SAFETY AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR MINERS AND ADITS

Subject, of the Invention

The present invention relates to health, safety, and communication system for miners; particularly to an electronic system which sends the information regarding the health of the workers and the environmental safety during working to the central system and electronically informs about the location of the user during a collapse .

State of the Art

Currently, there exists no system providing immediate information regarding the state of health of the workers while they are working in mines, and so it is possible to get information by only phone about a worker who has a health problem and the miner is carried with a container. In many cases, the administration is not informed of the health state of a miner who is having a health problem; only after the miner leaves the adit, are they informed about the situation; therefore, intervention and treatment start too late. Further, it is not possible to obtain information regarding physical data such as gas accumulation, oxygen status, and ambient temperature in adits. Due to the inability of obtaining information about physical values of the adits, an early warning system cannot be provided for accidents and gas explosions likely to occur; thus, precautions cannot be taken.

The national patent application No. TR 2011/03847 discloses a helmet with communication properties. Said helmet allows for wireless communication thanks to the hardware and software incorporated therein. Nevertheless, said system do not allow gathering data regarding the health states of the miners.

Consequently, there is a need for a system which gathers information such as health states of the miners and environmental safety and collects these information in a central medium in order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks. Detailed Description of the Invention

The system designed herein consists of helmet (1) to be worn by a miner, communication stations (8) to be installed in the adits, and central control computers (10).

Thanks to the heat and pulse sensors arranged in the helmet (1) to be worn on the miner's head, the communication system constantly sends the information on the health of the worker to the central control computer (10) by means of the communication stations (8), at the same time providing the communication of the miners with the center, as well as with one another. In case of a collapse, if the system within the helmet (1) is not interfered manually, all of the energy within the circuit will allow the detection of the location of the user by emitting electromagnetic wave. Wave propagation time of the helmet (1) may be up to months. To that end, the helmet (1) is provided with a processing circuit (11) incorporating the sensors and communication system; earphones (3); a microphone (4); and an on/off button (2) by which the user may perform switching on and off operations. As for the adits, there will be installed communication stations (8) at certain intervals in accordance with the curves of the adits, preferably at 25-meter, 50-meter, or 100-meter intervals. The communication stations (8) will send the information received from the user's helmet (1) as well as the physical information regarding their environment to the next communication station (8), the process continuing with the each communication station (8) transferring the information that it receives to the next communication station (8), and eventually to the central control computer (10) . Thus, under normal operating conditions, all the information will be collected in the central control computer (10) and the incoming data will be stored in time- dependent manner.

The communication stations (8) will draw their energy through the electric network installed in the adit while the energy of the helmet (1) on the miner's head will be supplied from the rechargeable batteries (6) connected to the processing circuit (11) disposed in the helmet (1) . Also provided in the helmet (1) is a front lighting lamp (5) for lighting purposes. Once the miner leaves the adit, the helmets

(I) will be recharged via being plugged in the charger through the charging plug inlet (7), thereby becoming ready for the following working hours.

During normal working time, the information regarding the health of the miner will be determined at certain intervals by means of the sensors integrated in the helmet (1) worn by the miner and then sent to the communication stations (8), and from the final station, said information will be transferred to the central control computer (10) via the communication station antenna (9), whereby the health and working states of the workers will be controlled. In case of an abnormal situation, on the other hand, there will be intervention in that situation in line with the incoming information to the central control computer (10) .

Each helmet (1) to be worn by a miner will be recorded with a code number and the information sent will be processed over said code number; moreover, personal working health information may also be archived based thereon.

The present miner health, safety, and communication system is characterized in that the helmet (1) worn on the head of the miner is capable of measuring the body temperature and pulse of the user as well as the toxic gases in the environment and sending the obtained information to the central control computer (10), and that it emits electromagnetic signal constantly during a collapse such that the user's location will be detected. The sensors disposed in the system instantaneously measure the body health status of the miners while they are working. Moreover, the system is capable of giving signal which may last for months after a possible collapse in order that the user's location will be determined. The communication stations (8), which receive/transmit the information sent by the processing circuits

(II) , are installed in the adits at required intervals. Also disposed within the system is a central control computer (10) which processes and controls the information coming from the miners' helmets (1) and which at the same time warns about emergency situations via visual (display) and audio warning.

Description of the Drawings

The present miner-focused health, safety, and communication system designed for achieving the object of the invention is illustrated in the following figures, in which:

Figure 1: The external view of the miner's helmet.

Figure 2: The external view of the communication stations.

Figure 3: The view of the communication stations when installed in the adit .

Figure 4: The view of the central control unit. Reference Numerals:

The parts in the drawings are enumerated as below.

1) Helmet

2) On/off button

3) Earphones

4) Microphone

5) Front lighting lamp

6) Rechargeable battery

7) Charging plug inlet

8) Communication station

9) Communication station antenna

10) Central control computer

11) Processing circuit