| Publication Date |
1989 |
| Personal Author |
Chilton, J. E.; Carpenter, C. R. |
| Page Count |
20 |
| Abstract |
Underground miners may be exposed to hazardous quantities of toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide (CO), generated from mine fires or explosions. Every underground miner is required to carry a filter self-rescuer (FSR), which when operated will remove CO from the miner's breathing air. In addition, every underground miner must have a self-contained self-rescuer (SCSR) near the worksite that will supply breathing oxygen. In many situations, miners do not know when to do either rescuer since they do not know if there is a fire in the mine nor do they carry instrumentation necessary for the detection of the toxic, colorless, and odorless fire product CO. If each miner carried a personal CO alarm, which would respond to high concentrations of CO, the miner would then be alerted when to do either the FSR or SCSR and exit the mine. A prototype personal miner's CO alarm called PEMCOAL unit is small enough to be carried on a miner's belt, has a flash lamp visual alarm, requires no calibration for use, and uses a chemical sensor that changes color by reaction with trace quantities of CO. The chemical sensor was tested at concentrations of CO from 10 to 1,000 ppm, at temperatures from 5 to 40 C, and with several potential mine gas interferents. The PEMCOAL alarm times were sufficiently fast to warn miners before they are exposed to hazardous quantities of CO. |
| Keywords |
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| Source Agency |
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| NTIS Subject Category |
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| Corporate Authors |
Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh Research Center. |
| Supplemental Notes |
Also available from Supt. of Docs. Library of Congress catalog card no. 89-600201. |
| Document Type |
Technical Report |
| Title Note |
Information circular/1989. |
| NTIS Issue Number |
199010 |
