Abstract:
The belt conveyor roadway is the main operation site for coal transportation. During long-distance conveying, a large amount of respirable dust is generated, increasing both the risk of pneumoconiosis and the potential for coal dust explosions. At present, dust control methods in coal mine roadways suffer from excessive water consumption, low dust collection efficiency, and unsatisfactory on-site performance. To address these issues, this study investigated the migration patterns of respirable dust and developed precision dust control and removal technologies for coal mine belt conveyor roadways. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software combined with a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), a full-scale geometric model of the belt conveyor roadway was constructed to simulate the spatiotemporal evolution of dust pollution under airflow disturbances and to analyze the distribution characteristics of high-concentration dust in the pedestrian breathing zone. The analysis results showed that, based on the dust generation characteristics of belt conveyor roadways, the transfer points and belt vibrations were the main continuous sources of dust. Moreover, compared with the right side of the belt conveyor, the left side (pedestrian walkway) had lower air velocity and weaker dilution capacity for dust, providing favorable conditions for dust accumulation and resulting in more severe pollution. The area near the breathing height was relatively open, causing less obstruction to dust migration and forming a long, narrow zone of high dust concentration near the pedestrian walkway, where dust concentration tends to increase continuously. To address the different dust generation characteristics at transfer points and along the belt, two control technologies were applied: a full-section cloud-mist dust suppression device and a self-powered intelligent atomizing dust suppression system. Application results showed that the average total dust concentration and average respirable dust concentration in the roadway decreased from 249.75 mg/m
3 and 171.03 mg/m
3, to 54.16 mg/m
3 and 21.46 mg/m
3, with total dust and respirable dust removal efficiencies of 76.56% and 75.32%, respectively.