Radio transmitters in mines

1996/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Irudiak/Soinuak

Forty millimeters of radio transmitter will protect the lives of numerous miners. In case of accidents, explosions or landslides in the mines, co-workers abroad will be able to know the exact number of miners in the subsoil. The small radio transmitter attaches to the headlamp of the operators and will use the battery force.

The receivers located on the roof of the mine walls will receive the signal from each miner and these in turn will send the signal to the controllers via copper wire. They will save the time, date and position of the operators and then transmit all the information to the computers on the surface.

The greatest difficulty was to find a radio frequency adapted to the conditions of the mines, since numerous walls and naughty walkways prevented the signal. The design of the receiver also gave its own works, as it should receive the signal from each separate miner. South Africa is one of the deepest and toughest mines in the world, where the new radio transmitter has been used for the first time.