Application of HEMS cooling technology in deep mine heat hazard control

Abstract

This paper mainly deals with the present situation, characteristics, and countermeasures of cooling in deep mines. Given existing problems in coal mines, a HEMS cooling technology is proposed and has been successfully applied in some mines. Because of long-term exploitation, shallow buried coal seams have become exhausted and most coal mines have had to exploit deep buried coal seams. With the increase in mining depth, the temperature of the surrounding rock also increases, resulting in ever increasing risks of heat hazard during mining operations. At present, coal mines in China can be divided into three groups, i.e., normal temperature mines, middle-to-high temperature mines and high temperature mines, based on our investigation into high temperature coal mines in four provinces and on in-situ studies of several typical mines. The principle of HEMS is to extract cold energy from mine water inrush. Based on the characteristics of strata temperature field and on differences in the amounts of mine water inrush in the Xuzhou mining area, we proposed three models for controlling heat hazard in deep mines: 1) the Jiahe model with a moderate source of cold energy; 2) the Sanhejian model with a shortage of source of cold energy and a geothermal anomaly and 3) the Zhangshuanglou model with plenty of source of cold energy. The cooling process of HEMS applied in deep coal mine are as follows: 1) extract cold energy from mine water inrush to cool working faces; 2) use the heat extracted by HEMS to supply heat to buildings and bath water to replace the use of a boiler, a useful energy saving and environmental protection measure. HEMS has been applied in the Jiahe and Sanhejian coal mines in Xuzhou, which enabled the temperature and humidity at the working faces to be well controlled.