Martell M J, Sammarco J J, Macdonald B, Rubinstein E
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh Mining Research Division, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Light Res Technol. 2019;52(1):64-78. doi: 10.1177/1477153519829187.
Lifelines are used to aid self-escape of underground miners, but they are difficult to find in low-visibility conditions of smoke, therefore a self-illuminating lifeline could facilitate miners in locating the lifeline. The detection distance, colour recognition, and miss rate for 10 subjects were determined for red-, green- and blue-lighted diffuse fibre-optic cables, used to create a lighted lifeline, and a traditional rope lifeline in a smoked-filled environment. The testing was conducted with and without a cap lamp. The use of a cap lamp resulted in all cases being undetected in 98.3% of trials. With the cap lamp off, there was no significant difference in the detection distance for blue- and green-lighted fibres; however, the miss rate for the green-lighted fibre was slightly higher. The red-lighted fibre was not detected in 93.3% of trials. The green- and blue-lighted fibres enabled the best visual performance, but subjects had difficulty correctly identifying the colour of the fibre. The lighted fibre-optic cable appears to have merit for improving self-escape from underground mines, and may have other mining and non-mining applications that include improving self-escape visibility.
救生索用于帮助地下矿工自行逃生，但在烟雾弥漫的低能见度条件下很难找到，因此自发光救生索可以帮助矿工找到救生索。在烟雾弥漫的环境中，针对用于制造发光救生索的红色、绿色和蓝色发光的漫射光纤电缆以及传统绳索救生索，测定了10名受试者的探测距离、颜色识别和失误率。测试在有和没有安全帽灯的情况下进行。使用安全帽灯导致在98.3%的试验中所有情况均未被检测到。关闭安全帽灯后，蓝色和绿色发光光纤的探测距离没有显著差异；然而，绿色发光光纤的失误率略高。在93.3%的试验中，红色发光光纤未被检测到。绿色和蓝色发光光纤的视觉性能最佳，但受试者难以正确识别光纤的颜色。发光光纤电缆似乎有利于改善地下矿井的自行逃生，并且可能有其他采矿和非采矿应用，包括提高自行逃生的能见度。
