Polish coking coal miner JSW’s underground transportation in Borynia coal mine is carried out using diesel and electric-powered machines. JSW said “Electric machines enable more comfortable and safer work withquiet operation, no exhaust fumes, lower failure rate, and fast charging just like in an electric vehicle. These are the advantages of using locomotives equipped with new-generation batteries. This is what the drivers in the Borynia Section have found out.”

Borynia Section’s manager of underground transport Mr Dariusz Piżyk said “Due to absence of a locomotive depot at the 950m level, so far we have used diesel machines. The temperatures in the area would exceed 28 degrees, so we organized work in four shifts. The implementation of the Electra battery-powered locomotive has made it possible to reduce the temperature at the driver's workstation. Now we can work in a three-shift system.”

The battery-powered locomotive makes it possible to transport people, cargo and equipment. Charging its batteries is possible in a coal dust and methane explosion zone. This not only eliminates the need to maintain an additional pit with a battery charging station, or fuel management station in the case of diesel locomotives, but also significantly reduces maintenance costs.

The Electra locomotive is equipped with a maintenance-free battery and a system that allows energy recovery during kinetic braking. The new model of the machine has two gears and cruise control. In the higher gear, the maximum speed of the locomotive is 5 meters per second, while in the lower gear a slow start is possible. An interesting feature is cruise control, which at first was described as an unnecessary invention. It turns out that driving in this mode is used by drivers on a regular basis, as it is very precise. A fixed speed, adjustable in 0.1 meters per second increments, allows for more controlled linking of the machine to units.

Electric locomotives with the ability to recharge in the drift are likely to displace machines with traditional solutions in the near future.

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