Safety Aspects Related to Vibrational Diagnostics of Deep Mine Shafts

Exploitation of deep mine shafts is connected with vitally important aspects of work and public safety. The latter becomes clear keeping in mind the fact that in many locations of the European coal and ore mining countries, the shafts can be found in close proximity of free access areas such as, for instance, public roads. On the other hand, proper operational capabilities of mine shaft installation determine the level of safety of hundreds underground miners, in a single underground mine, who use the shaft at least twice a day. Reliable operation of shaft installations is a derivative of many factors influencing the shaft frame as such, and its surroundings, e.g. changing of water conditions in the ground. Consequently, systematic control (including continuous monitoring if need be) of the vibration level of both the rotating machinery installed within the shaft structure, and frame supporting elements (including continuous monitoring) is compulsory. Currently, only in the Upper Silesia coal mining region, approximately 35 such structures are under extensive vibrational control. The paper presents sets of vibration parameters measurements obtained using conventional, and laser-based instrumentation, performed on some of those shaft structures. In relation to these results safety aspects have been discussed