Personal protective equipment distributor MSA Africa has launched its Luminator cap lamp, which incorporates two light- emitting diode (LED) lights to improve visibility of underground hazards.

“The Luminator has been designed to enhance a miner’s ability to more effectively detect cracks in hanging walls. This usually represents signs of ground falls and roof collapse. With the use of the Luminator, miners can quickly identify the cracks and evacuate the shaft speedily in a case of rockfalls,” says MSA Africa sub-Saharan Africa sales leader José Peral.

Having invented its first electric cap lamp in 1918 as an attempt to decrease the high number of underground mining fatalities caused by open-flame lamps that were exposed to high levels of combustible methane, MSA Africa believes the Luminator will be a breakthrough for underground mining operations internationally.

The product incorporates OSLON SSL 150 LED lamps, which work through an internal reflection and refraction lens that creates homogenous and halo-free light. In combination with its colour temperature, identifying cracks on hanging walls or seam layers is simplified with the Luminator cap.

MSA Africa product manager Tshepo Lebona further points out that the Luminator features a walking light, which contributes to the overall safety of the miner.

“The Luminator has an easy-to-find functionality button, which allows the user to switch between three modes, the working light narrow beam, the peripheral light and the walking light,” he states.

The Luminator cap lamp also boasts MSA’s LiFePO4 lithium-ion battery pack technology, which ensures that working light is able to run for more than 36 hours, which is well above the industry average of 24 hours.

“It also provides an additional 100 hours of emergency light, which is essential, as trapped miners are provided with sufficient light to make their way to a safe area to await rescue,” adds Lebona.

“The LiFePO4 battery pack is protected against deep discharge and has a cycle life of 1 000 discharge and charge cycles, with the battery capacity maintaining up to 80 nominal capacity. “A Luminator cap lamp that has been used for a 12-hour shift can be recharged within four hours, while a fully flat battery can be recharged within ten hours,” highlights Peral.

As part of the stringent safety requirements set out by the Department of Mineral Resources, Peral explains, the Luminator cap lamp has undergone a total of 80 000 hours of field testing at underground mining projects operating in the local coal, platinum and gold sectors.