The eight-year project has seen a $1.6 million investment from ACARP, with the prototype successfully suppressing a series of coal dust explosions at a testing facility in South Africa.

Using a flame detector to identify the approaching coal dust deflagration, the active barrier system successfully injected 120 litres of water within 250 milliseconds in order to suppress the explosion, as was predicted by BMT WBM’s computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling.

Business development manager for BMT WBM’s machinery group David Proud said the excellence award from ACARP was recognition for the hard work and challenges that had been overcome in designing the prototype.

Research coordinator at ACARP Bevan Kathage said the active barrier system was the result of world first, cutting edge research.

“It has produced a system that is so simple in that it doesn’t rely on a complicated set of elements working together at the same time,” he said. “If this system were to save just one life, the investment would have been worth it.”

SkillPro's manager of the active barrier project David Humphreys said: “This research and development project has involved high-end capability in analysis, design and testing and was well-suited to the BMT WBM/SkillPro combination.

“The system will continue to be tested and is expected to undergo substantial reconfiguration before it becomes a commercially viable product.”