Reduction of cooling capacity of air conditioning systems in deep mines using the Cooling-On-Demand Concept

An increase in the depth of mining operations is accompanied with the growth of temperature in mines, which requires installing air conditioning systems. At the same time, the high cooling capacity and energy consumption of these systems impair the project economics. Aimed to reduce the cooling capacity and energy consumption of air conditioning, a new concept is proposed–Cooling-On-Demand: it means that cool air is only fed in operating spaces during certain technological operations and in the actually required quantity. The optimization methods of operating conditions of air coolers are discussed, including local cooling of working areas, ventilation-on-demand, employment of self-propelling machines with cabs equipped with air conditioning systems, as well as heat insulation of air inlet ways and ducts. A case-study of a copper–nickel mine shows that the adoption of the proposed set of measures enables reduction in the overall required cooling capacity from 41.8 MW to 2.8–3.5 MW. Additionally, arrangement of a refrigerating machine and tower coolers on ground surface is justified as it ensures the lowest capital and operating costs owing to utilization of the Free Cooling technology. The obtained results prove that the integrated use of the proposed methods appreciably enhances energy efficiency of mine air conditioning. 

Olkhovsky D. V., Zaitsev A. V., Parashakov O. S., Perestoronin M. O. Reduction of cooling capacity of air conditioning systems in deep mines using the Cooling-On-Demand Concept. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2026;(8):5-17. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2026_8_0_5.

The study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of state contract, R&D Project No. 126012716039-2.

D.V. Olkhovsky¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Researcher, e-mail: demexez@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0009-0009-6370-149X,
A.V. Zaitsev¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Laboratory; Professor, Perm National Research Polytechnic University, e-mail: artem.v.zaitsev@yandex.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2314-0482,
O.S. Parashakov¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Researcher, e-mail: olegparshakov@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5545-442X,
M.O. Perestoronin¹, Graduate Student, Engineer, e-mail: maksim.o.perestoronin@yandex.ru, ORCID ID: 0009-0003-0203-9304,
¹ Mining Institute, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory for the Development of Mining Industrial Perm, 614007, Russia.

D.V. Olkhovsky, e-mail: demexez@gmail.com.

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