Respirable coal mine dust (RCMD) are hazardous materials that may highly impact underground coal miners' health. Continuous monitoring of respirable silica dust levels in mining environments is crucial to ensure the safety of mine workers. RingIR Company utilizes patented cavity ringdown optical spectroscopy-based technology combined with miniaturized FPGA digital signal processing. The system continuously pulls air from the environment and determine the concentration of silica dust levels via data processing from an on-board computer. This research aims to validate the performance of Ring-IR monitoring system. For this purpose, a new dust chamber capable of controlling pressure, relative humidity, and temperature was designed and fabricated. Dust samples were reduced to micron-size particles and introduced into dust using 3410 TSI dust aerosol generator. PDM3700, 3321 TSI aerodynamic particle sizer, SPS30 particulate matter sensor, an ELF pump, and Ring-IR monitoring system were tested under the various environmental conditions. Characterization studies were performed to identify the mineralogy and morphology of the respirable dust inside the chamber.
