We all remember the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster that
occurred a few years ago in West Virginia in which many miners died in that
terrible tragedy. A lot of us responded
in anger, denouncing the mining industry and demanding a new source of energy
as an alternative to coal to become our leading producer of electricity in
this country. Few want our nation's energy source to come from such a
dangerous practice that seems to treat their employees so terribly as to risk
their lives each and every day.
As a previous mining engineering major and former miner
myself, I can speak for the mining industry and say that yes, mining is an
extremely dangerous occupation. But coal
is extremely important for our country today.
I of course do believe that we as a nation need to develop a new source
of energy that can be an effective alternative to coal and slowly and easily
transition into it. Specialists predict
that we have around 700 years left of coal to mine in our country, which is not
a lot of time. 700 years however is
definitely more than enough time to develop a new source of energy rather than
to jump in to ineffective sources such as solar and wind, which rely on a windy
or sunny day so they are not consistent, they don't produce much energy, and
really who wants a wind turbine in everyone's backyard?
So right now we really need coal in this country, but
like I said, coal mining is extremely dangerous. Coal miners understand the dangers, and are
paid a very high salary due to the risks of it, but that isn't a justifiable
reason to keep things the way they are.
Coal mining has improved drastically over the last 40 years. If anyone has seen the show on Spike TV,
"COAL," that is exactly the way coal mining was done back then. Today coal mining is not like that. Roofs and
Ribs (walls) are completely bolted and supported by wire
mesh.
Ventilation is well organized and methane readers are
located at every coal face. Problems
still always happen that can risk the lives of miners though. In the case of the Upper Big Branch Mine
disaster, methane levels were known to be high, which mainly due to poor safety
regulations by the owning company, Massey Energy. High methane itself though does not cause an
explosion. Something caused a spark, and
the gas pressure in the mine caused a massive explosion which spread down the
breaks of the mine.
Despite the corruption within Massey and the Mine Safety
and Health Administration, disasters like this can potentially be prevented by
newer technologies, rather than just simple regulations, and that is where
materials engineering can come into play.
No one knows what caused the spark in the Upper Big Branch Mine, but
what I believe it was was probably a broken cable. In underground mines, machinery does not run
on gas, because that would be far too dangerous. The continuous miner, the shuttle cars, the
roof bolters, and all other various machinery in the mine move around while
automatically reeling in and out an electric cable that runs back to a single
power source in the mine that is connected to a generator outside the
mine. While the machinery is moving
around the mine, sometimes these cables get twisted or hooked on something and
break. Not only are these dangerous to
the miners who have to hang the cable from the roof, (I've seen quite a few get
badly shocked from grabbing them) but if there were ever to be unsafe methane
levels in the mine, these broken cables are the likeliest cause of an
explosion. I personally believe that the
number one thing needed to be developed for better mine safety is a material
that insulates these cables and can stretch, bend, and withstand massive
compressive and shearing forces (From machines running over them) much more
easily than they can now. If there is
one thing that I think can improve mine safety the most, it is a new material
engineered to do this.
I sometimes forget how big our energy crisis is in this country and how rigorous meeting our demands are. I don't know much about the Mining industry, I'll admit, but I understand how important coal is to our country.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said "Methane levels were known to be high," it reminded me of how our professor was describing to us in our meeting the difficulties engineers face with ethics. If the levels were known to be high, and this was something that was already considerably dangerous, was it worth risking human lives?
Regardless, your idea for a new insular material for the cables seems spot-on. It makes sense that the broken cable was the likeliest cause of the explosion, and I think your solution could help prevent cases like that in the future.
James - You are right, it is definitely not worth risking human life. In a coal mine, every miner is required to carry a "spotter" which reads the percent methane in the air. When entering the face of a cut, the methane levels must be below 1% before any machinery is allowed in. Coal miners recognize that they are putting their lives at risk with every decision they make in the mine, and to not follow the necessary precautions would not make much sense. In the case of Upper Big Branch, the company did not even pay for many of the tools required by safety regulations, and their methane detection system may have been one of those things. It is still not completely clear which elements of Massey Energy's corrupt infrastructure played into this disaster. There also appears to have been corruption within the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and inspectors may have been being paid off by the company to ignore costly citations from the resulting inspections. Even after Massey was bought out by the bigger and far more respectable company, Alpha, investigations on the disaster are still going on.
DeleteSomething to thing about in selecting a coating is the erosion it will face as it moves across anchors and motor parts that guide the cable while it's in the tunnels.
ReplyDeleteInstead of a coating on the current cables, would this application be a good way to use carbon nanotubes? Would they spark in the same way as the current cables that are used (likely steel fiber)? Or, is it possible that they would be worse in this environment? If they would work, it seems like a more 'real world' application than constructing a space elevator from them!
Carbon nanotubes would be a great application for these cables! Another benefit from that would be that the cables would be far more lightweight. The weight of the cables is a big issue in the mine, as whenever certain machinery goes across a break, the cable must be hung from the roof so that other machines can drive underneath them. These cables are extremely heavy, and a lot of time is lost due to multiple miners having to work together to raise and lower the cables every time a machine crosses a break.
DeleteI agree with you Alex, the explosion was probably caused by the cable. Massey was to blame for the explosion, because their leaders lacked ethics, safety, and communication. Obviously the lack of communications between the engineers and inspectors caused the loss of lives. You never think about it while in class, but it's obvious that some people do not take safety into consideration. Even if communications don't improve, MSE can help improve mine safety. I'm in no way an MSE person, but maybe the cable could be covered by a clear box. You could protect it from methane and see if it gets tangled up. If this doesn't help, are cables the only way to get the shuttle cars in and out of the mines? What if there was a completely different way invented to get coal miners underground?
ReplyDeleteCamber, your solution of a clear box around the cables is on the way there to a good idea, but not quite there yet. The cables are used because they need to be able to slide around on the ground and wind around corners in the mine. The cars that carry the miners into the mine do not actually run on cables. Those cars are called "mantrips," and are battery operated since they are only used at the beginning and end of a shift and have to take a 20 min to over an hour trip from the surface to the face of the mine, in which they are charged while not working. The cars that use cables are the roof bolters, shuttle cars, and the continuous miner. A large power station sits near the face of the mine (The area where actual mining of coal rock is going on) and the cables that power the roof bolters, shuttle cars, and continuous miner, run from this power station. The roof bolters and continuous miner move slower, and the cables that power them are slowly reeled in and out and as they pass across a break, all of the miners must hang the cables from the ceiling. These cables need to bend and twist around corners, so a glass box around the cables would not be practical. The cables that break the most though, however are on the shuttle cars. The shuttle cars carry coal from the continuous miner to the belt feeder, which is one heading over from the power station and the belt feeder runs the coal onto a conveyor belt which runs all the way out of the mine. (Headings are parallel to the direction the mine is running in and there are usually nine headings. Breaks run perpendicular and depend on how far the mine is determined to be cut over the course of time. These are the areas that the miners move around in because the coal is cut in a grid pattern since the areas in between the grids need to be left in order to hold up the mountain above it.) These shuttle cars move a lot faster than the other cars and these cables are the ones far more likely to break. Since they need to bend so much, what needs to be done is a new material needs to be found that can stretch and withstand as much shearing stress as possible without breaking.
ReplyDeleteWhen you talk about a different way to get coal miners underground, actually in the future, miners soon may not even be needed underground! In the future, everything will most likely be automated and all machines will be robotic and the progress of the mine will be controlled by computer systems above ground. Unfortunately, with the terrible state our economy is in, especially in the Appalachian region of the US, that would put a lot of people out of work. Miners understand the risk of working in the mines every day and despite having very little education, are paid very high salaries because of that risk. This is good for people in appalachia since there is really no other industry and thus no other jobs in the area. Soon, we need to move out of coal and into newer, more environmentally friendly and more practical forms of energy once our technology fits us (Since solar and wind obviously arent practical enough for right now.) Geologists predict that we only have 700 years of coal left in this country with the rate that our energy consumption is increasing and a new form of energy that is sustainable, and can provide jobs for the people of appalachia needs to be found.
Thank you Alex! I understand a glass box would not allow the cables to bend much. I am not very familiar with how coal mines operate, but hopefully in the future engineers will come up with the right material for the cables that stretch and can withstand shearing stress. Since the fast moving cars cause the cables to bend and break, could the cars be slowed down? Would that help prevent breaking, or would that effect the efficiency of mining?
ReplyDeleteI am from the Appalachian region, and both of my grandfathers were coal miners. I have many friends who work in the coal mines, and I completely understand that there is not many other jobs in that area. If we could come up with a more sustainable form of energy and provide jobs for the people from my area I see no problem in changes being made for mines in the future.
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of SPME? It stands for solid phase micro-extraction. It is a relatively new material and sample preparation technique. It is made from silca-fused glass fibers. I use to do research for the Mining and Minerals Engineering department and we were researching mining ventilation on a National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) grant. The idea was to use this fiber to measure the concentration of methane in the atmosphere because when the fiber was exposed, particles from the air would diffuse to the fiber. Then, the mining team would take it to a gas-chromatography (GC) machine for analysis. Your idea sounds pretty sound, you should think about telling it to the department. The professor I was working with is Dr. Kray Luxbacher and she is doing the research on mine ventilation.
- Virquan Harold