Building a non-homogeneous thermal environment for energy savings in the face of deep mines

Heat exhaustion of mining environments can cause a significant threat to human health. The existing cooling strategies for the mine face aim to cool the whole face. However, the necessary cooling space for the face is small, with a considerable amount of energy for cooling being wasted. Necessary cooling space is a space occupied by the workers in the face. This study proposed to build a non-homogeneous thermal environment for cost-effective energy savings in the face. An inlet air cooler was laid out in the intake airway to cool the whole face to some extent, and the tracking air cooler was designed to track the worker who constantly moved to improve the thermal environment. The cooling load and air distribution for this cooling strategy were investigated. In addition, the airflow in the face was solved numerically to estimate the cooling effect. The results revealed that an average energy saving of approximately 35% could be achieved. The thermal environment of the necessary cooling space within at least 10 m was significantly improved. This cooling strategy should be taken into account in mine cooling.