Field: Mine Ventilation, Gas detection.

International Patent Classification: E21F; F24F; G01F; G01N; G08B

Apolinario Katipunan1, Felix Vitangcol1

1

Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, University of the Philippines,

Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.

I. Background
Mine ventilation is essentially the application of the principles of fluid dynamics to the flow of air
in mine openings [1]. Along with it, is the study of gases present in mine openings and on detecting and
directing their flow throughout the mine.
Most gases present in mine openings are toxic and combustible in nature. Such toxic and
combustible mine gas are methane, carbon monoxide, and etc. Failure to detect and handle these mine gases
may impede mine productions and may lead to mine mishaps. Such accidents can be mine explosions due
to combustible gases and death of mine workers due to the toxic effects of the gas.
Hence, when one is working inside a mine opening, it is only imperative to delve into the field of
mine gas detection. Furthermore, a mining company must invest on such instruments to ensure mine safety.
There are instruments that are currently used and are available in the market. One such device used in mines
are the handheld mine gas detector.
This state of the art search attempts to give a detailed report about the state of the art of such fields
of interest, i.e., handheld mine gas detection.
II. Methodology
The method used for determining the state of the art of the said field is by collecting all available
patent documents and information from different patent search engines, and generating analytics from these
data to express its general trend.
The patent search engines used for this paper are the following:
1. Espacenet
< http://worldwide.espacenet.com/ >
2. Patentscope
<https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf >
3. US Patent and Trademark Office via IPVision
< http://www.see-the-forest.com/G4/AdvancedSearch.act >
All of the three (3) patent search engines are available online and are free of charge. Although paid
patent search engines such as Thomson Innovation can provide a much wider search, these were,
nevertheless, deemed enough for the state of the art search.

The analytics generator used in this paper are the following

1. Patenscopes built-in analytics generator
Patentscopes built-in analytics generator produces similar analytics results from that of Thomson
Innovation. Patenscopes search abilities is limited by the World Intellectual Property Organizations ability to
track and collate different patent documents from different patent offices all over the world. Nevertheless,
Patentscopes search capabilities was deemed sufficient for the search.

The analytics that were deemed most important to present in this paper are the patent published per
year and the top assignee/applicant that has patents on such field of interest. Other relevant information
such as the inventor and where the countries where the patent was filed can be found at the appendix section
of the paper.
The subject matter was deemed categorized under six (6) different International Patent
Classifications or IPCs. The IPCs are:
1. E21F - Safety Devices, Transport, Filling-up, Rescue, Ventilation, or Drainage in or of Mines or
Tunnels.
2. F24F Air-Conditioning, Air-Humidification; Ventilation; Use of Air Currents for Screening.
3. G01F - Measuring Volume, Volume Flow, Mass Flow, or Liquid Level; Metering by Volume.
4. G01N Investigating or Analyzing Materials by Determining their Chemical or Physical Properties
5. G08B - Signaling or Calling Systems; Order Telegraphs; Alarm Systems.
The search string implemented for this the paper were the following:
ALL (IPC AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))

III. Search Results 6.14=size witdh

Keywords: (E21F AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 16
Results

Recent Patents

Assignee/Applicant:
1. 20120304866 ; Toxic gas removal and
air conditioning system for human life
support in enclosed refuge spaces;
06/12/2012
2. WO/2012/005933; MINE PERSONNEL
CARRIER INTERGRATED INFORMATION
DISPLAY; 12/01/2012
3.2752524; CARBON MANAGEMENT AND
SEQUESTRATION FROM
ENCAPSULATED CONTROL
INFRASTRUCTURES; 19/08/2010

Publication Date:

Figure 1.1

Keywords: (F24F AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 21
Results

Recent Patents

Assignee/Applicant:
1. 20150120064; RETROFITTING A
CONSTANT VOLUME AIR HANDLING UNIT
WITH A VARIABLE FREQUENCY DRIVE;
30/04/2015

2. 20150004895; AIRBORNE
COMPONENT EXTRACTOR WITH
BAFFLED DEBRIS COLLECTION;
01/01/2015

3. 2717981; WIRELESS-ENABLED AIR

QUALITY MONITORING AND CONTROL;
09/01/2012

Publication Date:

Figure 1.2

Keywords: (G01F AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 43
Results

Recent Patents

Assignee/Applicant:
1. WO/2015/154162; COMPOSITIONS
AND METHODS FOR DELIVERY OF
CARBON DIOXIDE; 15/10/2015

2. 20150204701; Water Use Monitoring

Apparatus; 23/07/2015

3. 20150196723; GAS FLOW

INDICATOR; 16/07/2015

Publication Date:

Figure 1.3

Keywords: (G01N AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 1642
Results

Recent Patents

Assignee/Applicant:
1. WO/2015/173610; AN OPTICAL
SYSTEM FOR ON-LINE MEASUREMENT
OF MARKER(S) IN LIQUIDS AND GASES;
19/11/2015

2. WO/2015/167627; SIMULTANEOUS
ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE COMPONENTS
IN WELL FLUIDS; 05/11/2015

3. WO/2015/164123; SLIDER TAPE

SEALING CARTRIDGE FOR ADJUSTABLY
SEALING A FLOW CYTOMETER SAMPLE
MANIPULATION CHAMBER; 29/10/2015

Publication Date:

Figure 1.4
6

Keywords: (G08B AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 96
Results

Recent Patents

Assignee/Applicant:
1. 20150302713; SECURITY SYSTEM
AND METHOD OF MARKING AN
INVENTORY ITEM AND/OR PERSON IN
THE VICINITY; 22/10/2015

2. 20150145692; System for providing

real time locating and gas exposure
monitoring; 28/05/2015

3. 20150145686; SYSTEM FOR

PROVIDING REAL TIME LOCATING AND
GAS EXPOSURE MONITORING; 28/05/2015

Publication Date:

Figure 1.5

IV. Discussion of Results

There are around 1,818 published patents among the 1,365,901 records within the Patentscope
database containing the following keywords: gas, mining, detection, concentration, handheld or portable
that falls under the IPCs: E21F, G01F, G01N, G08B. One of the most recent innovation in this field would
include a device capable of indicating physical, chemical and the performance rates of the analyzed
hydrocarbons, with the use of near Infra-red spectral analysis of markers, qualitatively and quantitatively
for liquids and gaseous forms of materials present in mines. Moreover, this device falls under the category
of G01N, an investigatory device determining the physical and chemical properties of such materials
present.
Figures 1.1 to 1.5 shows the different patents included for each category, also it can be known that
G01N, Investigating or Analyzing Materials by Determining their Chemical or Physical Properties,
category as the most number of applicants. Having United States as the leading number of patent holders,
Patent Cooperation Treaty as second leading, followed by Canada and other countries. Unfortunately, in
the Philippines, there is no patent related to the field.
Observing the patent trend in the figures 1.1 to 1.5, gives a fluctuating trends. This may also be
cause by the different, environment, economic or scientific factors which shows that maturity on the field
cannot yet be determined.

V. Conclusions and Recommendations

Mine ventilation and gas detection field is much known all over the world, because of the demand
for safety and development of the mining sites whether surface or underground. Though a lot of products
are already available in the market, or if not, personal devices of different companies, it is still advisable to
conduct research and development on this field. Devices devised for this field most of the time focuses on
a particular thing or aspect of the mine. It would be advisable to do a research and a development of a
device or a system capable of determining what kind of gas/liquid, its concentration and the ventilation
process itself. It may seem very complicated but with all the information available it would be possible.
Because of safety and environmental concerns, leading countries or companies would be your main
target/audience for the research and development.

VI. References
[1]Hartmat, Howard L., et al. Mine Ventilation and Air Conditioaning. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.
PDF.

VII. Appendix
Keywords: (E21F AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 16

Keywords: (F24F AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 21

Keywords: (G01F AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 43

Keywords: (G01N AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 1642

10

Keywords: (G08B AND gas* NEAR min* AND detect* AND concen* AND (handheld OR portable))
Hits: 96

11