Evaluation of Abrasive Wear Measurement Devices of Mill Liners
Evaluation of Abrasive Wear Measurement Devices of Mill Liners
Liners
2
The literature study and the opinion of the expert Figure 1 shows that there are 18 high lifters and
group in the present study indicate clearly that 18 low lifters in the studied mill.
the existing methods today are all based on
manual measurements inside the mill, and that
the mill has to be stopped in order to make it
possible for personnel to enter the mill and
perform the measurements. Since the largest
contribution to the downtime is due to the
stopping and starting-up procedure of the mill, it
would be extremely beneficial if it were possible
to perform the measurements without stopping
the mill (expert).
The liner replacement time should be based on Figure 1 Layout of the liners
an economic comparison of the mill efficiency
and the total lining costs. The performance of the However according to [6], suggested that the
mill is defined as the throughput of the desired advantages of a High/Low arrangement are
particle size coming out of the mill (expert). The lining cost savings and performance benefits as a
economic break point occurs when the cost profiled configuration is always maintained. On
associated with the drop of monetary output due the other hand the main advantage of an equal
to wear of liners is equal to the cost of relining. height design is reduced downtime as a result of
The replacement policy used today is due to fewer stops for maintenance and for monitoring
customary to replace the liners when they reach of wear rates.
the critical thickness in order to avoid the
damage of mill shell. However, theoretical 2.2 Importance of measurement devices
methods like the Discrete Element Method
The motivation of this study is due to the
(DEM) are widely used in order to predict the
economic consideration of the mill liner
wear of the liner as a function of time, see for
replacement interval and inspection. The
example [4,5].
measurement time during inspections leads to a
significant amount of downtime cost. But the
2. LITERATURE SURVEY
additional cost due to process synchronization
time also needs to be considered as significant
This section provides a brief introduction to the
amount of money is lost due to loss of metal at
mill studied, to facilitate a better understanding
output end (experts). In the present context the
of the problem of liner wear. The section briefly
process synchronization time is the time duration
presents the different types of existing methods
during when the material flow in the process
for measuring liner wear. It also discusses
becomes streamlined. Therefore a time efficient
methods for indirect measurement of liner wear
measurement device is required which can take
which does not involve the mill having to be
measurement as quick as possible.
stopped.
2.1 A brief introduction to the mill Another economical aspect related to the
measurements is due to the replacement decision
The mill studied in the present case study has a of mill liners. The current policy of the case
diameter of 5.7 m and a length of 5.5 m. The study, the liner replacement decisions mainly
power of the electric motor is 1800 kW and the depends on liner wear and risk of damaging the
capacity is around 100 tons/hour (experts). mill shell. Generally, the efficiency of the
Inside the mill, abrasive actions take place due to milling process depends on the behaviour of the
the comminution of ore, and therefore the inner load inside the mill, which governs the nature of
part of the steel shell is protected by liners, made ore presentation of breakage sites and
of rubber and metal or combinations of both. subsequent transport. It is however well known
3
Choosen liner will lose efficiency due to wear Tabel 1: Brief description of expertise of the expert group
[7]. For determining time based performance i.e. for the study
throughput capacity of the mill, a number of Current position
wear measurements are necessary during the life at Company (M) Expert field
cycle of mill liners. The liner wear reading can & Company (L) & experience (year)
be used to calculate available volume inside the Maintenance Maintenance of stationary
mill as the inside mill volume for ore grinding is engineer (M) equipments in mining industry
a function of volume of mill liners. The (15)
measurement of liners can also be used to Maintenance Maintenance of process systems
estimate the grinding performance and the engineer (M) & mobile systems (14)
monetary output of the mill. Manager Maintenance in plant (15)
maintenance (M)
2.3 Terminology Senior metallurgist Autogenously comminution
(M) & ore dressing processing (20)
This section briefly describes the important Technical expert Process control & measurement
terms and which has been frequently used in the (M) of mill parameters (38)
paper. Manager R& TD Product development
(L) of mill liner (11)
2.3.1 Expert group (personal communication, General manager, Engineering , wear properties &
Feb 2008): In the present case study, the R&TD (L) application of mill liners (35)
authors have obtained inputs and information Technical support Applications & performance
regarding process and maintenance related to engineer (L) of mill liner (42)
grinding mill after visiting and discussing with Vice president mill Marketing & need finding
concerned expert groups of the mining and liner lining (L) for mill liner (39)
manufacturing industry. Detailed information Service & Measurements
such as work profile and experience in years is Maintenance (L) & maintenance of mill liner
provided in table 1. (10)
2.3.2 Demand limits: In this study the term 2.3.3 Quality Index (QI): In the study, the
“demand” is defined as the minimum authors have introduced “quality index” which is
requirements on the measurement device which defined as a quality measure for a particular
must be fulfilled. Therefore, a measurement measurement device. The quality index is
device will be selected for assessment only unified quality measure of a device which
when it will fulfil the minimum requirement of considers together other quality attributes i.e.
each quality attributes. The investigation of cost, reliability, accuracy and accessibility. It
measurement devices therefore considers the is also important to notice that an individual
demand limits in order to achieve the threshold value of quality index doesn’t provide any exact
limits of all the quality attributes. information about a specific measurement
device. It provides an overall relative
importance of measurement devices in the
particular investigation.
4
overall assessment of various measurement limit is that the authors do not want to exclude
devices and determination of the corresponding measurement equipment from the study, which
quality index, the following quality attributes are has promising properties concerning other
briefly described. important quality attributes. The cost of the
equipment used in case study includes both
The demand limits is decided on the purchasing cost & downtime cost during
recommendation of the expert group of the case measurement. See table [5, 6]
study.
2.3.4.2 Reliability
2.3.4.1 Cost
The equipment has to be reliable when it is
To calculate the total cost, the following cost required to perform measurement. In the study
elements are included in the cost structure, as the reliability aspect of the equipment is defined
shown by Figure 2. Since we are considering as the percentage of the total measurement time
two types of measuring devices, firstly the one when the measurement device is functional. This
procured through purchase, and secondly the one reliability dimension includes the fragility of the
procured as a service provided by a supplier, we equipment.
must include the required cost elements to Demand limits: The demand limit for reliability
determine the overall cost. attribute is 95%. This implies that the equipment
will be considered for investigation if it is 95%
Cost components for the
measurement
reliable when it is required for use. However, the
measurement devices which is being used
Measurement by
equipment procured by
Measurement by 2.3.4.3 Accuracy
equipment procured as a
purchase
service
Downtime
The measurement accuracy is very critical in
cost
terms of taking replacement decision of mill
Direct cost Service cost
liners. The objective of taking overall
measurement of mill liners is not only important
Purchase
cost
Man-hour
cost
Assembly cost in terms of risk of damaging mill shell but also
Preparation Loss due to
Actual
inspection time for
inspection
process to determine the capacity which eventually leads
time synchronization
to estimate the instantaneous mill revenue. The
Figure 2: Overall cost structure, including the inspection term accuracy is defined as the measurement
cost breakdown structure, for the measuring equipment accuracy of the respective measurement
methods, in conditions without any harmful
In the present case study the total cost of disturbances and without sensitivity to
equipment includes the downtime cost, purchase disturbances.
cost and service cost. The other cost components The measurement accuracy of rubber liners are
such as assembly cost and labour cost are defined in two categories spot measurement and
included in downtime cost. overall measurement.
For the mill from the case study, the loss of
production due to the downtime of the mill costs Spot measurement: Spot measurement is
approximately US$10,000/h depending on the concerned of taking measurement at certain
type of ore, the time used and the amount of ore point on liners and which is important in order to
based on the information from experts of the estimate the risk of damaging mill shell. Spot
case study. measurement not only deals with the thickness at
the spot but also the profile measurement of
Demand limits: The demand limits for cost liners. A spot measurement tells us how much
component is set to US$ 14860 (including rubber material is left leading to estimation of
downtime cost) based on current practices of the remaining time until when the rubber liner needs
case study. The reason for setting this demand
5
to be replaced in order to avoid the risk of the also describes the qualification criteria for each
damaging mill shell. measurement method for investigation and the
determination of quality index based on demand
Overall measurement: Overall wear measurement
limits. For more clear understanding all
of rubber liners corresponds to determine the
measurement methods are divided in to three
inside capacity of the mill during measurement
categories.
period which is used to determining mill
production capacity. However some
A. Methods selected for determining quality
measurement equipments take only the spot
index based on demand limits
measurement and based on these measurements
B. Methods developed but not used in real
wear of other liners and overall mill volume are
mills.
estimated.
C. Experiments on the methods for indirect
measurements concerning overall
Demand limits: The risk of damaging mill shell
performance.
the measurement accuracy concerning critical
measuring spots on the liners should be +/- 5
2.4 Category A: Methods selected for
mm. Also, for determining the exact inside mill
determining quality index based on demand
volume the accuracy for overall measurement of
limits
mill liners should be +/-20 mm.
Methods under this category qualify the
2.3.4.4 Accessibility
minimum demand limits of all quality attributes
hence they are considered for this category.
The accessibility aspect is defined as the ease of
handling of the equipment and the ease of taking
measurements. For direct measurement of the 2.4.1 Measurement method (M1)
liner wear, the inspector has to go inside the
mill, which is not possible due to anthropometric Method 1 is a direct measurement method based
consideration whenever the device exceeds on the technique of a terrestrial 3D laser scanner
certain dimensions concerning both weight and and data processing algorithms to create a three-
volume. The key indicator for the assessment of dimensional thickness map. It is an active
the accessibility dimension can be defined in imaging system that measures the range to an
terms of the weight, volume and height of the object in a series of uniform increments of arc,
device. The weight influences the ease of resulting in a three-dimensional map of the
carrying the equipment and the volume affects object. All the surfaces with a line-of-sight from
how the inspector handles the space constraint the scanner are measured and stored as a three-
while entering into the mill and carrying the dimensional coordinate file together with the
equipment. reflectivity intensity, the latter being used to
shade the scan cloud for a natural appearance.
Demand limits: The measurement equipment The range is typically measured by the time-to-
will be qualified for investigation at least if it flight of a laser pulse or an amplitude-
can be taken inside the mill for measurement. modulated, continuous wave signal [8].
During the case study data and information have
been collected from the expert group consisting Terrestrial laser scanners are subject to
of personnel from both the companies. A systematic and random errors, but calibration
questionnaire was designed to determine the systems for taking care of significant error
different quality dimensions and the priority sources that are typical of the conditions in a real
vectors among all the dimensions. mill have been developed by [8]. The complete
system is today widely used at several plants [9].
See Figure 3.
2.4 Collection of measurement methods
This section briefly describes the characteristics Approximately five minutes is needed for pure
of most of all existing measurement devices. It measurement (entering the mill and exiting from
6
the mill are not included) in order to measure all 2.4.3 Measurement method (M3)
the liners [8] as per the information provided by
supplier. Method 3 consists of ultrasonic apparatus and
probes. In resonance-type ultrasonic thickness
equipment, a frequency-modulated continuous-
wave signal is produced [10]. This provides a
corresponding swept frequency of sound waves
which are introduced into the part being
measured. When the thickness of the part equals
one half-wavelength, or multiples of half-
wavelengths, standing-wave conditions or
mechanical resonances occur. The frequency of
Figure 3 Terrestrial 3D laser scanners the fundamental resonance, or the difference in
frequency between two harmonic resonances, is
2.4.2 Measurement method (M2) determined by the instrument’s electronics.
However, the curved liner surfaces will make it
Method 2 is a mechanical wear reading device difficult to capture thickness measurements that
which consists of a frame and 5 rods and gives are orthogonal to the liner back, so the readings
measure of the profile at the measurement point can easily be biased [8]. It is also claimed by [8]
by means of manual inspections. This method is that this method typically only yields a few
used today at the mill considered in the present dozen point measurements at unreferenced
study, see Figure 4. The device requires locations, and it is virtually impossible to re-
approximately 30 minutes for measuring 12 measure the same location during any
important liners in the mill. However, based on subsequent survey, which causes repeatability
these measurements, it is possible to estimate the problems and therefore survey campaign
dimensions of the other liners. The accuracy of inaccuracies. However, in the present case study
the instrument is +/- 5 mm and the disturbance this method has been successfully tested for a
sensitivity is equal to zero. Based on these rubber liner with a thickness of 400 mm with an
measurements the accuracy of overall accuracy of +/- 2 mm.
measurement is +/- 13 mm (expert). The
thickness capacity covers more than 400 mm.
The volume of the transporting box within the
device is approximately 12 dm3 and the weight is
less than 2 kg.
400 mm
7
measured object. In this particular case, the from the supplier of the measurement
object was a piece of rubber of the same material equipment.
as the liner and with a thickness of 200 mm. The
horizontal mark on the high response peak is due
to a manual choice of the signal to be detected.
Since amplitude of this peak is large compared
with the scatter it can be concluded that a
thickness of 200 mm is no problem. Also rubber
with a thickness of 400 mm has been
successfully been measured.
Figure 6: measurements made with a laser 2.5 Category B: Methods not used in real mill
scanner and portable PC (Source: Damill AB)
Under this category a description has been given
The overall measurement time for the whole mill for measurement methods which have been
was found to be about 85 minutes which tested in the laboratory but not used in real mill.
includes entering into the mill and instrument set
up time (25 min), measurement time (10 min) at 2.5.1 Measurement method (M5) (existing as a
a given location. Two measurements at same prototype)
location at two occasions are needed, since the
measurement principal is based on relative Method 5 is a direct measurement method,
measurements. consisting of a thin-film sensor made up of a
The authors have collected information and conductive element embedded in the liner to be
specifications of this measurement instrument measured [11]. The element comprises a first
end positioned at a first distance from the wear
8
surface, at least one conductive loop covering a consist of a 20 kHz accelerometer, data memory,
wear portion positioned at a second distance an amplifier and a suitable electric battery.
from the wear surface proximate to the first end, Indirect measurements of different parameters,
and a circuit coupled to at least one element for such as unwanted collisions between ore and the
determining a continuity of the conductive loop. liner because of too high angular velocity of the
According to [11] this can be practically solved mill, the density of the pulp inside the mill, the
by means of using a conductive trace, for amount of ore in the mill, the viscosity of the
example copper film, on a suitable substrate, pulp etc, have been performed more or less
resulting in a printed conductive circuit. The successfully through measurements of vibrations
substrate can then be fastened to the liner by on the mill shell or the fastening bolts for the
means of rolling it like a tube and gluing it into a liner, see for instance [12,13, 14]. Since the size
suitable hole in the liner. In principle, this idea of the liner most probably will affect the forces
has been tested by company L for measurements acting on the liner, it is here assumed that it
of rubber thickness in pumps, but the authors should be possible to calibrate measured
could not find any real proof of any testing vibrations on the fastening bolt with real
results in mills or any existing prototypes of this mechanical measurements of the liner wear and
measurement device that would be usable for thus achieve a useable method for predicting the
liners. The conclusion is that this particular wear of the liner without stopping the mill. A
concept has to be evaluated further by means of prototype has been developed by Process IT
testing it in a real mill. See Figure 8. Innovation at Luleå University of Technology,
see Figure 9, which shows the prototype
mounted on the fastening bolt of a lifter on the
shell of a mill.
9
which was operating with newly installed liners, the case of an X-ray source, however, no
while the other one was using worn liners (more dangerous radioisotope is used. Instead, the
than half the estimated liner life having been measuring radiation is generated electrically
used). Statistical analysis of data from these two from an X-ray tube.
mills showed that the intensities of the peaks
were higher in the case of the newly lined mill However, the present method can provide x-ray
compared to the worn-out mill. The conclusion devices which are capable of measuring thin film
from the above study is that measurement rubber sheet with a thickness far less than 1 mm
principle no. 5 is promising and should be which is far less than the demand 400 mm.
developed further. But on other hand it is therefore it is excluded from the group of quality
doubtful that the accuracy concerning wear of index determination.
liners is sufficient. .
2.5.5 Measurement principle (M9) [17] is based
However the most important usability of this on infrared sensors. Normally the method is
method is measurement without stopping the associated with temperature measurements, but
mill which leads to a huge savings due to can also be used for measuring thin layers. When
downtime. Since it is not fully developed yet measuring thin layers, this principle is based on
therefore it is excluded from the group of quality absorption of infrared radiation into the material
index determination. whose thickness is to be measured. The
absorption is non-linear dependent on the
2.5.3 Measurement method (M7) (not developed thickness. The principle can be configured with
yet) [16], [17] is an electro magnetic method the infrared source and detector on the same side
with open transformers placed on the rubber of the product to be measured.
liner. If an AC electromagnetic coil is moved
closer or further away from a conductive target, Infrared sensors are extremely sensitive to
a current, commonly referred to as an eddy compositional variations in the product to be
current, is induced in the target. The measured [17]. This in combination with that the
electromagnetic field induced within the target present authors not have found any supplier that
opposes and reduces the magnetic field in the can provide infrared devices which are capable
sensing coil. This loss of field strength due to the of measuring rubber of significant thickness. The
eddy current is detected by an inductance bridge other properties are not examined in the present
circuit and the resulting current output is study since the thickness demands not are
converted to linear voltage which is proportional fulfilled.
to the distance between the coil and the
conductive target. Other possible methods, close to No 10, can
eventually be based on using cameras with
However, the ore is often more or less magnetic traditional optics. By using a number of cameras
which probably will dramatically reduce the it will be theoretical possible to take pictures of
accuracy below the demand limits, thus this the liners at several angles and occasions and
measurement principle is not further examined in then achieve the wear by means of subtracting
the present study. the photos form each other. This technique can
eventually also being solved by means of using
2.5.4. Measurement principle (M8) [11], [17] is infra red cameras by subtracting temperature
based on the principle of X-Ray thickness pictures from each other, but then the accuracy
gauges. Thickness can be determined by will be drastically reduced since infrared
measuring the amount of X-ray energy absorbed temperature cameras not are optimized for
by a material as it passes between an emitter and geometric accuracy.
a receiver. An X-ray sensor uses the same
principle as a nuclear sensor, i.e. a radiation 2.6 Category C: Experiments on the methods
source and a radiation detector arranged in either for indirect measurements
a transmission or backscatter configuration. In
10
Under this category a brief description is given is equal to 5.647 and 23 gear teeth on the pinion
for some of the proposed methods which can be gear of the mill and 292 teeth on the ring gear of
used for indirect measurements. The main the mill). This corresponds to 7.16
objective of indirect measurements is to reduce seconds/revolution on the mill. With 18 large
the downtime cost during the inspection as the lifters and 18 small lifters this corresponds to
mill not needs to be stopped during the 0.398 seconds between each contact between the
measurements. large lifter and the charge and 0.199 seconds
Also the charge dynamics in tumbling mills can between the small and the large lifters. Random
be predicted by means of vibration signature fall of the ore in the mill will cause scatter in the
technique [18, 19] therefore the present authors measurement curves but in spite of this, the test
also address this method to be of eventual use in results clearly indicate peaks when both the
order to predict the abrasive wear of the rubber small and the large lifters are approaching the
lifters. charge, see figure 10 and 11.
601,4
601
11
47,6 No. 12 (Wijaya, 2009) is an indirect method
47,4 based on multivariate data analysis of measured
47,2 process parameter. This approach is based on the
47 statistical principle of multivariate statistics that
Power (%)
12
Thus Principle Component Regression (PCR) 3.1 Selection of measurement equipments for
model is developed for each type of ore. In case determining quality index using demand limits
of type of ore with low density (type I), model
can accurately predict the change of volume Since each measurement equipment needs to
inside the mill, see figure 12. It gives MAPE fulfil the minimum requirements of each quality
(Mean Absolute Percentage Error) value of less attributes, therefore a screening is done based on
than 5%. However model can not perform a these quality attributes. The screening process of
good prediction for type of ore with high density demand limits is shown in figure 14. As
(type II). Possible explanation for this behaviour described earlier some of the methods are not
is due to the fact that variation of density within selected due to feasibility criteria as they are not
the type II ore is quite big. used in the real mills. A selection process
mentioned in the figure deals with the
128,00
127,00
measurement equipments which are existing and
126,00
usable in real mills.
125,00
M1 M2 M3 M4 Methods selected for
124,00 investigation
123,00
122,00
Reliability Accessibility Accuracy Cost Screening
121,00
by demand
120,00 limits
119,00 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M M10
9
118,00
Screening
0
by feasibility
22
22
22
22
25
25
25
26
26
26
28
28
29
31
31
ti M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M M10 M M
11 12
9
13
– wij = 5 if Oi is very much important than Oj 4 Certainly above the demand
5 Theoretically perfect
Table2: A sample of pairwise comparison between quality
dimensions
Grade
been provided by 5 experts from company M.
Total Cost Relia- Acc-
Relative importance of quality attributes was ($) per -bility uracy Accessibility
calculated based on pairwise comparison. See measurement (%) ( +/-mm)
table 3 Just possible
1 14860 95.00 20 to carry into
Table 3: Pairwise comparison for four quality attributes the mill
2 11145 96.25 15 -
Possible to
carry into the
Relativ 3 mill without
Wc WR W Au W Ac e 97.50 10
7430 significant
weight problems
Cost ( Wc ) 4 3715 98.75 5 -
1 3 1 5 0,375
Possible to
Reliability Î 0,082 5 0 carry as hand
100 0
( WR ) 1/3 1 1/5 1/3 luggage
Accuracy 0,417
( W Au ) 1 5 1 5 3.4 Total cost calculation: The cost calculation
Accessibilit 0,125 for each method is calculated according to the
y ( W Ac ) 1/5 3 1/5 1 cost structure mentioned in figure 2. As
described earlier the major cost component of
3.3 Linear interpolation: A linear interpolation the equipment is due to downtime cost. Thus a
method [25] was used for giving grades to breakdown of downtime and cost calculation is
various measurement methods for different shown in table 6.
attributes. The limits for the linear interpolation
were set based on the minimum needs or demand Table 6: Down time cost calculation per measurement
limits provided by the expert group. Down time
(Minutes) Total downtime cost ($)
Methods
14
Table 8: Interpolated grades for different quality
dimensions
Meth Cost Reliability Accu- Acces
-od ($) (%) -racy sibility
(+/- mm)
M AV * IG c ** AV IG R AV IG Au IG Ac
Table 7: Total cost calculation for each measurement 1 5833+X - 99 4.2 1 4.8 1
instruments
2 13353 1.59 100 5 13 2.4 5
3 9402 2.61 100 5 20 1 5
4 15694 1 99 4.2 5 4 3
Equipmen
Downtime
Total cost
Methods
Service
cost ($)
($)
1 5833 X 5833+X
2 13333 20 - 13353 3.5 Quality index determination
3 9166 236 - 9402
4 15000 694 - 15694 The quality index was determined by using Table 7
and 8. The formula for the quality index is defined as
QI IGC u WC IG R u W R IG Au u W Au IG Ac u W Ac
In this investigation the equipment cost is
distributed over a period of ten years. Since the Table 9: Liner interpolation for quality dimensions
company policy is assuming that the life time of
Met- Quality Index
all measurement equipment is to be a period of -hods
10 years. Therefore, in order to incorporate the (M)
equipment cost, these costs are normalized over 1 f(X) +4.2 u 0.082 f(X)+2.47
+4.8 u 0.417+1 u 0.125
10 year period. On an average in a year 5 2 1.59 u 0.375+5 u 0.082 = 2.63
inspections are needed, hence in 10 years the +2.4 u 0.417+5 u 0.125
total number of inspection will be 50. The 3 2.61 u 0.375+5 u 0.082 = 2.48
+1 u 0.417+5 u 0.125
equipment cost per measurement is calculated in 4 1 u 0.375+5 u 0.082 = 2.82
table 7. +4 u 0.417+3 u 0.125
15
using the minimum requirement for each
If we equate the quality index of 3D laser equipment quality dimension provided by the
equal to the highest value of quality index as given in companies involved in the project [23].
table 6 then the value of X will be
x The grade for the accessibility
f(X) + 2.47 = 2.82 dimension was defined as per an expert
((13575 -X)/3715) u 0.414 + 2.47 = 2.82 opinion based on the weight, volume and
height of the equipment.
Î X = USD 10434
When only down time cost is considered then the x It is assumed that grades and weighting
affordable service cost for each measurement can be multiplied.
will be x The delay due to unavailability of
5000+X = 14860 equipment is not considered.
Î X = USD 9860
16
Table 10: Advantages and Disadvantages of measurement
devices
Cate- Me-
gory thod Advantages Disadvantages
No.
x The only existing method which provides a x Available only as a service and the
complete profile based on all the measures of service cost is not known to the
1 the liners authors
Method selected for determining QI
x Only 5 minutes of pure measurement time for x The mill needs to be stopped.
a whole mill, useful for overall mill volume x The accuracy is unknown in humid
calculation conditions.
x Reliable method, very often used today. x The mill needs to be stopped.
2 x Delivers the complete profile of the liner at x Relatively long measurement time
the measurement points compared with method no. 1
x No problem under moisture and temperature x Does not provide good accuracy in
inside the mill complete liner volume calculation
3 x Relatively faster and more accurate for spot x The mill needs to be stopped.
measurement than method 2 x Does not provide the complete profile
4 x Provide complete profile of all liners and x Relative measurement i.e. two
rubber plate at measurement location measurements are required to know
the liner thickness
x Imperfect orientation of the
instrument leads to inaccuracy
x The sensor will be destroyed when
Method developed as prototype but not used in real mill
effective decision making for liner x Does not provide full profile of liner
replacement wear
x The measurement data can eventually be
used for continuously optimizing the process
12 --do-- --do--
17
4. CONCLUSIONS diagnosis for the information concerning
the average size of the liners and for
An overall evaluation process for abrasive process control in combination with
measurement devices is described in the paper. ultrasonic devices equipped with wireless
Various types of data were collected from the transmitters sending data for the
industries of the case study and corresponding measurement of critical spots.
results have been obtained from the evaluation
method. Based on overall study, following
conclusions have been made. Acknowledgements
18
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