SCREENING
Conn-Weld consistency
Marvin Woodie , President of Princeton , West Virginia-based Conn-Weld Industries , talked about the company ’ s customised solutions
Q In high tonnage mining would you say that banana screens are in the greatest demand versus other screen types - why ? A The banana or multi-sloped screen is designed for higher capacities compared to conventional horizontals or circular motion incline screens . The two most important aspects of the banana screen are the angle of the decks that support the screen media and the slots in the screen media . As the material travels down the machine from feed to discharge end , the screen media should be slotted in the direction of material flow to take advantage of the material velocity . The theory of thin bed depth is what gives the banana screen the advantage over other more conventional screening equipment .
Q There is a lot of industry consolidation going on - what would you say differentiates the Conn-Weld offer - distinctive design , level of customisation , quality of materials used ? A Conn-Weld uses the high quality steel possible in this equipment . Proper material specifications are critical to the long term , effective screening operations . Conn-Weld custom engineers all screens to the specific application . Our customers are accustomed to the detailed followups from Conn-Weld design engineers to give them exactly what they require . Conn-Weld also uses engineering tools such as Finite Element Analysis , Operational Deflection Shape Modelling , 3D analysis and other engineering tools in the design process . Also , Conn-Weld has testing stands that we use to gather operational data on any machine Conn-Weld manufactures . The test stands allow us to use tools like strain gauges to evaluate the motion in all parts of the machines . This data allows us to determine how well the engineering models are compared to the realworld machine .
Q Have you traditionally served the coal , industrial minerals and metallic minerals markets for screening and has the relative proportion changed over the years ? A Our main markets are in the coal and aggregate industries but Conn- Weld has served industrial and metallic markets as well . The proportion of screens in each of these industries constantly change . In metallics for example , we have delivered screens to Round Mountain Gold in Nevada and Dexing Copper Mines in China .
Q What are today ' s screening customers most concerned about - maintenance cost , reduced noise / vibration , ability to monitor performance in real time ? How are you helping in all these areas ? A Maintenance seems to drive much of the desired screen implementations . Sometimes , maintenance is used as a deciding factor . Often , however , the process can outweigh the desired maintenance conveniences . For example , in coal , recovering magnetite and keeping magnetite in the heavy media circuit should outweigh some maintenance conveniences because of the price of magnetite . If more open area can be achieved on a vibrating screen , more magnetite can be recovered and screen media with a more open area should be used instead of using media that may offer a little more wear life . to : multislope ( or banana ) screens , horizontal and inclined screens , dewatering screens , primary & secondary sizing screens , crusher product screens , degrit screens , floats and sinks screens , classifying screens , XRT & X-ray prep screens and feeders , DMS feeders , grizzly feeders , pan feeders , tubular feeders and grease tables . All equipment is manufactured in-house by Vibramech at its 32,000 m 2 premises in Chamdor , 35 km west of Johannesburg , South Africa . Almost every piece of equipment is tailor-made to suit a client ’ s specific requirements , from both
The Vibrasure wireless condition monitoring system from Vibramech uses the most advanced technologies to continuously monitor the performance of vibrating equipment a plant layout viewpoint and process considerations .
Vibramech is also celebrating the successful roll-out of its Vibrasure ® online and remote monitoring system . “ Vibrasure ® will enable the monitoring of all aspects of Vibramech vibrating equipment 24 / 7 , providing continuous vibration monitoring of the equipment ’ s operational parameters , such as vibration frequency , stroke , angle of the motion and temperature to detect and diagnose machine faults . Such monitoring provides added insurance for machine performance .”
Vibrating equipment plays a crucial role in minerals processing , and is widely used for classification , dewatering , medium recovery , scalping , trash removal , grading and desliming . Due to this crucial role , early fault detection , diagnosis and analysis become important to continuously reduce and eliminate costly , unscheduled downtime and unexpected breakdowns . This system employs structural and bearing sensors designed with the latest technology . All sensors are IP69K rated and have long-life integral batteries that can withstand the harshest of conditions , and it reports key parameters to a cloud-based platform , and those values can be trended over time and provide significant benefits to optimise the performance of vibrating equipment .
Vibramech and / or their clients can , as required , receive real-time notifications on vibration patterns and bearing temperatures via email , mobile phone messaging or PLC . This will eliminate the occurrence of unplanned downtime due to normally unnoticed detrimental operational issues . This will add to the renowned and reliable Vibramech equipment , with clients sleeping sound knowing that Vibramech are maintaining a constant watch on machine performance , resulting in even improved machine longevity .
Joest ’ s continued Australian expansion
JOEST Australia is a subsidiary company of JÖST GmbH + Co KG of Dülmen , Germany . Outside Germany and Australia , the group has subsidiaries in seven other countries , and is a world leader in vibration technology across a range of industries . JOEST Australia is the organisation ’ s leader in providing the Group ’ s vibrating machinery products for the mining industry . JOEST Australia ’ s new manufacturing and test facility has enabled the company to grow its well-established position in Australia ’ s
44 International Mining | OCTOBER 2022