Improving occupational safety of miners
There have been a number of mine tragedies in the past years that have resulted in loss of life, had a drastic environmental impact and caused considerable socio-economic damage upon for the surrounding area. In 2007 big mining explosions occurred in the Ukraine and China. In Europe the Pyrite mine explosion at Aznalcollar in Seville blew up in April 1998. These events underscore the critical need for improved occupational safety for those working in mines and in particular, better reaction speed and preventative measures to be taken if an explosion were to occur. In Europe, the mining industry is still active for various industries to extract coal and oil, metals such as zinc and silver, potash for fertilizer and gypsum for cement. The dangers in mines such as fires, cages falling, explosions and flooding are made all the more difficult by the lack of an operative communication system at the time of these accidents. Ardoran, as project partners of WIRENET will be working with the mining company with a view to implementing a system based on the WireNet technology. Since WireNet is based on UWB principles, it offers the possibility to transmit the intercom signals via the mains cable and then re-transmit throughout the mine area. This will involve development of a WireNet UWB-radio interface converter. This works in an emergency situation. Currently radio systems from the Czech Republic and the USA have been evaluated and found to be unsuitable. The WireNetr solution provides a simpler topography compared to the mains power wiring in domestic and industrial premises. Since the power cable down the hole has only one input and one output it is more suitable. It simplifies the transmission and filtering requirements.
