Testing and Evaluation of an Inflatable Temporary Ventilation Control Device

Details

• Personal Author:
  McCartney C ; Roelofs HJ ; Trevits, Michael A.
• Description:
  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in partnership with Strata Products tested the sealing capability of Ventstop as part of an ongoing mine fire control and suppression research program. Ventstop is a multi-purpose, inflatable device that is produced by Minvent Solutions and is available world wide for use in the metal and nonmetal mining industry. Ventstop is also used in the Australian coal industry as a temporary ventilation control device. The device can be quickly deployed, is reusable and can be placed in horizontal and vertical mine voids to control dust, fumes and smoke. Deployment, multi-day inflation and air leakage tests were conducted at the NIOSH Lake Lynn Laboratory to determine the capability and limitations of Ventstop in a simulated coal mine setting. During the tests, Ventstop was also subjected to low level forces of a nearby methane gas ignition. It is thought that Ventstop could be used by the US coal mining industry to temporarily close an underground mine area in response to a fire or spontaneous combustion heating event, to temporarily redirect mine ventilation during longwall equipment moves or during stopping construction. This paper describes this inflatable temporary mine sealing technology and presents the results of the NIOSH tests. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Body Fluids Coal Coal Mining Emergencies Heat Stress Disorders Hot Temperature Humidity Mining Occupational Health Safety Temperature

  More +
• Keywords:
  Coal-mining Metal-mining Mine-fires Mining-industry Nonmetal-mining Underground-mining
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Georgia ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035061
• Citation:
  2009 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit, February 22-25, Denver, Colorado, Preprint 09-151. Littleton, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2009 Feb; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:126524b2688ae7f21fb9dcb447572c87495eee2bf58d29bd796d452c8cfda2cd99340ceb6cb388dfc9d3a0a419a399a60a13d6cb48c14130a6067ea0c7b38dfe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227070/cdc_227070_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.17 MB ]