The invention relates to a method of predicting a level of wear of a wear component of a vertical mill, whereby the vertical mill is used for grinding feed material. The method includes, while the mill is in operation, (i) capturing/obtaining a thermal profile of the mill from outside a grinding chamber of the mill, and (ii) determining an indication as to a level of wear of at least one wear component of the mill which is located inside the grinding chamber, based on the thermal profile of the mill. The step of capturing/obtaining a thermal profile may include performing a thermographic analysis of the mill from outside the grinding chamber of the mill. The determining step may include determining whether the wear component requires changing/replacement based on the thermographic analysis of the mill.

An apparatus (10) for micronizing an inorganic salt, having a receiving vessel (14) for receiving the salt (46) to be micronized in an interior of the receiving vessel (14); a grinding unit (22) for comminuting the salt (46) to be micronized located in the receiving vessel (14) and for forming micronized salt particles (54); an ascending pipe (24), which is connected fluidically to the receiving vessel (14) and serves to transport the micronized salt particles (54), wherein one end of the ascending pipe (24) has an outlet orifice (38) through which the micronized salt particles (54) can flow out of the apparatus (10); a fan (26) for generating an air stream (40); and a housing (12) with an air outlet (44) and an air duct (42) connecting the fan (26) to the air outlet (44), wherein the air duct (42) is separated by at least one wall from the interior of the receiving vessel (14), such that the air stream (40) generated by the fan (26) does not flow through the interior of the receiving vessel (14), and wherein the air outlet (44) at least partly surrounds the ascending pipe (24) in a region of the outlet orifice (38).

The present invention relates to a rock processing machine (12), which comprises: a material feeding apparatus (22) having a material buffer (24) for loading starting material (M) to be processed, at least one working apparatus (14, 16, 18) of: at least one crushing apparatus (14) and at least one screening apparatus (16, 18), at least one conveyor apparatus (26, 32, 36, 42) for conveying material (M) between two system components, a data processing apparatus (60) including a data memory (62), an output apparatus (108) connected to the data processing apparatus (60) in data-transmitting fashion for outputting information, wherein the data processing apparatus (60) is designed to ascertain, from data retrievable from the data memory (62) which are based on at least one data collection basis, wear information regarding the wear of a working tool configuration (72, 74, 75a) of the at least one working apparatus (14, 16, 18) and to output the wear information by way of the output apparatus (66, 108),

The invention provides for the data processing apparatus (60) to be designed to ascertain for the wear information, starting from at least one data collection basis, on which at least a portion of the data used for ascertaining the wear information is based, quality information regarding the wear information and to output this by way of the output apparatus (66, 108).

A method of operating a comminution process in a ball mill (10) including a rotatable shell (20) having an internal shell surface (22) comprising protrusions (310) configured to engage material (30) for grinding received solid material feed particles (115) by tumbling the material in the rotating shell (20) to generate product particles (95; 96) output (200), thereby causing a vibration. The method comprising rotating the shell (20); providing a solid material feed rate set point value for setting a solid material feed rate; analysing product particles (96); generating at least one product measurement value based on said product particle analysis being indicative of a product particle size; receiving a vibration signal indicative of said vibration; receiving a position signal indicative of a rotational position of said rotating shell; generating, based on said vibration signal and said position signal, at least one status parameter value indicative of said internal state including a toe position value; receiving data indicative of a desired product particle size; generating a toe position reference value based on received data and a correlation data set indicative of a causal relationship between a certain internal state and product particle size; generating said solid material feed rate set point value based on a desired product particle size thereby influencing said internal state for controlling or affecting said product particle size.

The disclosure discloses a direct-drive sand mill. In various embodiments, the direct-drive sand mill includes: a motor assembly operable to be electrically powered to generate a rotation around a motor rotor rotation axis, a sand mill main body configured to perform a sanding operation, a main shaft configured to extend from the motor assembly to the sand mill main body and to include a shaft section inside the sand mill main body, the main shaft being coaxially aligned with the motor rotor, main shaft support devices positioned at different locations along the main shaft to support the main shaft to coaxially align the motor rotor rotation axis of the motor assembly to the sand mill main body, and multiple flatness detection assemblies positioned at different locations along the main shaft to detect whether the main shaft shifts with respect to the axis of the main shaft.

A detection device according to an embodiment detects a presence or absence of a processing material adhered to an interior wall of a drum of a mill pulverizing a mineral. The detection device is configured to store an initial torque detected at a preset initial rotation angle, calculate a maximum torque based on the initial torque, the initial rotation angle, and a rotation angle greater than the initial rotation angle, calculate a ratio of a torque at the rotation angle divided by the maximum torque, compare the ratio and a preset threshold, and determine that the processing material is adhered to the interior wall of the drum when the ratio is equal to the threshold or greater than the threshold.

Monitoring equipment for monitoring the performance of systems for crushing solid materials are disclosed. The working condition of an elastic liner material is diagnosed and load parameters are analyzed. Integrated into the liner material is a measuring means in the form of a monitoring sensor which works by measuring the axisymmetric bending of the elastic liner material in response to a known force. The data recorded is then sent to an information system for analytical processing. This includes detecting wear and monitoring whether a critical thickness of the liner material has been reached. A housing element (3), a movable sensing element (4) structurally adapted to be continuously thrust in the direction of the wearing surface of the liner material by a resilient pressuring means (5), and a transmitting element (6) are disclosed. The movable sensing element (4) records the magnitude of axisymmetric bending of the liner material and transmits this data to the transmitting element (6), thus providing for a resource-efficient operating regime that makes it possible to use the wearing liner material until critical wear indices are reached.

A wear gauge 10 comprises an elongate substrate 12 having a proximal end 14 and a distal end 16. At least a first row 18 of spaced electronic components 22.1, 22.3 . . . 22.n and a juxtaposed second row 20 of spaced electronic components 22.2, 22.4 . . . 22.n1 are provided on the substrate. The first and second rows extend in a direction from the proximal end towards the distal end of the substrate. The electronic components 22.2 to 22.n1 in the second row are spatially interposed between adjacent electronic components 22.1 to 22.n in the first row. The electronic components of the first and second rows are electrically connected in parallel by conductive tracks 19. An electrical parameter relating to the parallel connection as measured at a port 24 of the parallel connection towards the proximal end, changes as electronic components are removed from the connection from the distal end, to provide an indication of the extent of wear, as indicated by the arrow A.

A monitoring system includes a fastener. A sensor is coupled to the fastener. A circuit board is electrically coupled to the sensor. An antenna electrically coupled to the circuit board.

A method and associated apparatus for detaching a frozen charge from an inner wall of a grinding pipe of a tube mill such as is used for grinding. The method includes controlling a driving device of the grinding pipe to detach a frozen charge from an inner wall of the grinding pipe, which driving device is operable to apply a driving torque to the grinding pipe. Controlling the driving device includes varying the driving torque applied to the grinding pipe around a predetermined reference level.