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Mining Contract: Cap Lamp Particulate Monitoring System
Keywords: Cap lamps Diesel particulate matter
Contract #
75D30120C09347Start Date
9/15/2020Research Concept
Current continuous personal dust monitors (CPDMs) do not track location in the mine or measure silica exposure, which causes pneumoconiosis, silicosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Today’s miner needs a silica monitoring device which is integrated into an existing piece of equipment that can detect and provide an alert of exposures to silica while also recording where the miner is located underground when exposed.
Contract Status & Impact
This contract is ongoing. For more information on this contract, send a request to mining@cdc.gov.
Coal seams are becoming smaller and more difficult to mine, and they require additional rock cutting which increases miners’ exposure to respirable silica. The best way to protect workers and provide information to mine operators is to have a real-time, silica-monitoring device integrated into existing equipment that mine workers currently wear.
This contract will develop a Cap Lamp Particulate Monitoring System (CPMS)—an integrated silica monitoring and tracking device—by leveraging research performed using multi-wave Raman light detection and ranging (LIDAR) to identify the optimal emitter and detector for the measurement of crystalline silica. The CPMS will alert miners when the silica permissible exposure limit (PEL) as established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reached unsafe levels, or when an individual miner’s exposure to particulates has reached an unsafe level. To successfully develop this technology, two barriers must be overcome:
Identify the commercially available emitters and detectors that can be utilized.
Successfully integrate all the components into the helmet while meeting size and power restrictions of a cap lamp headpiece and waist-worn battery.An intrinsically safe waist-worn battery approved by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for the Strata Personal Alarm Device and an intrinsically safe underground cap lamp will be leveraged to develop an intrinsically safe silica detection system that will be placed inside a cap lamp and waist-worn battery pack. The system will use infrared spectrophotometry, which is an accurate and widely used method to determine silica content. It will also incorporate the principles of Raman scattering.
Despite its potential for accuracy, the instrument’s cost, size, and data collection speed are major obstacles to making such a device mobile and operable in real time. Fortunately, advances in LIDAR technology incorporating Raman scattering measurements has shown great promise. A prototype of the CPMS will be developed through identification of optimal Raman backscattering wave-length emitters and detectors, testing and evaluation of commercially available off-the-shelf emitter and detectors on custom printed circuit boards, and integration of both an emitter and detector into the cap lamp.
See Also
Aerosols Emitted in Underground Mine Air by Diesel Engine Fueled with Biodiesel
A Computer Software Program that Estimates Air Quantity Requirements in Large Opening Stone Mines
Diesel Exhaust Aerosol, Review of Measurement Technology
Discomfort Glare Comparison for Various LED Cap Lamps
The Effects of Water Emulsified Fuel on Diesel Particulate Matter Concentrations in Underground Mines
Experiments on Personal Equipment for Low Seam Coal Miners: IV. Incorporating Coiled Cord Into Cap Lamp Battery Cords
Instrumentation for Diesel Particulate Matter Emissions Research
Technology News 514 - The Air Quantity Estimator (AQE): A New Computer Software Tool for Large-opening Mine Ventilation Planning
Visual Performance for Incandescent and Solid-State Cap Lamps in an Underground Mining Environment
Visual Performance for Trip Hazard Detection When Using Incandescent and LED Miner Cap Lamps
Page last reviewed: February 16, 2023
Page last updated: February 16, 2023
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Program
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