ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION AND LOCATING DEVICES FOR UNDERGROUND MINES
First Claim
1. A system for locating and communicating with miners in an underground mine, comprising:
- a battery-powered miner signal unit operable by a miner within the mine and comprising;
an impact actuator operative when engaged by the miner with a wall, floor, or ceiling surface of the mine to transmit acoustic signals through the ground, anda user interface having at least one miner-actuatable control to initiate communication via the impact actuator, and an encoder operative to generate an encoded message based at least partially on the at least one miner-actuatable control using seismic modulation and to provide a corresponding modulated signal to the impact actuator;
at least three ground-coupled acoustic receivers proximate a ground surface and operative to receive acoustic signals from the ground; and
a base station operatively coupled to receive signals sensed by the acoustic receivers, the base station comprising;
a decoder operative to decode the signals received by the receivers to determine a message sent by the miner signal unit, anda location component operative to determine a location of the miner signal unit based on the signals received by the receivers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method are described for locating and communicating with miners in an underground mine, in which miners carry a battery-powered signal unit with an impact actuator engagable with a wall, floor, or ceiling surface of the mine to transmit acoustic signals through the ground, and actuate controls on the unit to send a predefined message or a specific message via the impact actuator to ground-coupled acoustic receivers coupled with a base station that includes a decoder to determine the message sent by the miner and a location component to determine the miner'"'"'s location based on the received signals.
18 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for locating and communicating with miners in an underground mine, comprising:
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a battery-powered miner signal unit operable by a miner within the mine and comprising; an impact actuator operative when engaged by the miner with a wall, floor, or ceiling surface of the mine to transmit acoustic signals through the ground, and a user interface having at least one miner-actuatable control to initiate communication via the impact actuator, and an encoder operative to generate an encoded message based at least partially on the at least one miner-actuatable control using seismic modulation and to provide a corresponding modulated signal to the impact actuator; at least three ground-coupled acoustic receivers proximate a ground surface and operative to receive acoustic signals from the ground; and a base station operatively coupled to receive signals sensed by the acoustic receivers, the base station comprising; a decoder operative to decode the signals received by the receivers to determine a message sent by the miner signal unit, and a location component operative to determine a location of the miner signal unit based on the signals received by the receivers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of locating and communicating with miners in an underground mine, the method comprising:
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a miner engaging an impact actuator with a wall, floor, or ceiling surface of the mine; the miner activating a control of a user interface to initiate communication via the impact actuator; automatically generating an encoded message based at least partially on the at least one miner-actuatable control using seismic modulation; the impact actuator acoustically transmitting a modulated signal corresponding to the encoded message through the ground; receiving acoustic signals from the ground using at least three ground-coupled acoustic receivers; decoding the signals received by the receivers to determine a message sent by the miner; and determining a location of the miner based on the signals received by the receivers. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification