The iron ore mine owned by the state concern of Luossavaara – Kiirunavaara AB-LKAB state concern has several mining skip shaft hoists for drawing iron ore. Despite using modern systems to secure the travel of these hoists in line with the Swedish regulations, units intended for the emergency breaking of vessels must be used in the so-called free travel paths in the tower and in the shaft sump. The paper discusses the main requirements that, in accordance with the Swedish regulations as regards the operational use of mining shaft hoists, must be met by devices of this type and a solution was proposed for a structure design of the braking unit for the mining shaft hoist installed in the B-1 shaft in the Kiruna mine. The frictional braking system in the form of moving bumping beams was decided to be used in the said hoist, developed in the Cable Transport Department in the University of Science and Technology in Krakow. The action of moving bumping beams consists in these beams, placed at the beginning of free travel paths, not only braking the rushing hoist vessels but also (with the integrated units for vessel capture) performing the function of grips. They secure the vessels against falling down into the shaft after the finished braking process. The advantage of such a solution is that the structural elements: the guiding shank of the tower, the head of the vessel and the bumping beams, transfer many times lower values of dynamic forces at the time of the strike of the vessel against the moving bumping beams when compared with dynamic forces arising at the time of the hit of the vessel against the fixed bumping beams. In the process of designing moving bumping beams, braking simulation is an important stage conducted with a computer program developed in KTL AGH. This program enables the modelling of load-bearing and balance ropes as flexible elements with elastic and suppressing properties. The results of these simulations, especially in the scope of the achieved braking deceleration of the vessels, the values of braking distances and forces in the load-bearing ropes are crucial in confirming the correctness of the assumed concept of the emergency braking system. The braking units in the form of moving bumping beams have been executed by the Polish company Coal-Bud Sp. z o.o. and are now being integrated in the tower and in the shaft sump of the B-1 shaft of the Kiruna mine in Sweden.
The dynamic analyses are of key importance in the cognitive process in terms of the correct operation of structures loaded with time alternating forces. The development of vehicle industry, which directly results in an increase in the speed of moving vehicles, forces the design of engineering structures that ensure their safe use. The authors of the paper verified the influence of speed and vehicle parameters such as mass, width of track of wheels and their number on the values of displacements and accelerations of selected bridge elements. The problem was treated as the case study, because the analyses were made for one bridge and the passage of three types of locomotives. The response of the structure depends on the technological solutions adopted in the bridge, its technical condition, as well as the quotient of the length of the object and vehicle. A new bridge structure was analyzed and dynamic tests were carried out for trainsets consisting of one and two locomotives. During the actual dynamic tests, the structure was loaded with a locomotive moving at a maximum speed of 160 km/h.