Miners trapped in Chile...... for a looong time!

[mcnair55]

This happened in Germany many years ago and they made a film about it,one of the best films I have ever watched and they were stuck down there for days rather than the time these guys will be in there for.

Mines rescue will know exactly what lights to supply them with and they have been in touch with Nasa today to ask for advice on mental attitude for the men in long endurance situations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUnkfJ_SbmE

Here is a clip from the film,watch out for the flashlight being sent down.

 

[Mr Bigglow]

Coming from the great northern land of short winter days with weak if any sunlight, as I do, my wish for those guys is that they get sent some bright, full spectrum lights of the type used for the treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), plus of course the ability to run them at least 6 hours per day. Until you've experienced it, you don't know how the lack of such light can affect you- generally it's a major cause of depression, insomnia, restlessness and so on, all things they can do without. It's going to be plenty tough enough for them as it is.

 

[Kestrel]

An interesting illumination problem.

My first thought was a bunch of E01's or Arc-AAA's: Simple, small, reliable, bright enough.

From the article:
"The supplies included 33 small low-intensity and low-energy LED lights, so each miner can have a light source that won't bother his eyes in the murky depths."


Good points in this thread so far:

• Relatively low levels of illumination are necessary, high outputs may be counterproductive with regards to dark-adaptation.
• Full-spectrum illumination may be helpful - warm LED's at a minimum IMO. LED vs Incan might be a good question.

Another note, if it was me on the flashlight decision, I'd make sure everything is single-celled, there will be a lot of battery changes in the coming months (in semi-darkness, naturally). Mix-ups with alkalines would be inconvenient, mismatches with CR123's could be potentially serious.

Edit: And after reading the article linked to previously, I'd imagine that there would be use for one or two relatively high-powered lights for special tasks. A SureFire 9P with a Malkoff M61W comes to mind.

 

[wyager]

News reports have said they're not going to tell the miners it will take 3-4 months and are likely going to suggest 3-4 weeks, then make excuses and stall, somehow that will improve moral. I don't think that's a good idea, they should be frank and honest. Better to give them a realistic goal to survive for, then to say 1 month, then 2, then 3, that will make them loose hope.

+1
That's really not cool... :thumbsdow
Tell the miners what's going on, I bet some are going to be giving up hope after the fourth or fifth stall. Chances are, even with a realistic goal (4 months) it may take longer and they will have to stall anyway.

And good point about color rendition, extended periods away from medium temperature (sunlight) and warm temperature (for people who have lived with incan bulbs most of their life) light causes depression and claustrophobia, which are both bad in a cramped mine.

 

[joeyboy]

+1
That's really not cool... :thumbsdow
Tell the miners what's going on, I bet some are going to be giving up hope after the fourth or fifth stall. Chances are, even with a realistic goal (4 months) it may take longer and they will have to stall anyway.

And good point about color rendition, extended periods away from medium temperature (sunlight) and warm temperature (for people who have lived with incan bulbs most of their life) light causes depression and claustrophobia, which are both bad in a cramped mine.

yeah they'll need some good lighting down there, how wide is the this small tunnel, could a small generator go down? Or maybe even a wire to provide more stable electricity to them so more powerful lights could go down?

Hmm seems that report might have been incorrect as BBC news has said they are now going to tell the miners it will take 3-4 months pretty much right now, one source says they are planning to send down anti-depressants with this message, which sounds ridiculous and a pretty negative statement.

I still use incan bulbs, buy 100w bulbs, hardly any places sell em now, I got a box of 100 from ebay for £30, good price. My problem is I still feel even with improvements to energy saving bulbs, they're just not as light and the colour of the light..It doesn't feel right to me. Also it seems my migraines are linked to using them, even though they'd said that problem could be solved..doesn't seem to have been with me.

 

[DM51]

Some posts have been removed from view. Religious considerations will not be permitted to intrude into this discussion.

 

[wyager]

yeah they'll need some good lighting down there, how wide is the this small tunnel, could a small generator go down? Or maybe even a wire to provide more stable electricity to them so more powerful lights could go down?

Hmm seems that report might have been incorrect as BBC news has said they are now going to tell the miners it will take 3-4 months pretty much right now, one source says they are planning to send down anti-depressants with this message, which sounds ridiculous and a pretty negative statement.

I still use incan bulbs, buy 100w bulbs, hardly any places sell em now, I got a box of 100 from ebay for £30, good price. My problem is I still feel even with improvements to energy saving bulbs, they're just not as light and the colour of the light..It doesn't feel right to me. Also it seems my migraines are linked to using them, even though they'd said that problem could be solved..doesn't seem to have been with me.

Sending down antidepressants with the message? Great, that sends a positive outlook. WTF, they're just setting them up for suicide.

Also, does anyone know why it will take so long to get them out? How do they have a borehole but no way to make a bigger one?

 

[Apollo Cree]

Another article said that the shaft is 6 inches wide.

I must admit I'm fascinated by the technical aspects of providing relief through a 6 inch shaft.

I hope they're shuttling relief supplies as fast as possible to stock up supplies in the chamber, in case this shaft collapses like some of the other shafts have.

They're lucky they are in a large overall area so that they have enough oxygen. I wonder if they can blow cool dry air down the shaft to help out some. I assume they have run some sort of communication wire down the hole so they can talk. Maybe they can run a tube down the hole, too and flow liquids down the hole to be collected for water or nourishment.

I wonder what kind of transport mechanism they use to ferry supplies down the hole. You wouldn't want to risk something getting stuck and jamming the hole. Is it something like one of those bank teller pneumatic tubes?

 

[Connor]

Also, does anyone know why it will take so long to get them out? How do they have a borehole but no way to make a bigger one?

The ground is unstable, and they have to drill very carefully. I read they will first drill a 33cm hole, and then widen this up to 66cm in a second step. The drilling head moves only 8-15m per day.
When they reach the miners they will evacuate them in a rescue capsule one by one.

 

[Apollo Cree]

Sending down antidepressants with the message? Great, that sends a positive outlook. WTF, they're just setting them up for suicide.

Also, does anyone know why it will take so long to get them out? How do they have a borehole but no way to make a bigger one?

Drilling a 6 inch hole is probably a lot quicker and more reliable than drilling a man sized hole. Don't forget that some of the shafts in the mine have already collapsed. It seems likely that a 26 inch shaft is much more likely to collapse on them in the process of drilling and may require a lot more time to complete. It probably requires a lot different drilling rig as well. The 26 inch shaft might require some oil well techniques like cementing and putting in a casing to prevent collapses, etc.

 

[wyager]

The ground is unstable, and they have to drill very carefully. I read they will first drill a 33cm hole, and then widen this up to 66cm in a second step. The drilling head moves only 8-15m per day.
When they reach the miners they will evacuate them in a rescue capsule one by one.

I see, that's good to know. But my question is, how did they get the relief shaft drilled so quickly?

Edit:AC gave a good answer.

I must admit I'm fascinated by the technical aspects of providing relief through a 6 inch shaft.

I hope they're shuttling relief supplies as fast as possible to stock up supplies in the chamber, in case this shaft collapses like some of the other shafts have.

They're lucky they are in a large overall area so that they have enough oxygen. I wonder if they can blow cool dry air down the shaft to help out some. I assume they have run some sort of communication wire down the hole so they can talk. Maybe they can run a tube down the hole, too and flow liquids down the hole to be collected for water or nourishment.

I wonder what kind of transport mechanism they use to ferry supplies down the hole. You wouldn't want to risk something getting stuck and jamming the hole. Is it something like one of those bank teller pneumatic tubes?

I agree, I wonder what kind of techniques they are using for this. I doubt they've rigged a pneumatic system, it's probably just a rope tied to a bag or something. And I also agree that running an air hose down there is very important, that way if the shaft collapses they might still have fresh air being pumped in (and maybe the old air being pumped out). It seems like it would actually be pretty easy to establish permanent communication and airflow through durable tubes.

 

[petergunn]

Here's a pic of some supplies that are being sent down to them. There are the familiar baby soda bottles and, next to the can, some kind of small flashlight.

Looks like a gray plastic Brinksmann 6-LED 3xAAA flashlight to me (10 for $10 at Lowes).

-PG

 

[wyager]

Looks like a gray plastic Brinksmann 6-LED 3xAAA flashlight to me (10 for $10 at Lowes).

-PG

With those things, in this situation, they're gonna spend 50x more on batteries than they spent on the lights. Aren't there any cheap 1xAA super dim lights available?

 

[petergunn]

With those things, in this situation, they're gonna spend 50x more on batteries than they spent on the lights. Aren't there any cheap 1xAA super dim lights available?

They do come with batteries installed (also Brinksmann brand) which would be one less thing to organize. Perhaps they intend them to be disposable or just to get them started?

-PG

 

[dcbeane]

Sounds like a mission for one of my favorite lights....a fossil... CMG Infinity Utra.:candle:

 

[ayglass]

Gerber bought the CMG and added a little clip. My Ultra still follows me around during power failures and hangs from the ceiling fan as a reading/sanity light when the power is off for extended periods.

If it falls off the fan, it just makes a loud thunk and keeps on making light...

- Andy

 

[flasherByNight]

Am I the only one curious about how BIG the space actually is? "Small flat" isn't very descriptive to me.
Two: WTH are they going to do about waste, defecation etc. Nasty, but seriously practical...

Food/Water are the obvious Q's...

 

[wyager]

Am I the only one curious about how BIG the space actually is? "Small flat" isn't very descriptive to me.
Two: WTH are they going to do about waste, defecation etc. Nasty, but seriously practical...

Food/Water are the obvious Q's...

They're probably sending down buckets and a suction tube or something for waste. I'm sure they've given them enough food and water to last a while in case the borehole collapses.

 

[edc3]

Am I the only one curious about how BIG the space actually is?

I've seen a couple of articles that stated it is 540 square feet. Not a lot of room for 33 guys.

 

[Quension]

I'm getting the distinct impression that I'm the only person who actually looked at the article Xacto linked in post #17...