The Measurement of Airflow through Regulators

Abstract

There is a trend world wide to remote or telemetric monitoring of mine atmosphere conditions. Robust, proper and intrinsically safe as required instruments are available for measurement of, for example, gas concentrations, air velocity and air pressure. These are often tied to wide-ranging mine monitoring and communication systems. One very reliable approach to establishing air quantity through a ventilation branch is through measurement of differential pressure across an opening or regulator. Mathematical relationships are available to relate (with some qualifications) pressure drop and quantity through an orifice placed symmetrically in a round flow conduit. However these can only be used to approximate mine regulator behaviour due to variability in construction, questions of symmetry and leakage Efforts to characterize and/or mathematically model a number of types of operating mine regulators are described. Results can be used in the development of a computerized monitoring and simulation system to provide immediate or real time data on air behaviour within each branch within an underground mine ventilation network through linking of sensors to the ventilation network simulation software. This new approach to ventilation provides improved understanding of airflows through all mine sections.

Meeting Name

4th Australasian Coal Operators Conference (2003: Feb. 12-14, Wollongong, Australia)

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Mine Atmosphere Conditions; Remote Monitoring; Telemetric Monitoring

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2003 Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

14 Feb 2003

Link to Full Text

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