Publication Date |
1983 |
Personal Author |
Ruggieri, S. K.; Muldoon, T. L.; Schroeder, W.; Babbitt, C.; Rajan, S. |
Page Count |
158 |
Abstract |
Effective control of respirable dust is one of the most serious problems associated with longwall mining in the United States. The major reason is that face workers work in the airstream downwind of the major dust source--the longwall shearer cutting drum. The major approach to dust control has been the increased use of water sprays for dust suppression. These sprays, however, can make conditions worse by creating turbulence and mixing, which forces the dust cloud into the operator's breathing zone. The air upstream of the shearer is clean. If the flow could be split with one split confining and carrying away the dust cloud and the second split blowing over the operators, their dust exposures would be reduced. The report describes the laboratory development and field evaluation of a system that accomplishes the airstream split. The system combines the use of barriers and water sprays to split the airflow and to confine the dust cloud in the dirty split in the face side of the shearer. The system, known as the shearer clearer, has shown 50% reductions in shearer-generated dust measured at the operators. |
Keywords |
|
Source Agency |
|
NTIS Subject Category |
|
Corporate Authors |
Foster-Miller, Inc., Waltham, MA.; Bureau of Mines, Washington, DC. |
Supplemental Notes |
See also PB86-205416. Sponsored by Bureau of Mines, Washington, DC. |
Document Type |
Technical Report |
Title Note |
Open file rept. Dec 79-Apr 83. |
NTIS Issue Number |
198618 |
Contract Number |
|