How to heat subway tunnels?

Since 2004, Comind Industries has expanded its divisions by creating the engineering area to provide solutions to industrial problems that require more technical management.

Regarding the process problems that some of our clients have had, we can point out the case of Codelco Andina in its new injection gallery Portal Castro, in charge of injecting air to subway mines, a flow of 1,400,000 cubic meters per hour to all the interior parts of the tunnel.

In the winter season, the outside air in the mines has a temperature of approximately -25°C, requiring ventilation and air injection for its interior. As we can see, injecting air at this temperature is extremely complex due to the high levels of freezing that occur, which is why Codelco's engineering area created a strategy based on the details in order to visualize a solution to the problem. It is at this point, when our client generates a bidding process where several bidders participated both nationally and internationally.

With the Comind team we reviewed the problem presented and looked for an alternative solution that would be in accordance with our capabilities as national manufacturers. Thus developing a plan with air heating towers which would be located on both sides at the entrance of the main tunnel, where the air in the area reaches -12°C having to achieve a delta according to the target temperature which is 2°C.