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Due to hot toxic smoke and unknown risks under fire conditions, detection and relevant reconnaissance are significant in avoiding casualties. A fire reconnaissance robot was therefore developed to assist in the problem by offering important fire information to fire fighters. The robot consists of three main systems, a display operating system, video surveillance, and mapping and positioning navigation. Augmented reality (AR) goggle technology with a display operating system was also developed to free fire fighters&rsquo, hands, which enables them to focus on rescuing processes and not system operation. Considering smoke disturbance, a thermal imaging video surveillance system was included to extract information from the complicated fire conditions. Meanwhile, a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology was adopted to build the map, together with the help of a mapping and positioning navigation system. This can provide a real-time map under the rapidly changing fire conditions to guide the fire fighters to the fire sources or the trapped occupants. Based on our experiments, it was found that all the tested system components work quite well under the fire conditions, while the video surveillance system produces clear images under dense smoke and a high-temperature environment, SLAM shows a high accuracy with an average error of less than 3.43%, the positioning accuracy error is 0.31 m, and the maximum error for the navigation system is 3.48%. The developed fire reconnaissance robot can provide a practically important platform to improve fire rescue efficiency to reduce the fire casualties of fire fighters.

The movement and distribution of methane in coalmine roadways are major issues relating to coalmine safety. Once high concentrations of methane accumulate in downward ventilated tilted roadways, the movement of methane can be very special. A 1/50 experimental model was constructed for the study on high concentrations of methane behavior in downward ventilated parallel roadways. This experiment measured gas concentrations in the upper and lower parts of the methane accumulating roadway and the wind speeds both in the methane accumulating roadway and in its parallel roadway The experimental results indicate that the methane draft pressure (the additional natural draft pressure due to the density difference of methane and air when high concentrations of methane accumulate in tilted roadways) could lead to airflow reversion in a downward ventilated roadway; methane may flow with the reversed airflow into the parallel roadway. The reversed methane that flows into the parallel roadway could generate a new methane draft pressure, which would oscillate airflow under certain conditions. According to the experimental results with parallel roadways of different windage, a larger windage of the parallel branch could ensure a relatively stable airflow, and a smooth methane discharge process. Through analysis by oscillation theory and the Archimedes number, it is concluded that the parallel roadway windage affects the methane draft pressure-caused airflow disorder by two aspects: (1) a larger windage deceases the amplitude of airflow oscillation and (2) a larger windage decreases the methane flown into the parallel branch, which, in turn, decreases the critical wind velocity for airflow reversion in the parallel roadway. The effect of windage is proved by a numerical simulation of Jiulishan Mine at the end of this paper.

The underground ventilation in coal mine comes from the ground air so that the seasonal fluctuation of atmospheric temperature inevitably has influence upon its climate. The paper obtains a simplified mathematical calculation method of the radial and axial temperature fields to furnish a supplement to air temperature prediction of coal roadway with the emphasis on the influence of seasonal characteristic of inlet airflow. The results reveal that the propagation of radial and axial temperature wave has the similar characteristic of amplitude decay and phase delay. In the radial direction, the main factor is the dimensionless annual cycle time; and in the axial direction, it is influenced by the location-related dimensionless time, the Nusselt number, the Biot number, and the dimensionless annual cycle time. In addition, for the wave amplitude, they present the negative exponential trend as the location increases, the overall shape of which resembles a folded page; for the delayed phase, they present the linear variation trend as the location increases, the overall shape of which resembles a parallelogram. In the paper, the evolution mechanism of temperature field of coal roadway under seasonal fluctuation boundary is profoundly comprehended, which has important guiding significance for the field engineer.

The densities of airflow will be changed by the influx of high-concentration gas, and methane draft pressure will be formed in roadways with height differences. The existence of methane draft pressure may also cause air volume reduction, airflow stagnation and even lead to airflow reversal in some roadways of ventilation networks, resulting in airflow disorder. In recent years, a number of achievements have been made in studies on airflow induced by methane draft pressure with different roadway conditions; however, currently available literature fails to provide a summary study on airflow catastrophes induced by methane draft pressure. Therefore, this paper introduces the definition of methane draft pressure, its influences on ventilation networks, experimental and simulation research, and influence factors and prevention measures of airflow disorder induced by methane draft pressure. It is concluded that methane draft pressure is an important area for future studies on airflow disorder in roadways to cover.

A functionalized paper based on gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) conjugated graphene oxide (GO) was developed for near-infrared (NIR) laser triggered photothermal ablation against infectious bacterial pathogens. Firstly, quaternized carboxymethyl chitosan (QCMC) not only acted as reducing agent to synthesize Au NPs, but also functioned as coupling agent to link up Au NPs with GO. Au-QCMC-GO(+) was supposed to synergistically intensify the photothermal effect, which was then mixed with nanocellulose to form a functionalized paper via vacuum filtration. The photothermal efficiency, antibacterial treatment and mechanical property of Au-QCMC-GO(+)/nanocellulose paper were investigated. Excited by NIR laser irradiation, Au-QCMC-GO(+)/nanocellulose paper generated a temperature rise over 80 °C, sufficient for photothermal ablation upon both Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Stapylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Additionally, Au-QCMC-GO(+)/nanocellulose paper showed a remarkable enhancement in tensile strength, bursting index and tear index compared to those of pure nanocellulose paper.

In order to study the propagation law of shock waves and gas flow during coal and gas outburst, we analyzed the formation process of outburst shock waves and gas flow and established the numerical simulation models of the roadways with 45° intersection and 135° intersection to simulate the propagation of outburst gas flow and the process of gas transport. Based on the analysis of the simulation results, we obtained the qualitative and quantitative conclusions on the characteristics and patterns of propagation and attenuation of outburst shock waves and gas flow. With the experimental models, we investigated the outburst shock waves and gas flow in the roadways with the similar structures to the simulated ones. According to the simulation results, when the angle between the driving roadway and the adjacent roadway increased, the sudden pressure variation range in adjacent roadway and the influencing scope of gas flow increased and the sudden pressure variation duration decreased. The intersection between the driving roadway and the adjacent roadway has no effect on airflow reversal induced by the shock waves and gas flow. Keywords: Coal and gas outburst, Shock waves and gas flow, Propagation law, Cross roadway