Brisbane based trailer distributor Freighter Maxi-Cube Queensland (FMQ) recently designed and engineered a special flat-top tautliner for QMRS to house the jet engine.

The rig is capable of being put into immediate service to fight underground coal mine fires anywhere in Queensland or New South Wales.

“There are only four of these types of units in the world but they all suffered the problem of ease of mobility to the affected mine sites and delays in getting them quickly operational,” QMRS state manager Wayne Hartley said.

Prior to the new trailer-mounted extinguisher, Hartley described how they would have to bring the device by truck to the mine site and then spend up to almost half a day assembling it for use.

QMRS approached the trailer manufacturing industry for help in getting the GAG mobile and FMQ came up with the winning design.

“There were many engineering challenges faced by the FMQ people, including having to place the jet engine on special air suspension so that its ceramic bearings would not be damaged during transport to mine sites,” Hartley said.

“The jet engine also had to have the ability to turn 45 degrees on the trailer so we could test fire it before use. As well, the trailer had to have a special lowering suspension that allowed it to cater for the varying docking heights at each mine site.”

The jet engine technology makes an underground mine atmosphere inert by eliminating oxygen through a release of carbon dioxide and water vapour into the mine. The technology was first developed in Poland and was first used to fight a mine fire and create inert mine atmospheres in Australia in 1999.

QMRS successfully deployed the jet engine at Consol Energy’s Loveridge No. 22 mine in West Virginia in March 2003.