Design of an Effective Illumination System for an Opencast Coal Mine

Abstract

The scientific work documented in this article was carried out, as a part of the research investigation sponsored by a major coal company, to create a safe visual working environment for a mechanized opencast coal mine by designing an effective illumination system. It included an illumination survey of the existing lighting system in various working areas of the mine in which, the existing illuminance levels were found inadequate in most of the work places and hence an effective and modified design of the illumination system was necessary. The improvement measures were carried out by analysis of the problem, which leaded to the design of illumination system using DIALux software. DGMS standard for opencast mine lighting was used for both assessment and design of illumination systems. Haul road lighting design was performed as per CIE EN 13201 standard, which is internationally used for road lighting. The design model resulted in significant improvement over the existing system and all the standards were met as per the DGMS guidelines.