A fan's operational reliability is a critical factor in ensuring that an underground mine's primary ventilation system enables and sustains the mine's continuous operation. At a time when underground mining operations are required to access ore bodies located at ever greater depths, primary ventilation systems are having to deliver volumes of fresh air over longer distances, thereby increasing the operating pressures applied to the ventilation fans. Increased production levels require larger volumes of air and increasing the ventilation system resistance or, alternatively, adding more primary ventilation fans to the ventilation network, which may result in the fan(s) entering the unstable part of their performance curve (i.e. the fan stall region). The search is therefore on for ventilation systems with a higher degree of operational flexibility and reliability to cope with constantly changing mine conditions. |
