Heating the air supplied to the mine for ventilation of underground workings in winter ensures uninterrupted operation, improved occupational safety and health protection of workers, extension of the service life of reinforcement and fastening of mine shafts and reduction of expenses for their repair. The requirement for mandatory heating of ventilation air in the mines of the Ministry of Coal Industry of the USSR in winter was first included in the "Rules for the Technical Operation of Coal Mines" (abbreviated PTE) in 1941. § 840 of the PTE states: ""For shafts with an incoming stream, there must be heating (non-fire) devices that ensure maintaining the air temperature below the junction of the heater channel with the shaft of at least +2°." Before the issuance of the PTE, the need to heat the air supplied to mine workings was not mandatory. In 1948, the need for mandatory air heating was included in the Mintsvetmet PTE in a slightly different version. In modern mine heating units, it is common to heat only part of the ventilation air to a temperature of 60-100° C. The air heated to this temperature is directed by a special fan through the heating channel into the mine shaft, where the heated air is mixed with the main flow of cold air coming from the earth's surface through the mouth of the shaft.
