Engineering application and optimization of a synergistic air curtain-wet vortex dust control system at continuous miner faces.

This study addresses the critical challenge of controlling high-concentration dust generated during continuous miner operations, particularly during right-side brushing and cutting of medium-hard and harder strata, where dust readily disperses and conventional wet dust removal techniques struggle to achieve full coverage and high efficiency. Conducted at the 3,305 rubber-auxiliary haulage gallery in Weiqiang Coal Mine, Yulin, Shaanxi Province, this research proposes a synergistic dust control strategy integrating a wet vortex dust collector with a lateral air curtain produced by a wall-attached air duct. A self-developed, compact, and onboard wet vortex dust collector that combines dust extraction, wet vortex purification, and air–water separation was deployed for efficient near-source dust management. Utilizing a combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and field tests, the influence of the axial-to-lateral air distribution ratio in the wall-attached duct on dust flow field regulation and removal efficiency was investigated. The results demonstrate that for the rubber haulage gallery, where the dust source and forcing duct are on the same side, a higher lateral flow ratio (2:8) effectively confines the dust dispersion range within 10 m. For the auxiliary haulage gallery with opposing dust source and duct locations, a balanced approach is necessary to simultaneously suppress the source and intercept dispersion; an axial-to-lateral ratio of 4:6 showed superior dust control performance. Field application data confirmed that under this technical scheme, the average removal efficiencies for total and respirable dust reached approximately 93.77% and 90.23% in the rubber haulage gallery, and 94.26% and 91.00% in the auxiliary haulage gallery, respectively. This integrated approach provides a valuable reference for tackling high-concentration dust under similar complex geological and operational conditions.