Success Case at Codelco Andina

Since 2004, Comind Industries has expanded its divisions by creating the engineering area to provide solutions to industrial problems that require greater technical management.

Regarding the process problems that some of our clients have had, we can point out the case of Codelco Andina in its new Portal Castro injection gallery in charge of injecting air into underground mines, a flow of 1,400,000 cubic meters per hour to all the interior partitioning of the tunnel.

In the winter season, the outside air in the mines has an approximate temperature of -25 ° C, requiring ventilation and air injection inside. As we can see, injecting air at this temperature is extremely complex due to the high levels of freezing that occur, which is why Codelco’s engineering area created a strategy set to the details to achieve visualization of a solution to its problem. It is at this point, when our client generates a tender where various bidders participated both nationally and internationally.

With the Comind team, we reviewed the problem presented and looked for an alternative solution that was consistent with our capabilities as national manufacturers. Thus developing a plan with air heating towers which would be located on both sides at the entrance of the main tunnel, where the air in the area reaches -12 ° C having to achieve a delta according to the target temperature that are 2 ° C.

By having the required delta and entering the air at that temperature, everything that touches the air is prevented from freezing, which is what happens inside the mine.
We presented this alternative to Codelco, which was interested in our solution and thus we started one of the most emblematic projects for our company at the engineering system level.

We embarked on this project for 6 to 8 months together with the production, engineering and management team, in which the manufacture of 26 heating towers of 225 kW each was developed.

In the manufacture of this equipment, it was necessary to develop 2,730 heating elements to distribute them in these 225 kW towers each with fans of 50,000 cubic meters per hour. All this assisted by Codelco technical inspectors based on the engineering of Amec Foster Wheeler (AMEC).

After many inspections, tests and reviews, the final delivery of the project was achieved in 2018.

Today the project is in the final stage of installation and assembly in the Álamos portal tunnel for the main air injection mine, in the facilities of Codelco.
It is estimated that the start-up of this project will take place at the end of 2021.

Check the link of products for heating air by irradiation at https://www.comind.cl/baterias-calefactoras/

Author: Pedro Garrido Jara

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