Mine drainage pump backup power supply

The electricity risks of open pits, underground working surfaces, tailings systems and water treatment stations are different from those of ordinary production equipment. Stopping the crushing line will affect production, and stopping the drainage pump may cause water accumulation, safety, environmental protection, and recovery difficulties.

In the early days, many sites connected pumping stations, lighting, campsites and production equipment to the same power supply. They could run normally. However, in the rainy season, power outages or voltage fluctuations, critical safety loads would be dragged down by ordinary loads.

The biggest concern for the person in charge of mine operations is that the pump cannot automatically recover during a power outage, or the voltage is unstable when the pump is restarted. Water accumulation in open-pit mines, interruption of drainage at underground working surfaces, and shutdown of tailings pumps will all put the site into a passive treatment state.

On-site personnel may have to switch power supplies in the rain, check pump control cabinets, deploy temporary units, and also ensure lighting, communication and safety equipment at the same time. Electrical problems can quickly turn into safety and production organization issues.

Once the pumping and drainage system is shut down for a long time, water accumulation may affect roads, pit bottom equipment, underground working surfaces and electrical cabinets. Restoration not only involves restarting the pump, but also dealing with silt, damp, cable and control system risks.

Loads such as tailings, water treatment, and ventilation may also create regulatory and site safety pressures if they lack backup power. This problem cannot be solved only by temporary repairs, but protected loads need to be defined in advance.

Key pumps, pump control cabinets, necessary lighting, control signals and communications should be separately classified into the backup power supply range, and prioritized with ordinary loads such as crushing, maintenance workshops, and campsites. In the event of a power outage, which pumps will be protected first and which pumps will be started later must be clearly stated on the power distribution side.

Backup diesel engines, ATS, pump starting current review, rain-proof and moisture-proof power distribution, long-term fuel and key spare parts should be planned together. What the pumping station really needs is not a unit that can be temporarily connected, but a switching sequence that does not need to be debated again after a power outage.

In the first step, the pump groups are divided according to risk: pit drainage, underground working surface, tailings, water treatment and fire-fighting loads are looked at separately, and the pump power, starting method, control cabinet position, rainy season water volume and manual restart difficulty are recorded.

The second step is to review the backup unit capacity, ATS range and pump start sequence. Multiple pumps cannot be started at the same time by default, and pumping stations cannot compete with lighting, dormitory, and maintenance equipment for the same set of spare capacity.

The third step is to incorporate rainy season conditions into the design. The rain-proof and moisture-proof power distribution cabinets, fuel tank endurance, duty arrangements, spare contactors and sensor inventory must all be confirmed before the water level rises, instead of waiting to find after the pump is stopped.

When the mains power supply or the main power supply is abnormal, the key pumps can be switched to the backup power supply according to priority, and the capacity is given up to the ordinary load. The site no longer relies on manual wire pulling and temporary judgment in the rain to maintain drainage.

What the team received was a drainage and power guarantee list: the required pump set, backup power supply coverage, fuel life, on-duty actions, common spare parts locations and abnormal reporting sequence were all fixed in advance.