Improvement of a mine’s ventilation test bench, using industrial communication and open-source microcontrollers.

Abstract

This paper shows the results of optimizing a test bed used to simulate parameters related to Underground mines ventilation. The data acquisition card was changed for an Arduino microcontroller; likewise, some sensors were changed for more precise ones, and a sensor was adapted to measure relative humidity, dry temperature, and heat index. The measurements will continue to be observed using the LabVIEW software and complemented by an industrial communication system, the Modbus protocol. This protocol increases the data transmission speed of Ethernet. With the improvement of the system, the precision in the parameters (Pressure, temperatures, relative humidity, concentration of methane gas, Voltage, current) increases, and ultra-fast data transmission is guaranteed.