SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CHANGING A MILL LINER, CONFIGURED TO ALLOW THE FULLY AUTOMATED AND ROBOTIC MANIPULATION OF THE METHOD

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for the robotic and automated, coordinated, collaborative changing of mill liners, the configuration thereof allowing the full robotic and automated manipulation of the method, by means of a remote command entered by an operator by means of a processor of a control system. The system of the invention comprises: at least one robotic manipulator (2) located outside of the mill; at least one robotic manipulator (3) located inside the mill; a control system; and a series of tools that are taken and manipulated automatically by the robotic manipulators (2, 3), such that the control system sends a command to operate the at least one external manipulator (2) and the at least one internal manipulator (3) to carry out the steps of changing at least one liner of the mill in a coordinated manner with collaboration between at least the two robotic manipulators.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A system for the robotic and automated, coordinated, collaborative changing of mill liners, comprising: at least one robotic manipulator located outside of a mill, at least one robotic manipulator located inside the mill, a control system, and a plurality of tools, each of said tools automatically manipulated by at least one of said manipulators based on said control system sending at least one command to at least one of said manipulators to carry out the steps of changing at least one liner of the mill in a coordinated manner with collaboration between at least the two robotic manipulators.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of said robotic manipulators includes a base which is affixed to a mounting surface, and wherein a rotary column, an oscillating arm, an arm, and a wrist are mounted on said base with a tool mounted on at least one of said rotating column, said oscillating arm, said arm, and said wrist.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said tool comprises a device for at least one of: removing and installing single nuts, double torquing and detorquing, taking, installing, and removing vulcanized cup washers for pushing or knocking out bolts, taking, fixing, and moving bolts, or manipulating liners.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein said base comprises a pivoting beam for fixing the at least one robotic manipulator, and allowing the provision of a further rotating axis which, when operating, allows angular movement of the pivoting beam of about 180° degrees by means of the actuation of at least one hydraulic cylinder.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein said base includes a fixing support on which a plurality of accessories are disposed including one or more tools, containers for placing nuts or washers, supports for bolts, or a support for liners.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein at least one robotic manipulator further comprises an electrical installation system and a weight compensator, wherein said at least one robotic manipulator is formed from at least 6 axes or degrees of freedom.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein said at least one robotic manipulator comprises a detection means for detecting a position of at least one of liners, bolt, nut, or and/or washer, wherein said detection means includes at least one machine vision system.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein said control system comprises at least one switchgear, control panel, manipulator control cabinet, position detection panel and human-machine interface, hydraulic installation, inductive sensor, or encoder.

19. A method for a robotic manipulator system to automatedly change a liner in a mill, comprising the steps of: locating at least one robotic manipulator outside of and at least one inside the mill adjacent to the inner and outer surface of the shell of said mill, receiving at least one command from a control system indicating and identifying the liner to be changed, wherein each of the liners in the mill is initially identified in the control system in terms of the location, disposition, shape, and configuration, wherein said command includes precise and accurate information directed to at least one robotic manipulator to carry out different operating steps or sequence to perform a coordinated and collaborative actions of each identified liner between at least the two robotic manipulators, and wherein the coordinated and collaborative actions between said robotic manipulators includes the steps of loosening and removing nuts, loosening and removing vulcanized cup washers, arranging a liner manipulator next to the liner to be removed, obtaining bolts from the outside of the mill, gripping the bolts with a robotic manipulator, removing the liner from an inner surface of the mill, and moving any replaced liners to outside the mill.

20. A method for a robotic manipulator disposed in a mill to replace a removed liner with a liner manipulation tool fixed thereto comprising the steps of: taking bolts from a bolt feeder with the bolts in place, to a liner feeding area, fitting the bolts through holes of a liner; taking the liner at an angle such that it is prevented from falling from the tool; said robotic manipulator moving to a position in which a used liner was removed in such a manner as to arrange the liner in said position such that the bolts are introduced through the holes of a mill shell, where said bolts are exposed through the exterior robotic manipulator; wherein said manipulator has a washer manipulation tool, said manipulator receives a washer and places said washer on a bolt, using a torquing tool disposed on said manipulator's exterior, applying torque to a nut, fixing said nut on the bolt, and fixing a new liner to an inner surface of the shell of the mill.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] In order to help to better understand the features of the invention according to a preferred practical embodiment thereof, a set of drawings is attached as an integral part of the description in which the invention is depicted in an illustrative and non-limiting manner.

[0048] FIG. 1 corresponds to a general view of a system and method used in the prior art.

[0049] FIG. 2 corresponds to a general perspective view of the system for the automatic and robot-assisted changing of liner for mills according to the present invention.

[0050] FIG. 3 corresponds to a perspective view of the system of the invention showing the collaborative action between the at least one robotic manipulator located inside and outside the mill in which the liner changing process is to be performed.

[0051] FIG. 4 corresponds to a front view of a cross section of FIG. 3.

[0052] FIG. 5 corresponds to a view of a detail of the at least one robotic manipulator preferably used inside a mill in the system of the present invention.

[0053] FIG. 6 corresponds to a view of a detail of the at least one robotic manipulator preferably used outside of a mill in the system of the present invention.

[0054] FIG. 7 corresponds to a view of the tools which are used by the at least one interior and/or exterior robotic manipulator of the system of the present invention.

[0055] FIG. 8 corresponds to a detail of the machine vision means used in the system of the present invention.

[0056] FIG. 9 shows a detail of the control system comprised in the system of the invention.

[0057] FIG. 10 shows an isometric view of the system of the invention implemented in a series of activities which can be performed at the same time during mill maintenance.

[0058] FIG. 10a corresponds to a top plan view of the depiction of FIG. 10.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0059] The invention relates to a system and method for the robot-assisted and automatic changing of liners (1) from inside a mill, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 2, comprising at least one robotic manipulator (2) located outside of the mill, at least one robotic manipulator (3) located inside the mill, a control system, and a series of tools that are taken and manipulated automatically by said robotic manipulators (2, 3), such that the control system sends a command to operate the at least one external manipulator (2) and the at least one internal manipulator (3) to carry out the steps of changing at least one liner of the mill in a coordinated manner with collaboration between at least the two robotic manipulators (see FIGS. 2 to 4)

[0060] As illustrated by way of example in FIGS. 5 and 6, the at least one robotic manipulator (2, 3) comprises a base (4) which is fixed to the mounting surface (5), where there are mounted on said base (4) a rotary column (6), an oscillating arm (7), an arm (8), and a wrist (9) on which at least one tool is mounted (see FIG. 7) from a tool carrier, which is selected from a device for removing and installing single nuts (10), or a double torquing and detorquing device (11), and/or a device (12) taking, installing, and removing vulcanized cup washers, and/or a device (13) for pushing and/or knocking out bolts, and a tool (14) for taking, fixing, and moving bolts and/or manipulating the liners, which allow carrying out in a robotic and automatic manner the steps of a) giving a command to change a specific liner through the control system; b) loosening and removing the nuts; b) loosening and removing the vulcanized cup washers; c) disposing the liner manipulator next to the liner to be removed; d) pushing the bolts from outside of the mill; e) gripping the bolts with the manipulator; f) removing the liner from the inner surface of the mill; g) placing it so as to be taken out from inside the mill; h) taking at least one bolt with the liner manipulator; i) introducing the bolt in the hole of the liner to be changed; j) moving the liner to the initial removal location of the changed liner; k) placing the washers back on the bolts of the new liner from outside of the mill; l) placing the nuts on the bolts and applying torque thereto until firmly fixing the liner against the inner surface of the mill casing; m) repeating the preceding sequence to change another liner, wherein the control system allows the command to be sent remotely to robotic manipulators so that by means of the indication of the location, disposition, shape, size, and configuration of the liner to be changed, the different steps described above are carried out automatically with the different tools taken by said robotic manipulators and fixed through the wrist, in such a manner that each tool further comprises sensors which allow verifying correct operation of each tool based on the command given by the control system in a coordinated manner with collaboration between at least the two robotic manipulators, so as to correctly perform each operation, which is illustrated by way of example through FIGS. 10 and 10a.

[0061] The rotary column (6), which is the base of at least one robotic manipulator (2, 3) (see FIGS. 5 and 6), allows the entire robotic manipulator to be rotated to different positions so as to allow reaching the liners fixed in different positions on the inner cover of the mill, and the first and second oscillating arms (7, 8) allow moving the tools to the different working points of the mill. The wrist (9) allows rotating and/or orienting the fixed tool based on the location and/or disposition of the liner, bolt, nut, and/or washer based on the information that the operating system delivers to the robotic manipulator (2, 3). The robotic manipulator further comprises an electrical installation system and a weight compensator, in such a manner that said robotic manipulator is formed from at least 6 axes or degrees of freedom.

[0062] The mounting surface (4), which can be seen by way of example in FIGS. 6, 10, and 10a, can be a simple mounting surface, such as a fixing support or base in which there can be disposed different accessories, such as a support for the various tools, containers for placing nuts and/or washers, supports for bolts, support for liners. In one embodiment of the invention, which can be seen by way of example in FIG. 3, the mounting surface (4) may comprise a pivoting beam (15) for fixing the at least one robotic manipulator (2, 3), allowing the provision of an additional axis of rotation which, when operating, allows angular movement of the pivoting beam of about 180° degrees by means of the actuation of at least one hydraulic cylinder.

[0063] The at least one robotic manipulator (2, 3) may comprise detection means for detecting the position of the liners, bolt, nut, and/or washer configured by at least one machine vision system, FIG. 8, which is based on machine vision techniques by means of using laser triangulation cameras (L) through which the mantle of the inner surface of the mill is scanned to determine the position in which the liner must be inserted so as to verify and correct the possible minor deviations that the disposition commanded by the system control may experience.

[0064] The machine vision system comprises a laser triangulation camera, the acquisition system of which is based on laser triangulation, acquiring spatial information of its surroundings, wherein said acquired information is processed through a computer, further comprising a PLC integrating the cameras and computer thereof with the control system for controlling the positioning of the pivoting beam (15) and the robotic manipulator (2, 3) to achieve the specific position captured by the cameras, wherein angular orientation and position data passes through the PLC for transmission to the robotic manipulator and for controlling same.

[0065] In this manner, at least one robotic manipulator (2, 3) system for manipulating the liners therefore comprises a configuration of at least 6 degrees of freedom, i.e., it has at least 6 axes or attachments that can pivot with respect to one another, allowing each of the elements to perform a movement that is different or that is in different positions or directions with respect to the other, allowing the tool attached to the robotic manipulator (2, 3) to be oriented depending on the point where the liner is taken as commanded from the control system based on liner type, location, disposition, and configuration, the tool to be moved to different working points, and/or allowing the entire robotic manipulator to be rotated to different positions inside and/or outside of the mill to access the different positions where a changing of liners is required.

[0066] In FIG. 9, the control system allows operating and controlling the system for changing liners of the present invention, having the function of providing power and controlling the system, in addition to having controls for commanding and monitoring same. The control system has at least one switchgear or SG, control panel or CP, manipulator control cabinets, position detection panel PDP and human-machine interface or HMI, hydraulic installation, inductive sensors, encoder, among other control means.

[0067] The switchgear SG corresponds to the cabinet containing elements for protection against surges, protections for the electrical equipment of the control cabinet, local cabinet for controlling the robotic manipulator, equipment such as the robotic manipulator itself and the HMI (human machine interface) operator panel. It also contains the single-pole bar for distributing power to the different elements and/or cabinets. It has a main single-phase thermomagnetic disconnector for opening or closing the circuit for introducing electric power, in addition to pilot light indicators.

[0068] Tool control cabinets mainly contain the drives necessary for actuating each servomotor of the robotic manipulators and are connected to the general CP. One or more control cabinets is required for the functionality of the apparatus.

[0069] The CP corresponds to a panel for storing components in charge of performing system control, the base of this cabinet being its main controller, internal memory, and management of a digital input module.

[0070] The position detection panel PDP contains a computer connecting to and receiving signals from the machine vision which captures the internal position of liners with high precision, with the computer processing the data and sending the signals to the CP in order to position the robotic manipulators, with the routines thereof.

[0071] Additionally, it presents a safety architecture formed by a controller which monitors all the safety signals of the apparatus, emergency stop buttons, and excessive torques. The emergency stop buttons are mushroom-type stop buttons and are located in the operation panel and on the side of the accesses. The actuation of emergency stop buttons causes the apparatus to be halted. The re-establishment of an emergency stop button alone does not leave the apparatus in conditions to start operating again; inspection of the emergency stop button by the operator is required at all times. The reinstatement of the emergency stop buttons is performed in the region where the latter was activated, but inspection of the emergency stop buttons is performed through the operating display.

[0072] In a preferred but non-limiting embodiment, the method for changing liners according to the invention comprises locating at least one robotic manipulator (2, 3) outside of and inside the mill adjacent to the inner and outer surface of the shell thereof, entering the command to change through the control system by indicating and identifying the liner to be changed, wherein each of the liners comprised in the mill is initially identified in the programmer of the control system, in terms of the location, disposition, shape, and configuration thereof, in such a manner as to deliver the information and command in a precise and accurate manner to at least one robotic manipulator (2, 3) in order to carry out the different operating steps or sequence in order to perform a coordinated and collaborative changing of said identified liner between at least the two robotic manipulators (2, 3). The changing sequence is then started, wherein the robotic manipulator (3) located on the outside takes torquing tool to be disposed in the location of the nuts of the identified liner to be changed, wherein said sequence further comprises locating and aligning a bolt gripping tool and liner manipulator which is taken by the robotic manipulator (2) located inside the mill, such that said tool is aligned at the liner outlet position; the torquing tool of the robotic manipulator located outside of the mill is operated to perform removal of the nuts; the tool is then changed to a washer manipulation tool which allows washers to be removed from the bolts, wherein said operations can be performed by at least another robotic arm located outside of the mill; a device for pushing and/or knocking out bolts, which can be disposed in another robotic manipulator, is then operated in such a manner that said tool allows the bolts to be pushed into the mill, which bolts are secured and taken by the liner manipulator, disposed in at least one arm robotic (2) located inside the mill, thereby gripping the bolts in such a manner as to exert a force that allows the liner to be released from the shell of the mill, placing the liner at an angle which allows to prevent it from falling; the liner is moved to a feeding device which removes it from the area together with the bolts.

[0073] To install the new liner, the robotic manipulator (2) disposed inside the mill with the liner manipulation tool fixed thereto is moved to take the bolts from a bolt feeder; with the bolts in place, they are moved to the liner feeding area, fitting the bolts through the holes of the liner, taking the liner at an angle such that it is prevented from falling from the tool; the robotic manipulator is moved to the position in which the used liner was removed in such a manner as to arrange the liner in said position such that the bolts are introduced through the holes of the shell, where they are exposed so that through the exterior robotic manipulator, which has a washer manipulation tool, a washer is introduced on the bolt; subsequently, by means of a torquing tool disposed in a robotic manipulator located on the outside, torque is applied to a nut and said nut is fixed on the bolt, thereby fixing the new liner to the inner surface of the shell of the mill. This method did not involve the use of staff, only the robotic manipulators (2, 3) with their respective tools in a coordinated manner with collaboration.

[0074] With the configuration of the present invention, the entire operation for changing a liner can be performed in a robotic and automated manner, in a coordinated manner with collaboration, thereby preventing the staff from having to be present inside and outside of the mill to perform the operation, and providing the robotic manipulator with the configuration needed to improve the manipulation operation by having a greater degree of freedom and/or flexibility in its movements, providing the method with a greater degree of certainty and efficacy with respect to the equipment used in the art.

[0075] Although the configuration of the system for changing liners of a mill used for ore grinding herein described constitutes a preferred inclusion of this invention, it must be understood that the invention is not limited to this specific form of the system for changing the liner, given that changes can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the attached claims.