An experimental study of the effect of mesh on magnetic proximity detection systems.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Carr J ; Whisner B ; Zhou C
• Description:
  Proximity Detection Systems (PDSs) are used in the mining industry for protecting mine workers from striking, pinning, and crushing injuries when they work in close proximity to heavy machines such as continuous mining machines (CMMs). Currently all Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) approved PDSs are magnetic field based systems which can be influenced by the presence of wire mesh that is commonly used for supporting roof and ribs in underground coal mines. In this paper, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) characterize the influence of the mesh on the performance of magnetic PDSs by measuring the magnetic field difference around a CMM caused by the presence of the mesh. The results show that the magnetic fields are generally enhanced by the mesh which causes the PDS detection zones to be increased correspondingly. It was discovered that the fields around the joints of two mesh sections have the greatest enhancement and thus deserve more attention. In addition, it is found that the presence of mesh can also cause a variation in the generator current. The influence of mesh is characterized by the change in the generator current with respect to the distance between the generator and the mesh. It was found that the generator current change caused by the mesh can be significant (on the order of ten) when the mesh is extremely close to the generator (e.g, less than 1 cm) and is negligible when mesh is relatively far (greater than 0.15 m). The findings in this paper can be used to develop guidelines and best practices to mitigate the influence of mesh on PDSs. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Electromagnetic Fields Mining Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Proximity detection; Mining industry; Miners; Protective measures; Workers; Worker safety; Work environment; Safety; Safety measures; Injuries; Continuous mining; Machinery; Mine Safety and Health Administration; MSHA; Magnetic fields; Roof supports; Roof support systems; Accident prevention; Electromagnetic fields; EMF; Risk factors
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISBN:
  9781510884663
• Publisher:
  Curran Associates, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  433-437
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057564
• Citation:
  2019 SME Annual Conference & Expo and CMA 121st National Western Mining Conference: Smart Mining: Resources for a Connected World, February 24-27, 2019, Denver, Colorado. Red Hook, NY: Curran Associates, Inc., 2019 Aug; :433-437
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  2019 SME Annual Conference & Expo and CMA 121st National Western Mining Conference: Smart Mining: Resources for a Connected World, February 24-27, 2019, Denver, Colorado
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/247080/cdc_247080_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]