By Andrea Lannom
Register-Herald Reporter
BECKLEY —
A new wireless system could revolutionize mine safety, providing communication between miners and the surface during a time of disaster.
Developed by Lockheed Martin, a global security company headquartered in Bethesda, Md., MagneLink Magnetic Communication System provides a way to send clear voice and text communication through the earth. The system works by transmitting magnetic waves without using transmission wires and in-ground infrastructure which is currently used to communicate by radio transmission.
“Sometimes you can lose a lot of mine infrastructure, especially communication and tracking, in a disaster,” Joe Rizzo, business developer, said. “Assuming miners are in position to communicate by refuge shelter, this will allow rescuers to locate miners who have survived an incident way faster. This dramatically increases the chance of survival.”
MagneLink is not a man-wearable system, however. The system will be inside an explosion-proof enclosure. The systems are transportable in the mine so that they can be moved to new refuge shelters inside the mine.
Miners will need to be in a straight line of sight with the MagneLink box so that their Miner Emergency Radio voice messages can be relayed up to the surface as well. If a disaster occurred, miners are trained to go to refuge shelters where they would be in line of sight of the MagneLink box.
“A big problem during these disasters is the lack of communication,” Warren Gross, MagneLink MCS program manager, said. “Without wires, this has the opportunity to be great. Especially the text communication. There would be times in an accident when miners wouldn’t be able to speak because of the poisonous gas, so a texting function is great.”
The system allows for communication in excess of 1,550 feet, according to its inventor, Dr. Dave LeVan. In the most recent tests, LeVan said they have achieved two-way text communication as far as 2,800 feet on a horizontal range inside the mine. Vertical communication to the surface reached about 1,500 feet.
“From what we understand, 1,200 feet is the average depth of about 80 percent of coal mines,” LeVan said. “Since we are well beyond that, we will encompass the majority of mines.”
The project got its start four year ago when retired engineer Gary Smith was deeply concerned over the Sago mine disaster. LeVan remembers Smith recounting his family history in the coal mines and asking if there was anything the company could do to help prevent situations like that from happening. Until then, Lockheed Martin had never thought about working with mines so the experience was all new to them.
When the story got around to LeVan, research began and he had to figure out a way to make a communication system that didn’t rely on wires or radio waves.
“At that point, I realized the main problem was the wires and tubing rails getting ripped apart during an explosion,” he said. “Radios don’t penetrate more than a few feet through rock and it needed to have a lower power to prohibit a gas explosion. It also had to have its own power source with batteries.”
This was when LeVan came up with the idea of transmitting magnetic waves through the earth,” he said. After the product was developed in 2009, many tests followed.
The first was in December 2009 when MagneLink’s communications was successfully demonstrated at a commercial mine in Diliner, Pa. Later in March 2010, they once again tested MagneLink at the Contrary Portal of CONSOL Energy’s Buchanan Mine in Mavisdale, Va. The system demonstrated successful two-way text and voice communication to a depth of 1,550 feet and two-way text communication in an excess of 1,550 feet.
This past June, MagneLink once again was tested at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Test Mine in Bruceton, Pa. The system interfaced with hand-held radios similar to the miner emergency radios and successfully functioned as a multi-band receiver, establishing communications with multiple MagneLink MCS units without the requirement for the MCS units to be on the same channel to receive transmissions.
“This was an evolution and it took us a while to get where we are today, but we learned as we went along,” LeVan said. “We learned a lot from the miners about the coal mines and the composition of the earth and rock. (We) Learned as we went along, learned a lot from the miners about coal mines, composition of earth and rock.”
Lockheed Martin and the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) are currently working to certify the equipment for use in mines. In this step, MSHA will look at the design and test certain components of the system.
“We are very concerned about how safe the system is so what MSHA is going to do is make sure that the system doesn’t allow stray power out into the mine,” Gross said.
Even with certification, Gross estimates that the product will be available within the year.
“We are very excited about this technology and we’re impressed with how short of a time it’s taken to get from concept to market,” Gross said. “Normally it takes up to eight years but we’re so excited for what potential it holds for the coal mine industry.”
LeVan says that not only is his company excited, the miners they have talked to are, as well. LeVan says the coal companies have been supportive of their tests and are looking forward to the new technology.
“When we went to some of these mines and the miners saw what we were doing and what the system was capable of, they were very excited,” he said. “To think that this might save some lives in the mines and will be the way that they will call for help is just an amazing feeling.”
— E-mail: alannom@register-herald.com
