Crews build and install first automatic air door at SURF

If you’ve ever walked through a drift at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), you might have noticed something rather unexpected: a slight breeze. 

Fresh air flows into the underground through the Yates and Ross shafts, then passes across levels before exiting through legacy raises and shafts. The air current cools the underground and provides clean, breathable air to miles of shafts and drifts. 

SURF’s safety and engineering teams closely monitor airflow, volume and quality. And, much like water flowing through a pipe can be stopped or diverted using valves, underground airflow can be controlled by opening and closing air doors. 

“We have dozens of air doors throughout the underground,” said Jason Connot, the underground operations engineer tasked with monitoring SURF’s ventilation. “Opening and closing these doors helps us regulate the volume of air in different locations.”  

SURF crews recently installed a fully automatic air door — the facility’s first since reopening for science. 

The air door was installed on the 4100 Level, a home base for several research groups. Left unregulated, between 35,000 and 40,000 cubic feet of air flow across the 4100 Level each minute. That’s quite a breeze! 

According to Connot, only about 7,000 cubic feet per minute is needed to properly ventilate the level. “In order to use only as much air as we need, we restrict the airflow on that level.” 

The new automatic air door replaced a manual door on the 4100 Level. “With the air pressure against these doors, the safest way to open them is automatically,” Connot said. “Replacing the manual door with a fully automatic door was an act of safety.” 

Crafted entirely in-house by SURF personnel, the air door effort brought together old and new technologies. 

The team started with blueprints for automatic air doors built in the 1990s by the Homestake Mining Company. The blueprints were provided by the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC). Then, Kyle Jankord, SURF CAD technician, used LiDAR laser technology to take an up-to-date scan of the air door’s location on the 4100 Level. 

Jankord compiled the Homestake blueprints and the LiDAR scan to create a 3D design model. “Because of all the work that went into creating this design, we’ll have exactly what we need for the creation of future air doors,” Jankord said. 

Specifications in hand, Brian Johnson and Jarred Burleson, SURF facility infrastructure technicians, began fabricating the door. The work required the metal fabrication and welding of unique parts with highly specific dimensions. 

“Instead of just making measurements, we printed out full-size drawings, so we could trace these crucial parts,” Burleson said. “That allowed us to be much more precise.” 

When the components were created, Johnson and Burleson worked with SURF electricians to create a test frame in their surface workshop. There, they could build and test the door, ensuring the mechanics worked seamlessly before transporting it underground. 

 

Technicians test the pneumatic air door in their workshop on the surface. Video courtesy Jarred Burleson 

“It’s really neat to see how much history and engineering went into just opening and closing a door,” Burleson said. 

With one fully automatic air door installed and a detailed 3D model, the team hopes to install more automatic air doors throughout the facility. 

“I’m really impressed by the crew’s work,” Connot said. “They really took this project on and made it their own. They paid attention to detail and safety, and this is a terrific result.”