Mine Cooling Systems
A wide range of cooling systems available to condition air for safe and productive underground mining operations.
A wide range of cooling systems available to condition air for safe and productive underground mining operations.
Howden has supplied ventilation equipment to every major mining company in the world, from frozen sites in the Arctic to the hottest nations in Africa. A wide and quality portfolio of cooling systems is available, from Surface Bulk Air Coolers to Hard Ice Plants.
The surface BAC system is installed on the surface to cool the downcast shaft air. It works well in shallow mines with shorter distances between the downcast shaft bottom and the mining zone. System components include refrigeration plant, bulk air cooler and cooling tower.
The water is chilled on the surface and sent to the underground works through a chilled water piping system and distributed to underground air coolers. System components include surface heat rejection, surface refrigeration machine, cooling water circuit and precooling towers.
Howden supplies ice-making technology which produces ice water or solid ice as required during a 24-hour period, making major electricity demand savings possible on mine cooling systems.
Howden’s thermal ice storage technology enables the entire mine refrigeration plant (excluding the pumping of the chilled water) to be shut down during a power peak demand period per week.
The plant will run at maximum load at all times thus delivering maximum efficiency. As the system is designed as a stand-alone operation, it will not reduce dam storage volumes. Our plant can operate even if the main cooling plant is out of operation.
A mobile underground refrigeration unit for localized cooling. Spot Coolers are small refrigeration machines with cooling duties between 200kWR and 1300kWR. The system includes a refrigeration skid, Air handling unit and heat rejection.
When the capacity of an existing chilled water reticulation system is maximized, underground refrigeration systems can be used to provide additional cooling. The system includes refrigeration machines, heat rejection system, underground air coolers, cooling water reticulation system and chiller water reticulation system.
The surface BAC system is installed on the surface to cool the downcast shaft air. It works well in shallow mines with shorter distances between the downcast shaft bottom and the mining zone. System components include refrigeration plant, bulk air cooler and cooling tower.
The water is chilled on the surface and sent to the underground works through a chilled water piping system and distributed to underground air coolers. System components include surface heat rejection, surface refrigeration machine, cooling water circuit and precooling towers.
Howden supplies ice-making technology which produces ice water or solid ice as required during a 24-hour period, making major electricity demand savings possible on mine cooling systems.
Howden’s thermal ice storage technology enables the entire mine refrigeration plant (excluding the pumping of the chilled water) to be shut down during a power peak demand period per week.
The plant will run at maximum load at all times thus delivering maximum efficiency. As the system is designed as a stand-alone operation, it will not reduce dam storage volumes. Our plant can operate even if the main cooling plant is out of operation.
A mobile underground refrigeration unit for localized cooling. Spot Coolers are small refrigeration machines with cooling duties between 200kWR and 1300kWR. The system includes a refrigeration skid, Air handling unit and heat rejection.
When the capacity of an existing chilled water reticulation system is maximized, underground refrigeration systems can be used to provide additional cooling. The system includes refrigeration machines, heat rejection system, underground air coolers, cooling water reticulation system and chiller water reticulation system.
Howden delivered an 8MW surface bulk air cooling plant for a gold mine in Burkina Faso, comprising an open-spray vertical bulk air cooler located on top of the shaft collar, centrifugal chillers, and conventional cooling towers. The air is cooled from 25.8°C down to 15°C with a design capacity of 190 m3/s of chilled downcast ventilation air.
Howden supplied a complete mine cooling system for the expansion of the Prominent Hill mine in South Australia for OZ Minerals. The system consumes no water, using the ambient air as the cooling medium and Howden will supply chillers, air cooled condensers, bulk air coolers, pumps, electronic controls and hydraulic design.
Ventsim DESIGN is an underground mine ventilation simulation software package designed to model and simulate ventilation, airflows, pressures, heat, gases, financials, radon, fire, and many other types of ventilation data from a model of tunnels and shafts.
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