Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study

In the past five years, electric power price in Australia has increased significantly and is likely to continue to increase in the foreseeable future. This can make a mine uneconomic to operate. One option to reduce underground mine power consumption is to reduce ventilation power consumption. The e...

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Main Authors: Kerai, Mahesh, Halim, Adrian
Format: Journal Article
Published: The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (The AusIMM) 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32034
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author Kerai, Mahesh
Halim, Adrian
author_facet Kerai, Mahesh
Halim, Adrian
author_sort Kerai, Mahesh
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In the past five years, electric power price in Australia has increased significantly and is likely to continue to increase in the foreseeable future. This can make a mine uneconomic to operate. One option to reduce underground mine power consumption is to reduce ventilation power consumption. The electrical power required for the ventilation system for a mine is one of the major components of the total mine electrical power consumption, which typically represents more than one-third (de la Vergne, 2003). To reduce ventilation power consumption, ventilation requirement must be reduced. One option to do this is to replace diesel vehicles with electric ones. An electric motor produces zero emissions and only emits one-third the heat of an equivalent diesel engine. Airflow specification can therefore be less (Marks, 2012). Ventilation requirement for an underground hard rock mine is determined based on the engine power of diesel vehicles used in the mine. The current Australian regulatory requirement for a diesel vehicle ranges from 0.05 to 0.06 m3/s per kW engine power. However, no such requirement stated for an electric vehicle. This paper evaluates the ventilation requirement of an electric vehicle operating in an underground hard rock mine.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-320342017-01-30T13:28:46Z Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study Kerai, Mahesh Halim, Adrian In the past five years, electric power price in Australia has increased significantly and is likely to continue to increase in the foreseeable future. This can make a mine uneconomic to operate. One option to reduce underground mine power consumption is to reduce ventilation power consumption. The electrical power required for the ventilation system for a mine is one of the major components of the total mine electrical power consumption, which typically represents more than one-third (de la Vergne, 2003). To reduce ventilation power consumption, ventilation requirement must be reduced. One option to do this is to replace diesel vehicles with electric ones. An electric motor produces zero emissions and only emits one-third the heat of an equivalent diesel engine. Airflow specification can therefore be less (Marks, 2012). Ventilation requirement for an underground hard rock mine is determined based on the engine power of diesel vehicles used in the mine. The current Australian regulatory requirement for a diesel vehicle ranges from 0.05 to 0.06 m3/s per kW engine power. However, no such requirement stated for an electric vehicle. This paper evaluates the ventilation requirement of an electric vehicle operating in an underground hard rock mine. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32034 The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (The AusIMM) restricted
spellingShingle Kerai, Mahesh
Halim, Adrian
Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study
title Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study
title_full Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study
title_fullStr Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study
title_full_unstemmed Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study
title_short Ventilation Requirement for Electric Vehicles in Underground Hard Rock Mines - A Conceptual Study
title_sort ventilation requirement for electric vehicles in underground hard rock mines - a conceptual study
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32034