NIOSH Mining Laboratory
Full Scale Longwall Dust Gallery |
| Return to: Physical Infrastructure |
|
| Adjusting water pressure on a shearer at the Full Scale Longwall Dust Gallery |
The Full Scale Longwall Dust Gallery is used to conduct tests of engineering control technologies in a controlled environment where the complexity or length of the testing would prohibit evaluation in an operating mine. After controls are optimized in the gallery, implementation and testing is then conducted in underground mines.
The gallery is 125 feet in length and represents a segment of a longwall mining face. Full-scale wooden models of a shearer, 25 shields and a panline are used to simulate longwall mining equipment. Coal dust is injected into the face near both cutting drums on the shearer and in the panline to simulate dust liberated during the cutting and transport of coal from the mining face. Various operating parameters can be changed to evaluate their impact on dust liberation and control. Mining height, spray system design, face air flow, water quantity and pressure to sprays, and cutting direction can be varied to study the impact on dust levels. A number of operating parameters, including air velocity, water pressure, and dust levels, are monitored real-time during testing from the control room to ensure valid test conditions are maintained. Gravimetric and instantaneous dust sampling is utilized to quantify changes in airborne respirable dust.