Development of a portable high-wall lighting system

Abstract

[Abstract] : Within coal mine operations, both day and night time production and use of heavy equipment is required. The current lighting systems used for operation at night are not as efficient as what they should be due to high-wall set-backs. High-wall set backs were implemented to prevent high-wall slippages in which sections of the high-wall fall into the mining pit and cause undesirable effects. As high-wall setbacks have altered the geometry of the high-walls the older models of lighting plant now provide less efficient lighting into the coal mining pit. Currently there are few if any designs for lighting plants that can be used effectively on the high-wall in the mining pit area. This is a problem because there are major disadvantages such as obstructions in the pit, glare and reflection issues with using lighting plants inside the mining pit. Before high-wall setbacks became a significant attribute of the coal mining pits the best position for lighting of the coal mining pit was above the high-wall but now this method is no longer suitable for most conventional designs of lighting plant. The following research and design project elaborates on the key aspects that have caused the problems to do with lighting in the coal mining pit including high walls, high-wall slippages and high-wall setbacks, an overview of open cut coal mining, and a conceptual design process to develop a new design for a portable high-wall lighting plant. Hopefully by the design of the new lighting plant system it will help to overcome the issues of ineffective lighting in the pit.