Fibre-Optic Based Sensors for Dust Monitoring

Coal dust is one of the main sources of health and safety risk in surface and underground coal mines. Coal dust monitoring and control are critical measures in any coal mine operation. Optical dust sensing has become a viable technology for dust monitoring as it has a number of advantages over conventional gravimetric methods. Fibre-optic based sensors are especially valuable in sensing dust particles in hazardous environments and in the presenceof explosives within coal mines. This paper presents an overview of using fibre-optic based sensors for measuring dust concentration.