MATERIALS HANDLING
GOOD VIBRATIONS AUSTRALIAN MINING LEARNS MORE FROM SCHENCK PROCESS ABOUT HOW SENSOR-BASED MONITORING OF MACHINERY VIBRATION CAN REDUCE DOWNTIME AND SAVE MONEY AT MINE OPERATIONS.
T
he vibration inherent to operational machinery from unwanted vibration from poorly operating equipment can cause significant damage
over time. Not properly monitored, vibration in machinery can cause breakdowns, leading to unplanned maintenance that results in lost productivity for mine operators. Schenck Process has spent considerable resources to develop a method of machine vibration analysis in order to maximise operational uptime by detecting potential equipment faults in advance, and subsequently, scheduling maintenance during planned downtimes. The resultant fruit of this technological push is an innovative device at the forefront of the so-called fourth age of industry — also referred to as Industry 4.0. Matthew Cutbush, service and process solutions engineering manager at Schenck Process, spoke recently about the potential benefits of advanced data collection and diagnostics of vibrating equipment at Austmine’s Technology Innovation Roadshow in Newcastle. Speaking to an audience of industry professionals, he took to the stage to discuss the implementation of Schenck Process’s compact CONiQ condition monitoring system, a small device attachable to vibrating machinery for the purpose of real-time feedback and analysis. These sensors can be applied to new machinery or retrofitted to older equipment. Utilising six-dimensional inertial sensors, sensors can be placed strategically across the body of machinery to offer algorithmic feedback, showing potential issues along the length of the device. Cutbush illustrated this concept with an image of a CONiQ sensor attached to the bearing box of a rotary direct force exciter, a device used to help power the industrial vibrating screens typical of mineral processing sites. “Vibrating equipment is somewhat critical to the operation of process plants,” explained Cutbush. “Standard screens can operate up to 1.3 million cycles in a day so usually any minor issues can develop into major ones fairly rapidly. “Robust maintenance strategies are usually required to identify these issues and applying steps to rectify them
SENSORS CAN BE APPLIED TO NEW MACHINERY OR RETROFITTED TO OLDER EQUIPMENT.
before any catastrophic failures occur.” With the move to larger screens and feeders the impact of vibration can be quite critical to output. Given a quick overview of the life cycle of vibrating equipment, Schenck Process can perform testing onsite — checking the impact of the production plant, including impact of material on the operation of vibrating equipment — in order to ensure everything meets the design criterion. Schenck Process’s sensors can be fixed to equipment for 24/7 monitoring and are particularly good at exciter monitoring, as well as analysing screen or feeder body motion and the impact on reliability thereof. Portable solutions can offer very advanced motion monitoring and analysis for screen bodies as well as exciters, coming equipped with a self-levelling capability that allows them to be installed while equipment is running. Typical measurement results include resultant and lateral stroke lengths across the X and Y axes, exciter speeds (if applicable), orbits and time waveforms, which can be immediately referenced for diagnosis; advanced analysis of broad data can show issues like the degradation of exciter speeds over time, which usually results from belt and pulley wear. If failure is imminent on one side AUSTRALIANMINING
of a twin exciter machine, CONiQ is sensitive enough to detect potential discrepancies from 3.5m on the other side of the machine. Alarms and warning limits can also be set by the operator to identify and communicate potential problems as well. The costs of CONiQ, Cutbush said, are more than reimbursed by the money saved by even a short period of unplanned downtime, a facet of what he referred to as the “future of failure prediction”.
The devices also offer additional connectivity thanks to their online connectivity; given an active connection, data can be shared across the globe within minutes. “Imagine the power of being able to predict when your components are about to fail,” said Cutbush. “You could schedule planned downtime to eliminate unplanned downtime, but also maximise service life of individual components and your piece of equipment as a whole.” AM
A CONIQ SENSOR ATTACHED TO A NEW DF704S EXCITER DURING INITIAL TESTING.
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MAY 2018