- Author
-
Pomroy, W. H.
|
Muldoon, T. L.
- Title
- Improved Stench Fire Warning for Underground Mines.
- Coporate
- Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA
- Report
-
IC 9016,
1985,
37 p.
- Keywords
-
fire protection
|
fire detection
|
mine fires
|
odors
- Abstract
- This report describes Bureau of Mines research that led to the design, prototype fabrication, and successful proof-of-concept testing of an improved stench fire-warning system for underground noncoal mines. Stench systems are the most widely used means of warning miners in underground noncoal mines of fires or other emergencies. A stench system alerts miners that an emergency condition exists by injecting an odorant into the mine air. Although stench warning systems have been used successfully for over 60 yr, present systems suffer several serious shortcomings, including odorant toxicity, unreliability of warnings, widely varying stench concentrations, and others. In 1980, the Bureau began a research program to upgrade the stench warning system. The resultant system ovecomes the deficiences of existing systems by substituting tetrahydrothiophene for the commonly used ethyl mercaptan stench odorant, and through the use of a specially designed stenchy injector. The improved injector reliability meters stench fluid into either ventilation-air or compressed-air streams at a precisely controlled rate. Prototype hardware has been fabricated and poof-of-concept tested under both laboratory and in-mine conditions.