coal machine driver. Unexpectedly, there is a shortage of electricians in the team, so he will be placed in the electrician position.

To be honest, being an electrician not only doesn't align with one's profession, but also earns relatively less income. Thinking of himself, his parents, and reality made him feel uneasy. The team leader told him that when a driver needs to wear goggles, you are nearsighted and inconvenient.

That's true.

Then let's be an electrician. Being an electrician can also do a good job.

However, the complex world of underground circuits quickly puzzled Zhao Yunfei.

After following his master for a few days, he was still confused and had to focus on learning the most basic "switch".

Underground switches are far from ordinary switches in the impression of outsiders. A switch is a motor controller, such as a refrigerator that is small in size and complex in structure. Improper operation can lead to problems.

After putting in a lot of effort, he finally understood the principle of the switch, but when it comes to on-site operation, it's not that simple at all. Opening the machine, the circuits inside are like a spider web or a honeycomb, tinkering with it for a long time without any clue.

But for the master, all of this is easy to grasp.

There is a specialization in the craft industry, and if you are not satisfied, you cannot do it.

He asked, "How long will it take to learn?"

The master said, "Being a good electrician takes at least 3 years!"

Zhao Yunfei was not discouraged. After work, he took down the old switches, brought them back to the dormitory, and disconnected and reconnected the wires. Parts scattered all over the bed, oil stains scattered everywhere, and thoughts sinking into dreams.

After enduring more than a month of hard work, the complex route finally formed an overall network in his mind like the branches, leaves, and fruits of a big tree. A previously dark world has quietly become clear

As an electrician, he not only excels in his profession, but also helps with other people's tasks. Over time, he has learned various skills such as equipment maintenance and repair, fault handling, and safety protection, becoming a truly versatile player in the team.

Faced with praise, his voice unconsciously rose, and the pride in his heart made him feel a little proud.

One day in September 2012, a cable leakage accident occurred on an underground transport plane, and the captain notified him to quickly go for repairs.

At a critical moment, the fault point could never be found.

So, the machine was forced to stop running, and production was abruptly interrupted. Production interruption means a decrease in output, which will affect performance evaluation.

The captain was in a hurry, and Zhao Yunfei searched repeatedly, but failed again and again.

The second hand ticks, sweat ticks.

More than two hours later, a faulty iron plate was finally discovered in an extremely concealed area in the middle of the cable clamp. At this point, Zhao Yunfei was already soaked through.

The captain was also sweating profusely, and then made a decision: "This month, you broke the record of no mechanical and electrical failures in Yujialiang Coal Mine, fined 2000 yuan!"

This lesson further made him realize the reality: omnipotence does not mean being all refined. If one wants to be all refined, they must be down-to-earth and start from the depths and details.

So he devoted himself more to his studies, studied tirelessly, and entered the world of coal wrapped in stones, which is also a highly modern and colorful technological world.

Six months later, he was appointed as the deputy team leader of the maintenance team of the second comprehensive mining team.

The determination to strive

For a long time in the past, due to limitations in industrial conditions and ideological concepts, enterprises were always willing to mine thick coal seams and underestimated thin coal seams, resulting in a waste of national resources.

Thin coal seam refers to a coal seam with a thickness of less than 1.3 meters during underground mining. Thin coal seams are also coal and precious disposable energy, which cannot be wasted. They must be both mined and exhausted.

Yujialiang Coal Mine is located in Dianta Town, Shenmu City, Shaanxi Province. Although machinery has replaced manual labor, the mining of thin coal seams is still difficult compared to medium and thick coal seams due to their small thickness.

Especially in fully mechanized mining faces, when the minimum mining height drops to below 1 meter, normal adults are unable to straighten their waist while working underground. Zhao Yunfei is 1.82 meters tall and often needs to hunch over or even crawl while working underground.

The mining machinery and hydraulic support in thin coal layers are limited by space, requiring the cylinder diameter of the pillars to be thicker and able to provide sufficient support force; I also hope that the pillars will be thinner and not take up too much space. This really poses a challenge for the designers. The unit yield of fully mechanized mining face is only half of that of medium and thick coal seams, or even lower. Compared to each other, it can be said that there is more effort and less gain.

Even so, we still need to do it, and we need to achieve results and explore new paths!

This is the need for green development of the coal industry, the need for long-term national energy security, and the need for scientific and technological innovation!

The thin coal layer is sandwiched between two thick rock layers below the ground, like a sandwich biscuit. Under the influence of gravity, the sandwich part is extremely prone to deformation, leading to frame compression accidents. Once an accident occurs, it will cause mechanical structural damage, and in severe cases, it can instantly interrupt production.

In order to solve this problem, Shendong Group drew on advanced foreign experience and introduced Polish tower height supports in the early stage of thin coal seam mining.

However, after the bracket was applied to the Yujialiang coal mine, several compression accidents occurred one after another. On the land of China, foreign things seem a bit out of place.

How to improve the equipment?

At first, they wanted foreign manufacturers to help improve, but the other party replied that our product had been repeatedly debugged before leaving the factory and there would be no problems.

Hiring foreign engineers to come, the cost is calculated on an hourly basis and the price is high.

Zhao Yunfei was deeply stimulated. Technology is not as strong as human control, it is everywhere. What should we do? Seeking others is better than seeking oneself. After careful consideration, he decided to rely on himself.

Scrolling through materials, grinding my fingers, conducting on-site inspections on worn shoe soles, drinking plain water when thirsty, and chewing cookies when hungry.

No one knows how he spent one long night after another while renovating the machines.

But his entire interest lies in this. Just as soldiers love guns and horses love grasslands, this is his dream that he has pursued for many years.

Finally, I gradually gained my thoughts, direction, and methods.

Subsequently, his suggestions were adopted after argumentation. Based on actual needs, the mine has decided to cooperate with Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group to carry out mechanical improvements.

After several experiments, the complete set of support equipment has significantly improved its structural performance, basically meeting the production needs of thin coal seams, and the occurrence of frame compression accidents will no longer occur.

Equipment improvement, technical improvement, problem solving, and efficiency doubling. Advanced productivity can also grow in the mountains and valleys!

Intelligent transformation

Around 2018, industrial intelligence was on the rise. China's coal industry is in line with the world technology trend, and the traditional coal industry is undergoing a transformation and accelerating development.

Where does the intelligent road of Yujialiang Coal Mine start? Who will eat this first crab?

The leader approached Zhao Yunfei and said, "How about your comprehensive mining team first installing a set of domestically produced intelligent coal mining machines?"

Zhao Yunfei nodded, but his heart was beating drums.

It is easy to mount a horse but difficult to ride it, and intelligence largely represents unmanned operation. Previously, there were people following and inspecting the work face. If these people were to be removed, what would happen in case of an accident that would affect production?

He decided to test the machine himself. As the technical leader, who can come if you don't come first?

So he notified the employees to be removed and walked into the work area alone. Monitor and observe for several consecutive days, but do not operate or intervene in the machine. Finally, it is confirmed that unmanned operation is feasible and eliminates everyone's anxiety.

Unexpectedly, when it was officially put into production, problems began to arise. Once, due to intense vibration, the body of the coal mining machine unexpectedly split into pieces! It seems that there is still a gap between the design, manufacturing, and actual production of mechanical equipment.

And all of this requires on-site engineers to solve and improve.

So, he observed, experimented, and adjusted one by one, and then proposed suggestions to the manufacturer for improvement.

After attending the production scheduling meeting every day, he must go down to the well to inspect the site.

The vast homework site may encounter situations at any time, how to repair it here and how to build it there. The already established production records need to be maintained, and a plethora of new problems need to be solved. A slight deviation means a loss of hundreds of thousands and millions of yuan!

Sometimes, when he has insomnia and can't sleep at night, he goes underground to take a walk. Gradually, the black coal and the rumbling sound calmed his inner restlessness.

In response to the different problems that arise in intelligent coal mining machinery, he has gone through hard thinking and repeated experiments to design different improvement processes, such as "controlling the bottom with the top", "top template+bottom flat blade+bottom adjustment", "top prediction+fuzzy calculation", "top template+module call"... In half a year, there have been over 50 improvements of various sizes.

But soon, the biggest flaw of intelligent coal mining machinery became apparent, which was the difficulty of mining in the triangular coal area.

The so-called triangular coal area refers to a triangular area formed when an automated robotic arm comes to the working face for mining and excavation, and reaches the turning point. When an automated robotic arm operates in this triangular area, not only does its speed slow down, but it may also cause engineering quality problems and affect production.

How do foreign coal mines solve similar problems?

They believe that this is an objective phenomenon and inherent flaw in mechanical operations that cannot be improved.

But Zhao Yunfei was unwilling. In the following days, he carefully observed the triangular coal area. Analyze and solidify the actions of the coal machine and support for different operating intervals, trial and error bit by bit, and make modifications bit by bit, like ants moving. At each step of the operation, he will concentrate on observing and recording the subtle changes brought about by each change.

A month later, he finally successfully edited and solidified the process of the triangular coal area, enabling the coal machine to complete the correct action in the correct position. Later, he utilized the coal cutting strategy of "top template+fixed mining height" at the end to ensure the quality of the project.

Continuously trying and improving. Finally, whether in the cutting section, returning section, sweeping bottom coal section, or oblique cutting and feeding section, unmanned equipment can compete with manual operation. Moreover, highly reliable execution makes unmanned production processes far superior to manual coal cutting!

Unmanned, doesn't it mean we don't need people anymore?

Although intelligent technology has greatly liberated productivity, in the production process, as mining conditions continue to change, it is inevitable that there will be areas that require manual adjustment, which leads to the problem of human-machine cooperation.

If adjustment information is received, workers must accurately send commands, ensuring that orders are strictly prohibited and missions are fulfilled.

In this regard, he improved the editing template while training composite operators, using team demonstrations to teach, lead, and assist without reservation, thus ensuring production efficiency.

With the deepening of intelligence, the number of workers in Yujialiang Coal Mine has significantly decreased. Specifically, for the second team of comprehensive mining, the number of people was reduced from 12 to 8, and then from 8 to 5, leaving only 3 people in the end.

With the same production output, personnel have significantly decreased, but work efficiency has significantly improved.

What's even more surprising is that even from a thousand miles away, one can remotely command the depths of the earth!

Under the blue sky and white clouds, between the loess ravines, green covers black, and a dragon like conveyor belt transportation corridor seamlessly integrates with the surrounding environment

In January 2020, Shendong Coal Yujialiang Coal Mine was included in the national green mining list by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In June 2021, the National Coal Industry Vocational Skills Competition was held in Yuncheng, Shanxi, mainly assessing two indicators: intelligent parameter setting and on-site fault handling. Zhao Yunfei, with his superb skills, led the team through the challenges and won the national championship.

In December 2022, Yujialiang Coal Mine was successfully awarded the title of "Class A Intelligent Mine".

Since officially joining Yujialiang Coal Mine in 2011, Zhao Yunfei has been working here for a full 12 years.

The 15 classmates who came with him initially, some of whom changed jobs and left, some transferred to offices or other departments, while only he remained on the production line.

Due to his professional expertise, he was seconded several times by the group branch, sometimes for one or two years. My family moved 6 times, and my wife had to follow him. I changed jobs 6 times.

Fortunately, in recent years he has ended his wandering and bought a house in Daliuta Town, Shenmu, Shaanxi. The family has finally settled down.

For many years, he has been like this, igniting his youth and burying his head forward.

In interviews, I always wanted him to tell as many stories as possible about the honor, but unfortunately his mouth was always clumsy and unable to tell.

Born in Hongqi Canal and devoted to Yujialiang, Zhao Yunfei hopes that his youthful self will be like a pure white cloud, forever soaring above the coal sea

Drafted by Zhang Fangman