Following an underground mine incident, a small window of opportunity (typically 24 hours or less) is available to detect whether or not there are any trapped survivors. Invariably, such an event will disable all mine communications and details of survivors are unknown.
SureWave Technology now has the first proven technology to detect and locate trapped miners in real time, up to 2000 feet below ground.
The system is the result of more than ten years research and is ready for deployment today.
The SureWave trapped miner detection and location system SP2 Model TM2 is portable for rapid deployment by a single person.
The system requires no setup giving the user an instant, clear visual indication of the trapped miners pounding with a crib block.
This system can be set up within minutes of arriving at the accident site.
The rescue response team should know within minutes whether or not there are survivors and if required, where they are located. The rescue process can then be commenced immediately and the chances of a successful rescue will be maximised.
This is an unprecedented advance in mine safety technology.
For the very latest information and full technical specifications:
Download the SP2 Model TM2 Leaflet
Historically, detection systems used in mine rescues only detect trapped miner pounding when the signals are above the background noise. Several incidents are well published within the press of mine rescue where survivors were pounding but no system was deployed to detect this or was deployed but could not detect signals due to environmental or man-made noise nearby.
SureWave have developed technology that can detect signals millions of times smaller than any noise present.
In trials and tests, the system has detected pounding so small that other technology simply could not pick up. Furthermore, trapped miner pounding can be detected while the mine is in full operation to depths of 700m. If the mine was shut down as would be the case in a real rescue, the capability of the system would be able to detect at much greater depths and distances.
The ability to detect signals buried in the mine noise is critical as ventilation fans and other noise making equipment will still need to be in operation.
In a real life call out, the system reported the exact location of a trapped miner and monitored two rescue teams approaching the location in real time. This gave the mine rescue teams hitherto unavailable valuable information.
