PME-310

Mine
Ventilation

What is ventilation?
Ventilation refers to the movement of
air around the mine to provide suitable
quality and quantity of air to maintain a
safe and healthy environment in which
workers may work.
A mine ventilation system includes fans,
airways, control devices to direct or
restrict air flow, cooling and filtering air
and systems for monitoring air quality
and quantity.

 A Ventilation Control Plan can assist in managing

and controlling the risks associated with
ventilation.
The hazards which are controlled by ventilation
include:
oxygen content
toxic and asphyxiant gases
flammable gases
airborne dust
fumes
products of combustion
humidity
temperature, and
naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs).
These hazards may occur naturally or as a result of
mining operations.

Fans
In general A primary fan is a surface fan and a secondary
fan is any fan that is not a surface primary fan.
The ventilating air current is drawn around a mine through
pressure created by a fan. Fans include:
Main fans, which are located on the surface, create the
ventilating pressure that generates the ventilation circuit
around the mine.
Booster fans, which are located underground and reduce
the pressure that must be generated by the main fans
Auxiliary fans which generate an air flow beyond the
circuit created by the main and booster fans.
Scrubber fans, which remove dust by passing air through
a filter.
A circuit or district fan is a fan that does not
significantly impact on the overall total mine airflow but
does have a significant effect on a particular district or
circuit within the mine.

 Fans must be designed, constructed

and installed to
Suit the duty, including the effect on
other fan installations
Minimise the risk of ignition of an
explosive mixture of gases passing
through the fan (coal mines)
Prevent access during operation, and
Prevent unauthorised starting and
stopping.

 Main fans should have arrangements to

Monitor air quantity and pressure
Monitor any gases that are likely to pass
through the fan (coal mines)
Prevent damage in the event of an explosion
Have an auxiliary power supply in case of
mains supply failure
Cut the power supply to booster and auxiliary
fans in the ventilation circuit supplied by the
main fan
Monitor vibration and bearing temperature,
and
Use non incentive materials, such as brass or
copper, in the rotor of the housing (coal
mines).

 Booster fans should have arrangements

to
Monitor the operating status of the fan
Monitor air quantity and pressure
Prevent recirculation
Monitor general body levels of methane
around the fan motors (coal mines)
Cut the power supply to auxiliary fans in
the ventilation circuit supplied by the
booster fan, and
Allow for the fan to be bypassed in case
of failure.

 Auxiliary fans should have arrangements to

Prevent recirculation
Cut the power supply to electrical equipment
operating in the ventilation circuit supplied by the
fan (coal mines)
Only be started after an inspection has been
carried out in the affected roadways (coal mines),
and
Scrubber fans may have arrangements where the
capacity of the fan is greater than the volume
available in the workplace. This is planned
recirculation, which removes dust through
filtration.

 There are mainly three types of air

flow systems:
1.Exhaust system
2.Blowing or Forcing system
3.Push-pull or combination system

FORCING (BLOWING) AND

EXHAUSTING CONFIGURATIONS
Ducted fans can be used in forcing (blowing)
or exhausting configurations, or various
combinations of these.
Both options are in widespread use, although
the general rule is that continuous mining
methods (such as road headers or continuous
miners) use exhausting ventilation because
the contaminants of gas and dust are being
continuously produced.
Where as drill and blast mining methods
use forcing ventilation because the gas and
dust is largely produced during the blasting
process.

Advantages and disadvantages of exhaust system

of ventilation

Advantages and disadvantages of forcing

system of ventilation

 Advantage and disadvantage of

Push-pull or combination system:
In the push-pull system, it is easier to get air
to difficult places. The disadvantage of this
system is that it is harder to balance the
ventilation system.

FAN PRESSURE
Technically, the pressure losses in any ventilation
system such as a mine are: the inlet losses from
atmosphere into the intakes, the frictional losses
[including the special frictional loss call shock
losses(i.e., energy wasted by abrupt changes in
the direction of air flow)] within the mine, and the
unavoidable loss of (velocity) pressure at the
exhaust outlets from the mine back into the
atmosphere.
In theory, the correct solution for fan pressure
problems is to sum these losses and then apply
the fan total pressure(s) (FTP) to overcome them.
However, this is a complex and usually
unnecessarily complicated approach.
The more prudent approach is to use only fan
static pressures (FSP) to overcome the system
pressure losses. FSP is always lower than FTP.

SERIES FAN INSTALLATIONS

In a series fan installation
(the outlet of one fan is
the direct inlet to the
next fan), there is only
one loss of fan velocity
pressure (FVP) at any
given flow, so that the
normal rule of summing
the individual fan static
pressures (FSP) values of
each fan is not correct.
The true combined fan
FSP at any flow is the
sum of the individual FSP
values plus the FVP of the
first fan.

PARALLEL FAN INSTALLATIONS

There are a number

of potential
problems with fans
installed in parallel,
such as in Figure. It
is important that
both the fan inlets
and fan outlets are
free of obstructions
and provide good
flow paths into and
out of the fans.

Some manufacturers recommend a baffle

be installed between parallel fans to
avoid one fan starving the other fan.