MINE VENTILATION
This fourth generation platform will allow full
automation of ventilation doors, regulators and
sumps without the requirement of adding
programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
“PLCs require cabinets, drawings, wiring,
fabrication and integration, leading to high end-toend
costs, and then need to be maintained by
specialists,” Gribbons said.
“Maestro’s product strategy is to eliminate
expensive hardware, integration and engineering
services by designing mine-hardened, applicationspecific
IIoT digital solutions. It doesn’t make
sense to continue to use outdated technology just
because it was done that way in the mid-70s.
“Many of our clients are already using Voiceover-IP
phones so they understand the value from
this technology and what we are doing is the
same – providing a vastly less expensive
integration, quicker and with full data and
diagnostic functions.”
It is developments such as this that distinguish
Maestro’s outlook on ventilation from its
competitors.
As Gribbons neatly sums up: “A 10%
productivity improvement trumps a 10% reduction
in energy.”
The onset of automation and digitalisation is
allowing ABB to strengthen and power up its own
VoD offering.
Its systems can be configured in three
implementation levels depending on customer
requests:
n Centralised supervision and control of
ventilation equipment from ABB Ability™
System 800xA Operator workplaces;
n A full-scale VoD solution with automatic control
of the ventilation equipment according to actual
demand; and
n Mine ventilation optimisation using sensor
feedback and advanced multivariable control
technology to perform mine-wide control and
optimisation of air flows and air quality while
minimising energy consumption in real time.
The company does not get involved in providing
the ventilation fans for such systems, but it can
carry out the engineering to ensure said fans are
put in the right place and are informed with the
correct data to run optimally.
“One of the things we see coming into the
industry is more sensors,” Nyqvist said. “That is
Ventsim CONTROL
allows engineers to
understand and
predict how the
controls will react
in any situation
whether it is for
emergencies, blast
clearing, excessive
contaminants,
cooling etc,
according to
Howden
another source of information we can use. This
can be air volume flow sensors, sensors to
measure temperature, etc.”
The increased number of sensors around mine
sites and the improvement in network connectivity
can boost a VoD system’s accuracy.
“When you have both of these in place, you can
start to communicate with the machines to make
the system even more efficient – not only knowing
where the machines are and the working time on
the machine, but the speed of the machine,” he
said.
Incorporation of data from mine dispatch
systems will improve the accuracy once again –
allowing the system to ventilate an area ahead of
a machine arriving to the area as opposed to when
it is already in position. Both ABB and SHYFTinc
are working on this integration, while Dello
Sbarba says Ventsim CONTROL’s Level 4 VoD
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We pride ourselves on creating the most reliable
equipment for the tunneling and mining industries.
Because we understand the harsh environments where
our fans are used, our equipment utilizes heavy gauge
steel and forged fan blades to meet or exceed these
tough demands, and in the end, save you money.
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