SEDL / STP / STP664-EB / STP35818S

CAVIJET Coal-cutting parameters

Conn, AF
Principal research scientist and head, and associate research scientist, Hydronautics, Inc., Laurel, Md.

Rudy, SL
Principal research scientist and head, and associate research scientist, Hydronautics, Inc., Laurel, Md.

Pages: 20    Published: Jan 1979

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Abstract

Laboratory coal-cutting experiments with CAVIJET cavitating waterjets have demonstrated the feasibility of this technology for hydraulic coal mining applications. The objective of the first phase of a developmental program, as described in this paper, was to determine the system and operating parameters required to cut coal with CAVIJETS, and to compare the results with those observed for noncavitating jets.

Comparable coal cutting was achieved with the CAVIJET, relative to high-pressure, noncavitating jets, using one-fifth the pressure and one-half the specific energy. These results suggest that CAVIJET-augmented mining devices can be developed with compact, low-pressure pumps. Thus, CAVIJET should be capable of operating with safer, lighter, more suitable support equipment, while providing all of the advantages (reduction of dust and sparks; decreased damage to cutters) of conventional hydraulic mining methods.