Vibration impact on people transported by mining belt conveyors

The paper presents the description and results of experimental research whose purpose was to analyze the vibration influence the miner's body during riding on a belt conveyor for transporting coal. The transport of people on mining belt conveyors is a commonly used method to increase mining efficiency and improve a mine's profitability. The paper presents an assessment of safety and comfort parameters used in transporting people, the effect of strong vibrations on the human body and its internal organs, the measuring system used to record the accelerations during the experiment and the measurement results. The recorded data enabled a dynamic analysis of the movement and an assessment of safety and comfort of transported miners on the basis of defined indicators. The data included the accelerations from the moment of getting on the conveyor belt to the moment of going down onto the platform. The tests were carried out for two different belt conveyor speeds, which allowed to assess how conveyor speed affects safety and comfort of people transported on the mining belt conveyor.