Development of underground mine monitoring and communication system integrated ZigBee and GIS

An automated underground mine monitoring and communication system based on the integration of new technologies is introduced to promote safety and health,operational management and cost-effectiveness.The proposed system integration considering Wireless Sensor Network(WSN) assisted Geographic Information System(GIS) enables to monitor and control underground mining applications from surface office.Based on the capabilities of WSNs,ZigBee network is adapted for near real-time monitoring,ventilation system control and emergency communication in underground mine.ZigBee nodes were developed to sense environmental attributes such as temperature,humidity and gases concentration;switching ON and OFF ventilation fans;and texting emergency messages.A trigger action plan for monitored attributes above normal and threshold value limits is programmed in the surface GIS management server.It is designed to turn the auxiliary fans on remotely or automatically in orange condition and sending evacuation messages for underground miners in unsafe(red) condition.Multi-users operation and 3D visualisations are other successful achievements of the proposed system for the underground monitoring and communication.

Improved complex filter applied in enhancing EFT/B immunity at a coal mine monitoring substation

A monitoring system is an important guarantee of safety in a production mine. However, not all monitoring substations pass the electrical fast transient/burst （EFT/B） immunity test and the explosion-proof test simultaneously. To enhance the immunity, the values of capacitance and inductance should be increased, which are actually limited by coal mine explosion-proof standards. Hence, for the first time, an active filter was applied in an electromagnetic interference （EMI） output filter. As a result, the interference within 30 MHz clearly weakened, but the frequency spectrum had a wide range. An EMI input filter and ferrite beads were adopted to restrain higher frequency interference. An output interference spectrogram of the substation was obtained with an analyzer. The results indicate that the improved complex filtering markedly help to control interference. With the support of improved complex filtering and other enhancing immunity means about I/O ports, the substation managed to pass both the EFT/B immunity test and the explosion-proof test synchronously. We conclude that improved complex filtering is of vital importance in enhancing the electromagnetic compatibilitv （EMC） of the coal mine monitoring system.

Gas-dynamic phenomena caused by rock mass tremors and rock bursts

Similar to coal, rock and gas ejections, rock mass tremors and rock bursts are among the most serious natural hazards accompanying the underground extraction of coal. Gas-dynamic phenomena caused by rock mass tremors and rock bursts observed as transient states of air parameters in mining headings,are usually generated as a result of a change in the geometry of headings and the release of considerable amounts of gases. Particular significance is attributed to transient states caused by disasters, which are often accompanied by rapid incidents, presenting threats to the life and health of the underground crew.In Polish mining there are known examples of transient states of air parameters recorded during gasdynamic phenomena, e.g. tremors and rock bursts. The paper presents the case studies of rapid seismic incidents to show how records in mine monitoring systems broaden the knowledge about the transient states of air parameters in mining headings generated because of them.