High efficiency dust scrubbers for continuous miner in underground mines

Based on the experimental data by a full scale test model and the relevant existing achievements, four new concepts of group dust scrubbers were designed in the paper. The new dust scrubbers consist of two to four common dust separators in series: wet fan, wet Venturi and foam filter bed. Wetting and foaming agents are used to increase the efficiency of dust separation. High efficiency is not required for each part of the group dust scrubbers, but the whole system has a high working reliability. All parts of the group dust scrubbers have the most suitable separating efficiency for different size and concentration of dust particles in airflow, according to their technical features. Four group dust scrubbers have a high efficiency from 94.4% to 99.7% for separating respirable dust at a rational cost.