Report of Investigations 9614: Inflatable Devices for Use in Combating Mine Fires

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bazala, Eugene M. ; Conti, Ronald S. ; Pro, R. W. ; Weiss, Eric S.
• Description:
  This report summarized the United States Bureau of Mines research in developing inflatable devices for isolating and combating underground mine fires. The development and capabilities of the remotely installed inflatable device were described. Also discussed were in mine inflatable devices for use in isolating mine entries for controlling ventilation airflows, injecting suppressant foam to the fire zone, and aiding personnel to evacuate the mine. The portable in mine inflatable flow restrictor (IFR) was shown to effectively stop airflows in a wide entry of up to 1,130 cubic meters/minute in less than 3 minutes. Successful blockage was obtained in less than 30 minutes of a 1.8 meter high by 7 meter wide entry with an IFR that was remotely deployed through boreholes up to 60 meters deep. The inflatable feed tube seal (IFTS) was developed for use during an underground mine fire to rapidly isolate the fire while simultaneously providing a feed tube to allow passage of suppressant foam from a high expansion foam (HEF) generator. The IFTS offered a potential tool for fire fighters to rapidly fight fires in passageways with high expansion foam (HEF). Preliminary testing of a positive pressure, inflatable escape device indicated that the device had merit and additional in mine testing may show that it could be used in underground mines to isolate smoke filled entries from fresh air, thus allowing extra escape time. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Movements Coal Coal Mining Fires Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-flow Coal-mining Escape-systems Fire-fighting-equipment Fire-protection-equipment Mine-disasters Mine-escapes Mine-fires Mine-seals Mining-industry Safety-equipment Underground-mining

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Subseries:
  Report of Investigations
• ISSN:
  1066-5552
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Case Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRC - Pittsburgh Research Center
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  26 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00233929
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB96-162367
• Citation:
  Pittsburgh, PA: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, RI 9614, 1995 Nov; :1-18
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Pittsburgh, PA: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, RI 9614
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9f77d9f33d0a5b5de0e69c48a2a250be9bf65914235b04116821950c974b361a339acc392079fa95f1a667135b95467de7667f578dc4c5bd6a7313ffb4bdd2ea
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/183489/cdc_183489_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.52 MB ]