Location
Rolla, Missouri
Session Dates
11 Jun 1999 - 17 Jun 1999
Keywords and Phrases
Mine Ventilation Cooling; Cooling Towers; Water Chillers; Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers; Plate and Frame Heat Exchangers; Spray Chambers; Fouling; Performance; Electrical Power
Abstract
This paper describes the mine ventilation cooling system at San Manuel Mine, which has evolved as new deeper and hotter working levels were added to the mine, between 1979 -1997. The expansion philosophy was based on utilizing existing facilities, providing lower capital cost and operational convenience. The cooling system is comprised of three surface chillers of 10.55 Megawatts (3,000 tons) total cooling capacity. Cooling towers, also located on surface, ultimately reject all the heat from underground system. The chilled water is pumped to a shell and tube heat exchanger station located 915 metres underground in a high pressure circulating water closed loop system cooling the shell side. The chilled, shell side water from this station is pumped to a lower level to plate and frame heat exchangers. The plate and frame heat exchangers cool open loops for water sprayed in spray chambers for the main ventilation system cooling located 1050 meters (3440 ft) below the surface. Chilled water is also circulated in air-to-water heat exchanger coils, for ventilation air in blind excavations. Despite many cascading loops, the efficiency of the cooling process continues to improve significantly. Increased efficiency has been achieved by reducing fouling and increasing the overall heat transfer coefficients of the heat exchangers while maintaining the design flow rates.
Department(s)
Mining Engineering
Meeting Name
8th U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Mutama, Kuda R., "Performance Assessment of a Multi-Stage Cooling System at San Manuel Mine" (1999). U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium. 3.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/usmvs/8usmvs/8usmvs-theme10/3
Performance Assessment of a Multi-Stage Cooling System at San Manuel Mine
Rolla, Missouri
This paper describes the mine ventilation cooling system at San Manuel Mine, which has evolved as new deeper and hotter working levels were added to the mine, between 1979 -1997. The expansion philosophy was based on utilizing existing facilities, providing lower capital cost and operational convenience. The cooling system is comprised of three surface chillers of 10.55 Megawatts (3,000 tons) total cooling capacity. Cooling towers, also located on surface, ultimately reject all the heat from underground system. The chilled water is pumped to a shell and tube heat exchanger station located 915 metres underground in a high pressure circulating water closed loop system cooling the shell side. The chilled, shell side water from this station is pumped to a lower level to plate and frame heat exchangers. The plate and frame heat exchangers cool open loops for water sprayed in spray chambers for the main ventilation system cooling located 1050 meters (3440 ft) below the surface. Chilled water is also circulated in air-to-water heat exchanger coils, for ventilation air in blind excavations. Despite many cascading loops, the efficiency of the cooling process continues to improve significantly. Increased efficiency has been achieved by reducing fouling and increasing the overall heat transfer coefficients of the heat exchangers while maintaining the design flow rates.
