Enhancement of ventilation efficiency in blind roadways of potash mines by dust criterion

The ventilation airflow patterns and the resultant air quality (by the criterion of dust) at workplaces of operators of continuous miners and self-propelled cars are analyzed and compared using different ventilation methods in blind roadways of potash mines. Essential improvement of air quality in the breathing zones of operators of continuous miners and selfpropelled cars is possible with prevailing application of displacement ventilation mechanism (piston principle or ideal air flow) over the mixing ventilation mechanism. For the displacement ventilation mechanism in an enclosed space and to ensure an intense eddy flow in the face area, it is proposed to use the notions of upwind and downwind zones as conditionally clean and dirty micro-zones, respectively. Introduction of these notions, new in mine aerology, enables a deeper analysis of the air flow processes which define the air quality in the miners’ breathing zones. The proposed approach is based on the theoretical studies, field studies and computer-aided numerical modeling of two ventilation methods in blind faces—blowing and suction ventilation. In blind roadways of potash mines using continuous mining machines, blowing ventilation induces dustiness at workplaces of operators of continuous miners and self-propelled cars as against the suction method of airing. Thereby, suction ventilation, which is yet unapplied in potash mines in Russia, has great advantages and can essentially improve ventilation efficiency in blind roadways in potash mining using continuous mining machines.

Fainburg G. Z., Isaevich A. G., Zaytsev A. V. Enhancement of ventilation efficiency in blind roadways of potash mines by dust criterion. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2021;(8):3850. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2021_8_0_38.

The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 19-77-30008.

G.Z. Fainburg¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, Chief Scientific Researcher, e-mail: faynburg@yandex.ru,
A.G. Isaevich¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Sector, e-mail: aero_alex@mail.ru,
A.V. Zaytsev¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Sector, e-mail: aerolog.artem@gmail.com,
¹ Mining Institute of Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 614007, Perm, Russia.

A.G. Isaevich, e-mail: aero_alex@mail.ru.

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