- Underground mines may face schedule disruptions due to the accumulation of heat. Ventilation systems serve as the primary source of fresh air. We develop an integer program to determine the airspeed within a ventilation system that maximizes mine productivity in the medium term, accounting for equipment heat output. We correspondingly provide a mixed-integer quadratically constrained program that minimizes schedule deviation between medium- and short-term plans and determines the distribution of air across operating mine levels.
Speaker 1: John Ayaburi
Bio: John Ayaburi is a Ph.D. Candidate in Operations Research with Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. He previously received an MS Mineral and Energy Economics degree from the Colorado School of Mines. His research interests include the application of optimization methods in underground mine analysis and energy.
2nd Presentation: Incorporating heat constraints in mine production scheduling
- Battery electric vehicles are becoming more common in mining applications. One benefit of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in an underground mining setting is the absence of diesel emissions. However, BEVs still generate heat, which can lead to unsafe working conditions. This research compares the heat produced by BEVs relative to diesel vehicles in executing mining activities. The results inform heat constraints in a production scheduling optimization model.
Speaker 2: Aaron Swift
Bio: Aaron Swift is a Ph.D. student in the Operations Research with Engineering program at the Colorado School of Mines. His research topic is heat management in underground mines. He received a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mines in 2010, and in the intervening years worked at an energy infrastructure company in project management.