WO1999056002A1

WO1999056002A1 - Cable line stopping

Info

Publication number: WO1999056002A1
Application number: PCT/AU1999/000304
Authority: WO
Inventors: Raymond Gordon Truloff; Kevin Gary Rohl
Original assignee: Cervetto Courtice Solicitors
Priority date: 1998-04-27
Filing date: 1999-04-22
Publication date: 1999-11-04
Also published as: AUPP316798A0; CA2325177A1

Abstract

A cable line stopping for use in underground mining comprising a number of anchor bolts placed in a plane required to be sealed off, wire ropes attached to the anchor bolts, wire rope tensioning means and a mesh affixed to the wire ropes.

Description

1 CABLE LINE STOPPING

This invention relates to an improved method of constructing a stopping,

particularly for use in underground mining.

Stopping is the process of sealing, sealing off, quarantining, closing or

restricting access to or from an area.

Stoppings have a number of purposes. They are used for sealing roadways.

They are used for the segmentation of belt roads. They are used for the sealing of

mine areas. They are used for the control of ventilation air. They are used for

overcasts.

There have been many forms of stoppings used, however, the manufacture

of those conventional stoppings has involved traditional means where the stopping

is generally constructed using traditional building methods and traditional building

materials. In this specification, those stoppings will be referred to as "traditional

stoppings".

The conventional method of constructing a traditional stopping is to prepare

the site of the stopping by removing and levelling or straightening the area in which

the stopping is to be placed, placing a foundation or other support and constructing

a stopping from concrete, bricks, metal or other material.

The traditional manufacturing processes used in the construction of existing

stoppings are labour intensive and expensive.

There are a number of problems and drawbacks with conventional

stoppings. They include:-

SUBSTTTUTE SHEET (Rule 26) (RO/AU) 2 The materials used are expensive. The materials generally used in

conventional stoppings comprise concrete, bricks, steel and wood. The invention

uses mining anchor bolts, wire rope, fittings to attach the wire rope to the anchor

bolts, mesh and a flexible membrane material.

The traditional methods requires building expertise to quite a high standard.

The area to be stopped must be accurately measured and the foundations accurately

laid and the material used in the stopping measured and cut to a high degree of

accuracy. The invention does not require particular accuracy in its construction.

The anchor bolts do not have to be accurately placed. The wire rope length is not

critical as it can be adjusted by wire rope clamps and by turn buckles.

Traditional stoppings do not allow for the easy removal of the stopping.

Once the traditional stopping is in place, the complete structure normally has to be

demolished to allow the passage of vehicles or any amendment. With the

invention, movement through the stopping is much easier and cheaper and quicker

by virtue of the fact that the stopping can be easily, partially or fully removed by

undoing the anchor nuts on the bolts, moving the stopping and replacing it when

required.

The traditional stopping is generally inflexible. This a particular problem in

high roof heave or floor heave areas where there is significant movement of the

surfaces intended to be stopped. When traditional stoppings are used in these

areas, the integrity and strength of the stopping is damaged by the movement or,

alternatively, the sealing qualities in the event of a heave, which increases the area

to be stopped, damages the sealing qualities of the stopping. 3 Traditional stoppings, particularly those used in high floor heave areas lose

strength once the construction has been damaged. The invented stopping has a

high rate of flexibility and so is not as sensitive to movement as the traditional

stopping.

The inherent flexibility of the invention combined with its strength allows

it to withstand forces without sustaining damage much more so than the

conventional stopping. A conventional brick wall stopping, if struck by a vehicle,

can collapse or be severely damaged. The invented stopping has a much higher

ability to absorb such impacts than conventional stopping.

The invented stopping is able to withstand sudden changes in air pressure

or explosions more so than conventional stoppings.

Traditional stoppings utilise bulky and heavy materials. There is a

considerable cost component involved in conveying the mortar, bricks, timber and

other equipment required to construct the conventional stopping. The materials

required for the construction of the invention are much easier to transport. The

wire rope used normally comes on spools. The mesh or weave can be taken to the

site in a rolled up form. The membrane coating is prior to appl ication, a liquid

which is transported in a container.

The short comings listed in the previous paragraph and the short comings

generally evident in traditional stoppings, are overcome by the present invention

which utilises commonly used and proprietary available materials constructed in

such a manner that the resulting structure has the necessary rigidity in all

dimensions required, has the sealing qualities required of a stopping, is robust 4 enough to comply with mining use and is much more flexible, particularly when

subjected to vertical movements of the area intended to be stopped in high floor

and roof heave areas.

Figure 1 shows an area of mine working that requires a stopping. In this

case, the area required to be stopped requires a vertical stopping.

Figure 2 shows that a number of anchor bolts are placed in the plane

required to be sealed off. Normal fully encapsulated chemical anchor bolts are

utilised in Figure 2. Seven have been placed in the floor, seven have been placed

in the roof, three have been placed in the left vertical rib or side and four have been

placed in the right vertical rib or side. The placement, the dimensions and the

specifications for the rock bolts would depend on the area to be stopped.

Figure 3 also shows the detail of a typical attachment to locate wire rope of

an appropriate dimension to that portion of the rock bolt which is visible so as to

locate the wire rope near the surface which is required to be stopped. The form of

the attachment is not critical. Proprietary manufactured attachments which are also

detailed could be utilised.

Figure 4 shows wire rope threaded through the attachments. The

configuration of the wire rope depends on the area to be stopped. In Figure 4, the

illustration shown, a number of different lengths of wire rope have been utilised.

The number of different lengths of wire rope vary with the construction. In some

instances, one length of wire rope could be utilised, much in the way that one

length of material is used for stringing a tennis racquet. In the case of Figure 4, 5 multiple pieces of wire rope have been used which have been attached to

proprietary turn buckles by conventional means.

The bolts are placed so that the wire rope follows the contour of the surface

to be sealed inso much as is possible by tightening the nuts on the rock bolts.

The wire ropes are tensioned by tightening the turn buckles. Figure 4 shows

the wire ropes in a tensioned position.

Other means of tensioning the wire rope could be utilised including

adjustable eye bolts, the tensioning of the wire ropes by deflection towards each

other, the use of a mechanical tensioning device in conjunction with wire rope

clamps and other similar methods.

In areas of extreme floor or roof heave, the ability of the stopping to take up

the altered area is obtained by loosely tensioning the vertical wire ropes as is shown

in Figure 5.

After the wire ropes are tensioned, surface material is attached to the wire

ropes to form a surface to which a flexible membrane will adhere. In underground

mining situations, "battice", which is a non-static proprietary weave, could be used.

Other mesh such as "tecrete" mesh or shade cloth or similar material could be used,

in this specification whether mesh or weave or other material is used, it will be

referred to as "mesh".

The mesh is affixed to the wire ropes by normal mechanical means such as

zip ties, tie wire, U bolts or other similar fastenings depending on the type of mesh

used. 6

The mesh is trimmed to size to fit the opening required to be stopped. To

reduce the area required to be sealed and to strengthen the mesh, smaller fasteners

can be used to directly attach the mesh to the wall of the area required to be sealed.

Once the mesh is cut to size, an elastic membrane coating is applied to the

mesh. The proprietary compound "masterseal" ^® 800A orsimilar membrane would

be applied to either one or both sides of the mesh.

The elastic membrane coating would be applied by spraying or by manual

application with brush, roller or trowel.

Figures 6 shows a side elevation of the stopping showing detail of the anchor

bolts and nuts, the wire rope, the wire rope to anchor bolt attachments, the wire

rope tensioning device, the mesh, the attachments of the mesh to the wire rope and

the elastic coating after having been applied.

It will be realised that the stopping is not restricted to use in vertical

situations as shown in Figure 1 nor in relation to the cross section of the area as

shown in those diagrams. The stopping can be used in any plane and to stop any

shaped hole. Figure 7, for example, shows a stopping inserted so that the elastic

membrane is horizontal. It could be used in a situation to protect workers from

suffering injury from falling rocks or debris. The elastic membrane would restrain

the smaller debris while the wire rope would restrain the larger objects and the

invention would still have the elasticity that a conventional barrier would not have.

The construction of the stopping in this horizontal situation shown would be very

much easier than a conventional stopping. 7 Figure 8 shows a stopping constructed in a situation where the area to be

covered would place an unacceptable force on the rock bolts without the assistance

of a strengthening construction. In the figure shown, a steel I section girder of

appropriate dimensions has been placed and secured in a vertical plane and the

wire rope on the rib line has been attached to the girder as shown. By utilising this

means the invention can be utilised in almost unlimited lengths. Figure 9 shows

a stopping constructed in a situation where an angle is required in the stopping

viewed from a plan view. In this case, the two separate angles of the stopping are

attached to the section of I girder shown in the plan.

Figure 10 demonstrates the invention used in a typical long wall panel

development.

Assume the long wall extraction sequence has extracted 1 10 metres of the

block before the first major fall occurs and the first only major consequent

displacement of air. Stoppings #1 and #2 will take the major air displacement. The

retreating long wall face is 2.45 metres in width. It has a hard sandstone roof with

120-130 psi rating. Stoppings #1 and #2 remain as seal stoppings to force the

intake air over the extracted long wall block (shown hatched in the drawing). A

softer fragile roof (70-50 psi) will not leave the exposed roof suspended for an

appreciable distance and no major air displacement will occur. The length of the

long wall block from the installation roadway to the takeoff roadway is 3000

metres. The height of the seam to be extracted is 3000 mm.

All cable line stoppings for panel development in long wall extraction are

for air control in the intake and return roadway headings. The stoppings are not 8 panel seals or long wall seals and their prime function is to ensure the efficient

ventilation of the panel developments and the long wall extractions. I have found

the advantages of the exemplified stoppings to be:

1 . Labour efficiency in installation;

2. Portability; and

3. Minimal maintenance.

Figure 1 1 shows the invention used in a situation allowing water pipes and

air pipes and electricity wire ropes and similar utilities. Figure 12 shows the

invention partially removed which is required in situations to alter the ventilation

of an area or to allow personnel or vehicles to pass through the stopping.

Claims

9 THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

A stopping comprising anchor bolts, wire ropes, a device to attach the wire

ropes to the anchor bolts and a tensioning device to which is attached mesh or

weave and to which is applied an elastic membrane or similar material.

A stopping of Claim (a) which is flexible.

A stopping of Claim (a) which allows ease of removal to allow for the

passage of vehicles or personnel or ventilation.

A stopping of Claim (a) which allows ease of placementand sealing of water,

air, electricity pipes and similar utilities.

A stopping of Claim (a) where the membrane surface and the tensioning

device allow elasticity to continue to seal the area required should the dimensions

of the area required to be stopped changed with reasonable limits.

A stopping device substantially as herein described with reference to the

accompanying drawings.