MINE MAINTENANCE
Pumping is one area where Weir Minerals is advancing its Synertex equipment condition monitoring and predictive monitoring advances
Data making a difference
The plethora of data coming off equipment and tools , plus the platforms able to analyse this information , is redefining the ‘ rule of thumb ’ mentality the mining industry used to live by , Dan Gleeson reports
“ Closed loop , artificial intelligence ( AI ) driven automation and predictive maintenance will help us to achieve new heights of asset performance , as we respond to the early warning signals and optimise strategies in real time .”
This statement – from BHP ’ s Vice President Maintenance & Engineering Centre of Excellence , Maria Joyce – is now a widely-held belief in the mining industry , with many companies looking to optimise performance through the sophisticated use of these technologies .
IM takes a look at the companies putting action behind such words .
Progressing towards AI-backed optimisation
Stephen Marshall , Director , New Technology at Weir Minerals , believes the recent changes the company has made to its Synertrex ® intelligent platform have lifted its capabilities to a “ new level ” in the overall equipment effectiveness ( OEE ) space .
A move towards wireless sensing solutions , more ‘ soft sensor ’ optionality and a standardised data exchange framework with the use of the AVEVA PI System™ are just some of the elements Marshall highlighted when speaking to IM recently .
“ Our number of connected sites is growing , and they vary from single equipment items up to over 35 equipment items on one site alone ,” he said .
The ability to swiftly install the Synertrex architecture to read , analyse and distribute critical equipment data through shifting to a wireless platform has allowed the company to scale up its installed base . It has also coincided with a new type of system intelligence that continues to evolve .
Take the operation that Marshall mentioned where more than 35 equipment items are being monitored by Synertrex technology . This site – a mineral sands mine in Mozambique – has , historically , been difficult to access , uses numerous small pumps to transport material and has a complex flowsheet .
“ This Synertrex monitoring expansion has grown our business from a maintenance and service point of view , but it has also allowed the customer to improve process and equipment uptime ,” Marshall said of the site in question .
The soft sensors and evolving AI-backed analysis that comes with Synertrex technology is allowing customers such as this to monitor bearing life , track and predict pump impeller wear and more , according to Marshall . “ The difficult part that comes with this is that process conditions are changing all of the time – changing densities , solids concentration , particle size , etc ,” he said . “ The people developing the
algorithms have sorted through this to the point that , with additional data from the host plant , we can start to predict component life in these mission-critical applications .”
Pumping is just one area where the company is advancing such capabilities , with Marshall saying roping detection and blockage , plus equipment wear , in hydrocyclones is also being further advanced and rolled out across numerous mine sites via Synertrex packages .
“ We can provide customers with a range of probabilities as to how long that piece of monitored equipment is going to last based on current performance ,” he said . “ It ’ s displayed in a chart within the Synertrex platform that they can view and analyse on a consistent basis .”
The obvious progression from this is automated ordering of spares and wear parts factoring in these probabilities and site-based rules , which is an area mine operations will likely take on depending on the application , data interpretation confidence level and desired uptime .
The Enduron ® high pressure grinding rolls ( HPGR ) are next up for the Synertex condition monitoring treatment , with the first unit at a customer site in Australia already digitally enabled . “ We are commissioning the machines now and looking forward to start interacting with the customer and providing services based on the Synertrex implementation for that product ,” Marshall said .
When reviewing the significant maintenance ‘ leaps ’ the company has made through implementations of Synertex technology at customer sites , Marshall highlighted the circuitwide ramifications of being able to detect early anomalies and make appropriate recommendations to mine sites .
For example , the company ’ s wear monitoring solution for pipe spools and hoses provides both wear life data and early warning wear detection that , Marshall says , is making a difference for people .
“ With this application , it is not a yes-no answer – it has multiple levels of wear sensing , so you can tell the rate at which something is wearing ,” he said . “ You can do the same kind of prediction of wear life with that , which is particularly critical in mill circuit applications where you don ’ t want to have a holed out hose or pipe or circuit .”
AI-based process optimisation comes into play here , allowing operations and Weir Minerals technicians to paint a picture of where an issue is happening in one part of the circuit and deduce the root cause .
32 International Mining | JANUARY 2024