Process and system for monitoring components in an ore screening installation

Abstract

A system for monitoring screening facilities which includes screening panels and components of the screen deck incorporating wirelessly readable identification tags; a computer database containing information relating to the screen deck components and their associated tags; a wireless tag detection station for regularly reading the conveyed material to detect tags; a computer program for matching the detected information with said data base and means for communicating a warning that a screen deck component has been dislodged.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring components in a screening installation which includes a conveyor for screened material, the method comprising: a) incorporating wirelessly readable identification tags into the monitored components; b) maintaining a computer database in relation to the monitored components and their associated tags; c) installing a wireless tag detection station adjacent or around said conveyor, said station comprising an array of passive RFID antennas, positioned to monitor an entire width of the conveyor; d) regularly reading the conveyed material to detect tags on one or more of the monitored components which has become accidentally dislodged, and matching the detected information with said database to identify a respective installed position of the one or more dislodged monitored components within the screening installation; e) communicating a warning that the one or more of the monitored components has been dislodged.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 in which tag detection and warning communication occur in real time.

3. A system for monitoring screening facilities which includes: a) a plurality of monitored components incorporating wirelessly readable identification tags; b) a computer database in relation to the monitored components and their associated tags; c) a wireless tag detection station for regularly reading material on a conveyor to detect the identification tags, said station comprising an array of passive RFID antennas positioned to monitor an entire width of the conveyor; d) a computer program for matching the detected information with said database when one or more of the monitored components has become accidentally dislodged, the computer program configured to identify a respective installed position of the one or more dislodged monitored components within the screening facilities; and e) means for communicating a warning that one or more of the monitored components has been dislodged.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3 in which tag detection and warning communication occur in real time.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 in which the monitored components comprise one or more screening panels, and at least two wirelessly readable identification tags are incorporated diagonally spaced apart in each screening panel.

6. The system as claimed in claim 4 in which the monitored components comprise one or more screening panels, and at least two wirelessly readable identification tags are incorporated diagonally spaced apart in each screening panel.

7. A method of monitoring components in a screening installation which includes a conveyor for screened material, each monitored component having a predetermined position with respect to the conveyor, the method comprising: a) incorporating wirelessly readable identification tags into the monitored components; b) maintaining a computer database in relation to the monitored components and their associated tags; c) monitoring the identification tags with a wireless tag detection station comprising an array of passive RFID antennas positioned to monitor an entire width of the conveyor and the predetermined position of each monitored component; d) determining whether one or more of the monitored components has become accidentally dislodged by detecting at least one of a presence of identification tags on the conveyor and an absence of identification tags from the predetermined positions, and determining which of the monitored components is dislodged by reference to said database to identify a respective installed position of the one or more dislodged monitored components within the screening installation; e) communicating a warning that the one or more of the monitored components has been dislodged.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7 in which the monitored components comprise one or more screening panels, and at least two wirelessly readable identification tags are incorporated diagonally spaced apart in each screening panel.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 in which tag detection and warning communication occur in real time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(1) A preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 depicts a flow diagram of the method of this invention;

(3) FIG. 2 depicts schematically the system of this invention;

(4) FIG. 3 depicts a reader station in accordance with this invention;

(5) FIG. 4 depicts a reinforcing frame used in this invention;

(6) FIG. 5 depicts a screening panel according to this invention;

(7) FIG. 6 is a graph plotting read rate against depth of material for high moisture content;

(8) FIG. 7 is a graph plotting read rate against depth of material for low moisture content.

(9) Low cost UHF passive RFID technology is incorporated in the screen media panel and is monitored with a close to real-time monitoring with a fixed reading gate strategically positioned over a conveyer belt section as shown in FIG. 3.

(10) The fixed monitoring unit is preferably designed to be mounted around an available conveyer belt 4. A configuration of antennas 3 is used to optimize detectability and monitor the target application covering the complete conveying system.

(11) The monitoring unit consists of antennas 3 to power/read RFID tags, one or more readers in enclosure 1 with a computer such as a PC or microcontroller or electronic control unit ECU which are mounted to a simple support structure 6. The monitoring unit 1 is customized for attachment to the conveyer belt support structure and enclosed for outside use. The system may be hard wired to transmit, or may wirelessly transmit, detection and diagnostic signals 2 to a third party monitoring system e.g. PLC or indication light.

(12) Optionally the system may be configured for remote access (WiFi, 3G, etc.) The main components in the enclosure 1 are an embedded PC; UHF Gen 2RFID reader (Impinj Speedway Revolution 4 port); Power Supply; and an optional air conditioner for hot environments.

(13) The monitoring unit also includes an appropriate number of long range passive RFID UHF circular polarized antennas 3 to monitor the desired span; antenna cables and electrical connections; and mounting structures.

(14) The screening panels 5 incorporate RFID tags 7: for example Confidex Carrier M4QT (long range UHF)

(15) Upon detection of a panel the monitoring unit 1 submits a signal to a connected PLC or optical device such as a flashlight.

(16) The monitoring system preferably, includes a program for self-diagnoses of all electronic equipment and a functional related diagnostics to ensure the availability of the system. The diagnostics may include history and usage registers and may be accessed remotely.

(17) The preferred location for the RFID tags 7 is on the reinforcing frame of the screening panel as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The tag 7 is preferably attached or embedded in the reinforcing frame or can be located anywhere within the panel as appropriate. Furthermore the reinforcement frame may incorporate a provision to attach the RFID chip

(18) The RFID tags and position of embedment in the panel or other components are preferabily chosen to suit the following requirements High temperature tolerance suitable to survive the panel manufacturing process temperatures Able to endure the full operational life of a screen media panel on a vibrating screen (high cyclic and impact loading) Dimensioned to suit attachment to the metallic screen module frame, preferably in a low stress region along the fixing side of the screen media panel. Selection of a tag with a large antenna for a higher read range and detection rate Tuned for on-metal performance (in the case of steel reinforcing frames) Wide bandwidth which allows for tuned performance when attached various metallic geometries

(19) RFID on-metal tags are specifically tuned to be coupled to metallic surfaces. The RFID tag may be on metal, active, semi-active, passive or operate at any other frequency (e.g. HF etc.) or wireless communication technology e.g. Bluetooth, Wireless LAN, etc.

(20) Alternatively the tag may be embedded post manufacture of the panel i.e. by attachment to a relief in the panel which may or may not be plugged for protection of the RFID chip. This is especially important for panel manufacture at high and long sustaining temperatures (>150 degC) such as for rubber injection moulded panels

(21) The monitoring setup must cope with typical operating conditions of belt conveying systems in mining environments:

(22) Detection speed: Typical belt speeds: 5.25 m/s

(23) Reading distance: Typical belt Width: 1600 mm or additional antennas can compensate for greater widths

(24) RFID tag readability assuming that the screen media panel may be buried underneath (moist) iron ore:

(25) Iron ore with moisture content typically 10%

(26) Conveyer belt material bed depths of typically 300 mm.

(27) The RFID tag (panel) orientation on the conveyer belt is uncontrolled and heavily influences the readability depending on the effective read angle to the antenna

(28) Environmental influences e.g. rain, free water or surrounding (steel) structures that impede read performance

(29) Typical influence on the readability of a passive RFID chip of an interfering material bed for moist ore is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

(30) An alternative or additional detection system is to deploy an array of antennas preferably encapsulated in polyurethane and positioned behind the screen protective sideliners or incorporated directly into the sideliners monitoring the full or specific portions of the screen deck and continuously reading all tagged m panels. Loss of a panel as it fell through the supporting screen frame is indicated by the persistent non reading of a given RFID tag. In addition any data stored on the RFID chip could be read continuously, thus providing online current information of the screen deck for each individual screen media panel. In addition information relating to the wear level of the panel and components may be sensed and transmitted.

(31) Other monitoring positions are possible as it may be desirable to detect a failed panel on any point in a downstream process without compromising the general solution:

(32) Such as chutes, re-claimers, discharge end of a vibrating screen, etc.

(33) It is also within the scope of this invention to incorporate more than one RFID tag preferably diagonally across the panel, compensating for reduced readability due the unknown orientation of the panel to the antenna structure on the conveyer belt.

(34) In general and without limitation this RFID technology may be incorporated into other media products such as Side liners HDB rails Spray-nozzles Rubber linings Wedge wire screening media Non-screening media replacement parts and other consumables

(35) The RFID chip may be prepared to store data that may be read by the monitoring unit or the data may be stored on the evaluation computer or external database and clearly be identified by reading the RFID tag identifier information. This data may be used to identify the source of failure, e.g. screen, deck, or specific panel and position on the screen deck. This information may be evaluated on the evaluation computer and be used to transmit further data relating to the detected dislodged panel or to shut down the screening operation to prevent further stockpile contamination.

(36) From the above it can be seen that the present invention a monitoring system for screening installations to ameliorate the problems caused by dislodged screen deck components.

(37) Those skilled in the art will be aware that this invention may be implemented in embodiments other than those described without departing from the core teachings of this invention.