Published in September 2008 Australian Longwall Magazine

The issue was raised during a previous project carried out by Simtars where as a by-product of the research it was found that some of the power supplies the researchers were looking at were failing IS testing, despite having been approved 10 years earlier.

“This issue arose in our earlier project, and it was not something we could just sit by and let go,” said Simtars Engineering, Testing and Certification Centre branch manager Jim Birch.

The discovery led Birch and Simtars principal engineer André De Kock to seek $175,000 from ACARP for funding, with Simtars kicking in an extra $115,000 to bring total funding over two years to $290,000. The project will look at the effects of the underground environment on components in power supplies over time.

Birch and De Kock feel this project is especially relevant given the increasing number of electrical components used on the modern longwall and other mining equipment, including communications, diagnostics and tracking.

“If there is an issue, this will become a bigger problem as more and more devices go underground,” De Kock said.

The researchers have requested mines send any power supplies currently in use – the older the better – into Simtars. The power supplies will be replaced by an equivalent new unit. At time of printing the team was still seeking power supplies from mines to carry out the research.

Birch and De Kock will measure the power supplies for energy release and explosibility at the Simtars testing station.

“The research will enable us to find out if there is an issue,” Birch said.

The final report with the project’s results is due out in September next year.