Digital flow control unit for controlling amount of water used for binding dust

Abstract

Rock drilling requires that the rock dust formed during drilling is removed with flushing. Nowadays, liquid mist is often employed to bind dust from the flushing air in overground drilling. The amount of the liquid, for example water, is precise, because too small or too large amount of liquid leads to unwanted result. Traditionally, the liquid amount is controlled by a manual valve in the control cabin of the drilling machine. This method has disadvantages and therefore, some alternative control systems have been considered. This paper presents a 7-bit Digital Flow Control Unit (DFCU) which was designed for controlling the amount of water in the dust binding system.