Coal Age

MAY 2017

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May 2017 www.coalage.com 31 ventilation controls continued To break in, LMS employed a scattergun approach. "We've approached many folks with the products," Cerklefskie said. On a visit to an Alabama miner, he made the right contacts at the right time and things escalated. "We happened to catch high-lev- el management at a meeting and really made an impression on them," he said. "Not just on that product alone, but from a whole portfolio standpoint of offering premier products." The miner had ventilation issues. It was "fighting for air," Cerklefskie said. Their setup, he said, was a high-pressure system using 20-in. fiberglass tubing and standard contra-rotating fans and fan series. "The requirement at the end of the tube was 15,000 ft 3 per minute," he said. "They struggled even at 250 ft to have enough air at the end of the tube." Cerklefskie said this was not an uncommon problem. "Be- cause of fiberglass being prone to leakage, more often than not, I've seen mines always fighting for air," Cerklefskie said. "What they are doing is they're wrapping Saran Wrap around these things, and doing all they can to keep that flow going as good as they can." LMS presented some design calculations using a duct simula- tor. Eventually a deal was struck, Cerklefskie said. "On our second or third visit, finally, we had the Aha! moment." HardLine tubing had been tested previously in coal mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. "This one in Alabama is our first full run that was installed," he said. Joints, dubbed Slinkies, lack moving parts and are reportedly made of a rugged textile. In demos, 'we usually bring a fabric sample in and have the biggest guy in the mine try and tear it apart,' Cerklefskie says. 'Every time he can't.' Above, a 20-in. to 16-in. Wye Reducer connects to a 16-in. tube via a Slinky.

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