As a part of its approach to help in the development of the mining industry of the future, Sweden’s Jama has launched the brand-new mobile underground mining rescue chamber MRC 2 for increased comfort and safety. The stainless-steel chamber seats up to eight people comfortable at room temperature and has access to clean, fresh air without the use of masks and is protected from gas and dust.
“Sitting in a rescue chamber means that an accident has occurred and can for many be a transformative experience. Since the rescued people may need to sit for many hours in the chamber, Jama has in the development work with MRC 2 placed great emphasis on the chamber’s environment to create a comfortable, safe and secure stay.” At the centre is the air purification technology, which cleans the air of carbon dioxide and continuously adds new oxygen to maintain a good atmosphere in the chamber. The exhaled air is captured via a scrubber, a cassette that chemically binds the carbon dioxide. “This means that the need for fresh air masks has been eliminated, you can simply sit and breathe as usual, which also applies when visiting the rescue camper’s toilet.” Avoiding using a mask is a great convenience and significantly reduces stress, says Johan Marklund, Product Manager R&D at Jama.
To lower the temperature in the rescue chamber, it is showered on the outside with water and can therefore maintain a normal comfortable indoor temperature. Air from a tube maintains an overpressure that prevents pollutants such as dust, smoke or gases from penetrating. This is built up in two steps to ensure overpressure throughout the chamber, even in the air lock. The mobile rescue chamber MRC 2 is mainly powered by 230 volts, but if the power supply is interrupted, a reliable and well-sized battery pack is activated that lasts up to 50 hours. If needed, the battery capacity can be increased. The chamber is stainless and thus maintenance-free. It has curved sides for maximum durability. Jama says the safety level is very high, and that MRC 2 meets the current national/international standards and guidelines such as EN16191:2014, HSE and ITA. “We are alone on the market with our technology, and it fully meets all the requirements and guidelines that exist for rescue chambers, for example constant monitoring of air quality in the chamber,” says Marklund.
“We are proud of our new rescue chamber MRC 2 and it is completely in line with the innovation we have within Jama, which means that we always want to drive technology forward. The rescue chamber is a perfect match with the world’s first battery powered scaling machine that we launched less than a year ago,” says Rickard Lindgren, CEO of Jama. Snacks, mobile phone chargers and Wi-Fi further increase comport while the chamber is also equipped with a toilet, emergency exit and visual signals such as external sound and light alarms, blue projecting lamp for location, blue light strip at the entrance and several reflectors. Jama’s new mobile rescue chamber MRC 2 has been available for sale as of June 2021.
