EP0079261B1 - Method of protecting personnel working in a dusty atmosphere - Google Patents

Abstract

1. A method for the protection of personnel working in the dusty atmosphere of headings of underground roadways characterized in that two protective curtains of non-dusty air are produced between the dusty road head and the rear of the heading where the personnel are, these curtains of air being situated in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the roadway, the curtains being obtained by delivering filtered air through two slots (26) in an enclosure (25) of a filtered air delivery device disposed at the rear of a dusty air suction device.

Description

The present invention relates to a method of protecting personnel working in a dusty atmosphere. More particularly, it relates to a process making it possible to maintain in a healthy atmosphere the part of the underground construction sites in which the personnel work.

The digging of underground galleries, in particular the digging of mines or tunnels is carried out using special machines called digging machines which advance in the galleries by cutting the rocks. These machines generally consist of a rotating head provided at its end with sharp elements which penetrate into the rocks.

Rock mining, particularly that carried out in mining operations, is accompanied by large formations of dust. The search for better technical and economic results in the digging of underground galleries leads to the use of machines which are more and more efficient but which at the same time produce increasingly large quantities of harmful dust.

To protect the personnel working in mining sites, ori implements dusting processes which most often consist in sucking stale air from the side of the working face, then purifying it in devices fitted with purifying materials, then to expel the purified air behind the cutting face, (see for example US-A-42 89 509). Unfortunately, such processes do not allow the environment for personnel working on mining sites to be adequately cleaned.

To improve the purification of dusty air, it is known to implement methods according to which fresh air is blown from the rear of the mining site towards the front of the mining site: in this case, turbulence is observed. which are added to those created by the cutting head and prevent good suction of unclean air. As a result, a good part of this unpurified air will pollute the rest of the site.

We have now found a method which makes it possible to solve these problems and in particular a method which makes it possible to provide effective protection for personnel working in mining sites.

The present invention relates to a method of protecting personnel working in the dusty atmosphere of underground gallery digging sites, characterized in that two protective non-dusty air curtains are created between the dusty working face and the rear of the site. in which the staff is located, these air curtains being located in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the gallery, the curtains being obtained by delivery of purified air through two slots in an enclosure of the delivery device d purified air disposed behind the dusty air suction device.

The process of the present application is implemented by creating two protective air curtains of dust-free air. The creation of more than two air curtains is possible but does not bring any significant improvement; the formation of a single air curtain is insufficient to obtain effective protection for personnel. According to the invention, the two air curtains can be obtained by using in particular the purified air delivery device described in the dust collector which is the subject of a European patent application EP-A-79 260 filed the same updated by the plaintiff and which is entitled: dust collector. According to this request, the device for discharging the purified air consists of an enclosure having the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped disposed behind the dusty air suction device and provided on each lower and upper face with two slots. rectilinear located in two planes perpendicular to the axis of the dust collector.

The attached figure provides a better understanding of the process of the present invention. It is a top view with partial section. It illustrates a preferred form of implementation of the invention according to which the air delivery device mentioned above is used in the application filed the same day by the applicant and which relates to a dust collector: the parallelepiped enclosure 25 is provided with slots 26 arranged on each lower and upper face in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the gallery. When the dust collector is in operation, the purified air enters through channels 22 and 23 to exit in the form of blades 27, 28, 29 and 30 thus creating curtains for separating the working face and the rear of the site.

The process of the present application is particularly advantageous since it makes it possible to effectively isolate and protect personnel from dusty areas of underground construction sites. The implementation is carried out using specific devices which can then be integrated into more complex equipment such as dust collectors.

Claims (1)

1. A method for the protection of personnel working in the dusty atmosphere of headings of underground roadways characterized in that two protective curtains of non-dusty air are produced between the dusty road head and the rear of the heading where the personnel are, these curtains of air being situated in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the roadway, the curtains being obtained by delivering filtered air through two slots (26) in an enclosure (25) of a filtered air delivery device disposed at the rear of a dusty air suction device.

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