12th U.S.

/North American Mine Ventilation Symposium 2008 Wallace (ed) ISBN 978-0-615-20009-5

Main fan energy management

J.J.L. du Plessis W.M. Marx
BBE Consulting, South Africa
ABSTRACT: South Africas primary electricity supplier, Eskom, provides incentives to reduce power demand during critical times by granting capital through a Demand Side Management programme. DSM encourages the end user to review and optimize energy consuming systems and use capital, provided by Eskom, to purchase or modify the equipment required to achieve a load-shift. As part of the DSM agreement the mine ultimately acquires the capital equipment and benefits from reduced power costs, but in return is required to sustain the loadshift tactic for up to five years. The paper focuses on one DSM tactic, main fan energy management. In this case, reduced air flows during selected peak and off peak periods, results in a substantial reduction in peak power demand. DSM incentives provided capital for automated main fan control as well as improved control of the mine ventilation systems. To examine the work in detail Gold Fields Ltd Driefontein gold mine near Johannesburg was chosen as a case study. 1 Introduction
reducing fan power [Figure 1]. However, for a typical centrifugal fan the pressure-volume relationship is such that any reduction in power is limited compared to the corresponding reduction in flow rate. Using an outlet damper system to reduce airflow to 60% reduces input power requirements to approximately 88% (Rockwell Automation, 2000). The practical volume reduction for mine DSM applications is around 15%, which results in minimal reduction in power. For this reason outlet dampers have not been considered feasible for this application.

Gold Fields Limited, South Africa

Sustained economic growth in South Africa in the past few years has meant that peak electricity demand has grown by more than 4% per year. Delayed investment by Eskom, the state electricity provider, has resulted in a current shortfall in peak power generating capacity. Peak demand will continue to exceed Eskoms capacity until 2010 when new base load power stations will begin to come on stream. In the interim, Eskom is expanding supply options, namely refurbishment and commissioning of mothballed power stations and a Demand Side Management [DSM] programme. Eskoms DSM strategy is to reduce electricity used at peak times [07:00-10:00 and 18:00-20:00] by shifting load to off-peak periods, and to reduce baseline electricity consumption by installing energy efficient equipment and optimizing industrial processes [this approach is termed load clipping by Eskom]. Sustainable DSM projects often involve a combination of both (ESKOM, 2008) The DSM programme provides incentives to shift or clip power during critical times by granting capital for equipment and other costs. The power consumer ultimately acquires any capital equipment and benefits from reduced power cost. However, in return, the consumer is required to sustain the load-shift tactics for a period of up to 5 years. The paper focuses on one approach, main fan energy management, with specific emphasis on a project at Gold Fields Ltd Driefontein gold mine near Johannesburg.

Methods of Fan Energy Control

2.1 Outlet Dampers Outlet dampers increase system pressure and reduce air quantity, effectively increasing system resistance and Figure 1. Outlet damper control

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2.2 Fan Speed Fan speed can be controlled by electric, hydraulic or mechanical Variable Speed Drives [VSDs]. VSDs have gained wide acceptance and in some cases have been applied to control main mine fans. While these systems can find application for new installations they are in general, because of cost and complexity, unsuitable for retrofit of existing main fans. 2.3 Inlet Guide Vanes[IGV] Pre-rotational guide-vane controls involve fitting adjustable vanes into the air stream at the fan inlet. The guide vanes generate a controllable swirl in the air as it enters the impeller. If swirl is in the same direction as the rotating fan impeller then the effect and work done by the impeller is low hence part load. If swirl is in the opposite direction then the effect and work done by the impeller is high hence full load. Pre-rotational guide-vanes are shown in Figures 2 & 3. Figure 2 shows an installation with flat blades and Figure 3 an enhanced system being fabricated with aerofoil blades.

detail below.

Figure 3. Aerofoil shaped IGVs 2.4 Theory Total pressure rise across any fan impeller - axial, mixed flow or centrifugal is given [ignoring losses] by the following equation (Stebbins, 2005): P = U2V2 cos 2 U1V1 cos 1, Where U, V and are shown in the velocity triangles of Figure 4 below.
W2 V2 2 2 W1 U2

1 1

V1

U1 r1

r2

Figure 2. Typical IGV system in-situ Unlike with control dampers, when using IGV control, pressure and volume, and consequently power, follow the existing system resistance curve which results in maximum benefit in terms of reduced power. Although IGV systems are often fitted to large centrifugal mine fans during construction they are usually adjusted manually and have not been used for DSM application. However, automated IGV control is ideally suited to DSM and control of the large centrifugal fans used in deep South African mines. With this in mind a case study using this technology is described in Section 5. IGV theory is described in more

Figure 4. Centrifugal impellor velocity triangles IGV control operates on the inlet swirl angle 1 with the vanes in the neutral position the inlet flow is axial, cos 1, and the second term is zero. Swirl in the same direction as the impeller rotation [ greater than 90 and cos 1 positive] will reduce the pressure rise. Swirl in the opposite direction [ greater than 90 and cos 1 negative] may raise the fan pressure, unless the impeller blading is

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capable of carrying the increased deflection so that 2 is not maintained. The impeller power will be decreased or increased in proportion to the pressure. In the first case some of the torque needed to produce the outlet swirl 2 will have been transferred from the impeller to the vanes; in the second case the impeller has to apply additional torque to counteract that applied by the vanes. Since the guide vanes are not rotating they can apply torque without consuming power, unlike the impeller. The influence on fan efficiency can best be illustrated by an example for a constant resistance system, which shows that efficiency will drop from 88% to 80% for a 15% reduction in volume flow and corresponding 30% decrease in impeller power. Although significant the reduction in efficiency is not considered to be a major concern in terms of DSM load clipping. The example is illustrated in Figures 5 & 6 below.

Power 2500 2000 Absorbed power 1500 1000 500 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

-30+%
45 60 75 90 105

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 50 100 150

Pressure

-15%
45 60 75 90 105 SYS

Pressure [kPa]

Reduction in Flow vs Efficiency 100 90 80 70 Efficiency 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40
30 105 90

200

250

300

350

400

FLOW [m/s]

Figure 6. Reduced flow and power via IGV control

3
75 60

Mining Cycle and ESKOM Peak Demand Period

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In South African hard-rock mines, the mining cycle [Figure 7] is such that the drilling [and charging] shift is completed by about 16:30 each day. During this shift, blast-holes are drilled, cleaned, charged with explosives and the detonating systems are set-up. Following this, the mine is evacuated and, at a predetermined time, the explosives are detonated. Very significant amounts of explosives are used and large quantities of dust and noxious gases are released by the blast. The mine then has a non-entry period when it remains evacuated until dust and gases are cleared out by the ventilation system. Thus there is a certain period during every working day when mines are evacuated. It is coincidence that this period generally coincides with the DSM peak demand period of 18:00 to 20:00. There is potential to exploit the simultaneous occurrence of the non-entry period and the DSM period by clipping the load during that period by the automatic and sustainable control of the main fans. 3.1 Impact on Underground Environment Concerns with reducing air volumes during any part of the day are that pollutants [diesel exhaust, dust, gasses, heat] will not be adequately diluted and flushed from the mine. In this regard, a VUMA-transient ventilation and heat load model was used to predict workplace wet bulb temperatures for two scenarios. The first, with surface fans running constantly at full capacity and the second, with the fans running at 85% of full flow [reduced IGV setting]. The model used a typical South African gold mine with a depth of 3500 m below surface as its baseline. The modeling confirmed that with a 15% reduction in volume at the fan station average environmental conditions should

Reduction in flow
Figure 5. IGV angle effect on efficiency Vane control is the standard aerodynamic method of varying the performance of a fixed speed centrifugal fan. This mechanism is commonly used on gas compressors and fans and has been utilized in numerous industries for many years. The radial IGV system just described is the most usual and its use on large centrifugal fans to efficiently off-load machines and reduce energy consumption is well proven. IGV control is most effective with high efficiency, backward-curved, centrifugal fans.

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2
EXPLOSIVE CHARGE-UP

MAKE-SAFE

06h00

1. D ri lling s hift s ta rts at abou t 06h00, w ith m any m en undergr ound dril ling blas t ho les - ven t/co oling s ys te m m u st be at 100% to c ool m en. 2. W hen dri lling is c om plet e, bla st holes are ch arged-u p w ith explos iv es and detonat ion s ys tem is se t-up - m ine i s then evac uat ed. 3. A t about 16 h30, exp los ives are det onate d an d t he wo rkin gs are f ille d w ith large am ounts o f s m oke, g as and d ust - m i ne r em ains evac uated. 4. A ft er som e tim e, t he s m oke, g as and dus t is exhau sted by the vent il atio n bu t the m ine re m ains e vac uate d u ntil ga s leve ls ar e ac c eptable . 5. C le aning s hif t the n c lea rs t he brok en r oc k - this invol ves m an y m en und ergroun d - ven t/ co oling s ys te m m us t b e at 100% to c ool m en. 6. O nc e r oc k is c lea red, and afte r s upp ort w ork , dril ling s hif t begin s agai n.

Figure 7. Typical hard rock mining cycle not change noticeably. The maximum equilibrium face wet bulb temperature increase predicted over time will be 0.2C. In addition, because of the inevitable underground leakage-paths, the reduction in flow seen at the workings will be less than the 15% seen at the fan station. Simulations and calculations further confirmed that clearing of blasting fumes, diesel exhaust, dust and gasses will in general not be a problem. However, the presence of underground booster fans can potentially be a problem if the reduction in main fan air volume/pressure causes pressurizing of return airways. There could also be a small take-up of flow/pressure by booster fans when main fan flow is reduced. These issues are by no means showstoppers, but need to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. The modern day availability of improved instrumentation and communication systems makes it easier to monitor underground environmental conditions. However, the extensive number of airways and large range of variables and influencing factors make it impractical to locate remote instruments all over a mine. It is more practical to have a few critical measurement sites that are fully reliable and to use simulation software to extrapolate from this data to predict conditions throughout the mine. The VUMA-network simulation software (VUMA, 2007) is designed to incorporate critical measurements into the simulation network, which are used to predict conditions throughout the mine. This increases coverage provided by existing instruments through extrapolation of measured values to provide an expanded real-time view of the mine. The concept of limited measuring points and prediction of the rest of the mine not only gives a real-time view of the complete mine ventilation network, but is also a powerful alarm system highlighting any abnormal conditions.

SUPPORT

SUPPORT

BLAST

DRILL ING SHIFT

NON-ENTRY PE RIOD

CLE ANING S HIFT

DRILLING S HIFT

DS M 14h00 16h30 21h00 24h00 0H600

T Y P ICA L CY C LE

Central Information and Control System

Implementing fan control for energy management necessitates an automated optimising control strategy in which fan stations are monitored at a central control room to effect partial unloading during strategic periods of the daily cycle. The underground environment must also be monitored in real time to detect any unwanted changes in the vent system. The monitoring system include all critical fan station information as well as key ventilation information from underground all reporting to the ventilation control stations. The control stations include PLC/SCADA units programmed with optimization software to implement dedicated DSM control philosophies and Intelligent Main Fan Control tactics.

Gold Fields Driefontein Case Study

Gold Fields Driefontein Mine is participating in Eskoms DSM programme by upgrading existing mechanical control hardware and implementing automated control at some of the main fan stations using IGV systems (BBE/Goldfields, 2006). Shafts included in the project are shown in Figure 8, fan type and operation are summarized in Table 1.

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Figure 8. Driefontein shaft positions Table 1. Driefontein main fan data

Shaft North# No. 3# No. 4# No. 5# No. 7# No. 11# No. 13# Fan Motor Rating Quantity Manufacturer (kW) Howden 2240 2 Airtec-Davidson 2400 4 Howden 2240 2 Howden 2250 3 Howden 2250 2 Airtec-Davidson 2240 2 Airtec-Davidson 2240 2 Installed Power 4480 9600 4480 6750 4500 4480 4480

The main fan control system extends across the seven main fan stations which will be linked by a communication monitoring system integrated with the central control station. The technical deliverable will be load-clipping up to 7.6 MWE in the peak tariff periods. The project capital cost is about US$ 3.3 million. The fan stations have a total installed rated capacity of about 39 MWE of which 29 MWE is operational. The seven fan stations are distributed within a radius of about 10 km. 5.1 Load Clipping The following absorbed power profile [Figure 9] shows unloading of a main fan during test work to determine power saving at the No.5 Shaft fan station. To effectively un-load fans, existing inlet guide-vanes

are replaced or upgraded to ensure reliability during daily operation. Newly fitted IGVs are designed to be aerodynamically efficient. As described above a complete main fan energy management system also includes robust communication, monitoring and control infrastructure. Fan station monitoring systems are linked to the central control station via an existing SCADA network feeding data to preprogrammed PLC units to implement energy management. Instruments are installed at fan stations and critical locations underground. Specially developed derivatives of the VUMA-network software [VUMA-live] allow the primary ventilation circuits of the multiple shafts to be observed and analyzed. 5.2 Business Case for Driefontein In addition to energy costs savings, there will be a number of associated positive benefits for Driefontein in terms of improved information flow relating to the underground environment. The business case is summarized as follows: 5.3 Energy Cost Savings Power costs [at current rates] are reduced as follows: On normal weekdays, the control system will shed 7.6 MWE from 17:00 to 21:00. Power cost saving $300,000 per year. This period can be extended to provide further savings.

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On work Saturdays, the control system can also shed 7.6 MWE from 14:00 to 24:00. Power cost saving $50,000 per year. On off-Saturdays, the control system can also shed 7.6 MWE for full day. Power cost saving $110,000 per year.

On Sundays/holidays, the control system can also shed 7.6 MWE for the full day. Power cost saving $235,000 per year.

The total savings for this strategy is $690,000 per year.

Figure 9. Fan absorbed power control via inlet guide vanes

5.4 Information and Control Centre

The ventilation monitoring system that processes the fan station information as well as ventilation data from underground, enable high standards of information availability, reporting and management. The ventilation control system is considered another important step in the direction of modern energy management and control on mines.

Main Fan Absorbed Power Control - Proposal to ESKOM. 2006. Rockwell Automation Energy Saving Potential Of SolidState AC Drives In VAV Systems, Publication D-7735 March 2000. Stebbins, W. A Guide to Selecting Adjustable-Speed Drive Systems, February 25, 2005, http://www.energyandpowermanagement.com. VUMA-network and VUMA-live software manuals, 2007.

Conclusion

Similar projects are being implemented at Gold Fields Kloof and Beatrix mines as well as for other mining groups in South Africa. In addition to the savings in electricity cost, Eskoms DSM projects provide several secondary benefits in energy monitoring and control. The main fan energy management projects will ensure extensive monitoring of ventilation system allowing the primary ventilation circuits for multiple shafts to be observed and analysed. Real time control of ventilation will ultimately result in more efficient use of ventilation and cooling resources.

Acknowledgements
Eskom for support from the DSM programme. Gold Fields and BBE for allowing this work to be published. The many colleagues closely involved in this work and assisting with the paper

References
Eskom official web site, www.eskom.co.za, 2008. BBE/Gold Fields. Proposal to Eskom, Ref 2006, Driefontein Mine - Demand Side Management -

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