Small sensor device could increase safety of miners

Nottingham University and Derby-based Tioga have developed a sensor that can be integrated into a miner’s helmets to enable people above ground to monitor their heart rate and respiration.

Recent incidents — such as the Gelision Colliery accident in Wales last year that saw four miners killed — have demonstrated the need to be able to assess the health and location of miners trapped underground. Although some mines now use radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, many still employ the tally system, using tokens to check whether miners have returned from their shift.

Warwick Adams, Tioga’s managing director, told The Engineer that the technology they have developed is similar to the finger clips used in hospitals to measure a patient’s heart rate, which study how light interacts with blood at the fingertips.

‘This is a similar kind of thing, but rather than light going through and out of your skin we reflect it so the light goes in and then we watch it bounce off,’ said Adams.