While coal is mined deep down under the surface, the soil overground can cave in or slide. It is not unexpected that this impacts the stability of the structures located on the mine field territory. To control the condition of the land surface and monitor the changes in an online mode, DTEK Pavlogradske Mine Group implemented an innovative technology and installed autonomous sensors on OHL towers to control their position in a real time mode and continually transmit information to a server for analysis. A new technology is useful for both power engineers and miners. The former ones have an opportunity to monitor the OHL condition and prevent incidents resulting from broken wires, while miners spend less time to control these facilities and collect the most reliable information.
“Our miners travel dozens of kilometers mining the coal so much needed by the state power industry. This way, DTEK miners strengthen the energy independence of Ukraine. Simultaneously, we are monitoring the impact caused by mining operations on the structures located on the surface. In this case, overhead power lines that pass over the zone of the Pavlogradske Mine Group extraction front deliver electricity to localities in Pavlograd district,” says Evhen Bohoslovskyi, chief engineer of Pavlogradske Mine Group. “Our mining surveyors constantly monitor the condition of the towers to record even the slightest deviation and prevent accidents. Uninterrupted power supply in the region and the safety of people that can be nearby depend on the OHL tower condition. Until now, this required a lot of time and efforts. Mining surveyors had to travel to sites, inspect them, take measurements using geodesic instruments, and record possible tower misalignment.
Specialists from the Laboratory of Complex Technologies working in cooperation with experts from the Coal Business Division of DTEK Energy designed and manufactured a special sensor for monitoring the OHL deviation. This sensor combines the functions of a gyro sensor and accelerometer and operates autonomously thanks to a built-in PV battery. The sensor is placed directly on the tower out of the reach of people and transfers data in a real-time mode to the web-server database using a GSM module. Then, the server software visualizes the measured data as diagrams and graphs. If the tower deviates from the vertical above the permitted value, we urgently transfer this information to power engineers of DTEK Grid so they can urgently prevent an accident.”
“To make sure that the control sensor operates properly and check the accuracy of information it collects and transfers, we first tested it at our company. For that, we selected a headframe of the Pavlogradska Mine. We installed the sensor on the power beam and monitored it during 24 hours as the sensor recorded micro-deviations of the structure. The tests were successful. Now we are testing the device that was installed on the OHL tower and monitor the deviation indicators on an hourly basis,” comments Victor Skoryk, chief mining surveyor of Pavlogradske Mine Group. “This is the first testing sensor. Later, our developers will give us its improved version. For instance, they will fit the device with a vibration sensor and install sound alarm to vandal-proof it, and provide us with an opportunity to control the device in a real time mode and change its settings using SMS commands.”
“Digital technologies have been finding their place in DTEK Pavlogradugol mines,” says Maxym Shushov, head of the technology development department of the Coal Business Division of DTEK Energy. “The underground Wi-Fi used in Yuvileina Mine (DTEK Pavlogradugol) has already been helping us to reduce the downtime of the equipment as we can receive information about failures and repair them faster. Later on, we will be able to introduce an underground positioning system to monitor the position of each employee. Considering that the length of longwall mines can reach dozens of kilometers, it is easy to understand its importance for our people’s safety. The control sensor that we tested at the Pavlogradske Mine Group can be used on towers, vertical supports, and headframes. Specialists from the Coal Business Division are planning to replicate digital principles and approaches to other mines and coal enrichment plants to ensure safe working conditions and improve the efficiency of DTEK Energy’s production assets.”