Modern Mining October 2018

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Fogmaker put through its paces at

gensets. At Electra Mining Africa, for example, it was demonstrated on an actual underground Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) machine. Water mist makes use of both fire-fighting approaches used in combating fire, namely total-flooding and direct-application. Total- flooding is achieved by the Fogmaker system by generating a dense blanket of micro-water mist droplets within the protected area, flooding the entire engine compartment and ensuring hidden and out-of-the-way areas are reached. The water mist is generated under high-pressure through patented special nozzles. The special nozzles create microdrops with an average size of 50 µm. One drop of water, typically 1 mm in diameter, is converted to 8 000 of these microdrops. When these microdrops come into contact with any heat source, they quickly convert to steam, replacing air (along with oxygen) with inert gas. This quickly chokes and extinguishes the fire, as was repeatedly demonstrated with over 250 live demonstrations over five days at the show. In the design and layout of the system, nozzles are placed to also ensure direct-appli- cation of the water mist on high risk and hot areas, such as the turbo and exhaust manifold. During the extended discharge of more than 60 seconds, these surfaces are cooled to below the flash point of most fuels, preventing re-ignition. The system includes a very low concentration

A big attraction at the Electra Mining Africa 2018 show in Johannesburg was regular – and very convincing – live demonstrations by Fogmaker South Africa of the Fogmaker fire suppression system, which has applications in a range of industries, in particular mining. Fogmaker is differentiated from its competitors, who all use either dry chemical powder technology or low-pressure foam systems, by being a high-pressure water mist system.

T alking to Modern Mining at the show, Fogmaker South Africa’s MD, John Russell, said that while the product was relatively new in South Africa (it was launched lo- cally in 2015), Fogmaker has a large installed base around the world. “The system was devel- oped in Sweden in 1995 and since then more than 150 000 units have been deployed globally in over 50 countries. In South Africa, we are making significant inroads into the market and have had particular success with the forestry and ports industries and, increasingly, mining.” Designed specifically for enclosed engine compartments (which is where most fires on vehicles start), Fogmaker can be installed on most types of mobile mining equipment, whether used underground or on surface, and in stationary equipment, such as containerised

Fogmaker South Africa’s Wessel Swanepoel highlights the advantages of the Fogmaker system at Electra Mining Africa 2018.

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38  MODERN MINING  October 2018