Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Mineral resources depletion is forcing the mining companies to go deeper in order to continue their extraction. The number of ultra-deep mines is increasing despite the prevailing working conditions such as high temperature and high humidity level. With these conditions, miners can only work for short periods which lead to very poor productivity rate. Cooling devices coul, therefore, represent an innovative solution to this issue. However the system must stay light and flexible to not impede the worker's mobility, unlike fluid circulating systems which are not considered in this project aside for comparison purposes. By using specific conductive yarns, Jannatec Technologies want to develop an active cooling jacket by fabricating conductive textile knitted structure able to recreate the Peltier effect. After identifying and characterizing suitable materials, a vest will be prototyped and then tested to evaluate the thermal performance. This project will be the result of a new alliance between CTT Group, Cégep de St-Hyacinthe and Jannatec Technologies since they will be working together for the first time. Such development would result in an increase of mining efficiency and a lower cost of ore extraction which would help boosting the mining industry which is an essential sector for the Canadian economy.