CA1162076A - Mill load sensing system - Google Patents

Mill load sensing system

Info

Publication number
CA1162076A
CA1162076A CA000377578A CA377578A CA1162076A CA 1162076 A CA1162076 A CA 1162076A CA 000377578 A CA000377578 A CA 000377578A CA 377578 A CA377578 A CA 377578A CA 1162076 A CA1162076 A CA 1162076A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
mill
load
sensing
output signals
thrust forces
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000377578A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Marvin B. Shaver
Rhual L. Guerguerian
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Dominion Engineering Works Ltd
Original Assignee
Dominion Engineering Works Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Dominion Engineering Works Ltd filed Critical Dominion Engineering Works Ltd
Priority to CA000377578A priority Critical patent/CA1162076A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1162076A publication Critical patent/CA1162076A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B02CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING; PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF GRAIN FOR MILLING
    • B02CCRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN
    • B02C17/00Disintegrating by tumbling mills, i.e. mills having a container charged with the material to be disintegrated with or without special disintegrating members such as pebbles or balls
    • B02C17/18Details
    • B02C17/1805Monitoring devices for tumbling mills
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B02CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING; PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF GRAIN FOR MILLING
    • B02CCRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN
    • B02C25/00Control arrangements specially adapted for crushing or disintegrating
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01LMEASURING FORCE, STRESS, TORQUE, WORK, MECHANICAL POWER, MECHANICAL EFFICIENCY, OR FLUID PRESSURE
    • G01L1/00Measuring force or stress, in general
    • G01L1/02Measuring force or stress, in general by hydraulic or pneumatic means
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01LMEASURING FORCE, STRESS, TORQUE, WORK, MECHANICAL POWER, MECHANICAL EFFICIENCY, OR FLUID PRESSURE
    • G01L5/00Apparatus for, or methods of, measuring force, work, mechanical power, or torque, specially adapted for specific purposes
    • G01L5/12Apparatus for, or methods of, measuring force, work, mechanical power, or torque, specially adapted for specific purposes for measuring axial thrust in a rotary shaft, e.g. of propulsion plants

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Food Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Crushing And Grinding (AREA)

Abstract

GOR 103 t394 MILL LOAD SENSING SYSTEM

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

There is disclosed a system for sensing and controlling the mill load in a grinding mill. The system includes a load cell located in the region of the mill that is subjected to reaction axial thrust forces developed durning mill operation. The load cell senses the thrust forces and provides output signals representative of the values of the thrust forces. The system further includes a load controller which is responsive to the output signals for determining the charge load of the mill and for providing control signals to the mill so as to control entry of materials into the mill.

Description

~ ~i20'76 MILL LOAD SENSING SYSTEM
The present invention relates to a mill load sensing system for sensing and controlling the charge load in a mill during operation of the mill.
In order to achieve the optimum grinding e~ficiency for a grinding mill, the mass of the charge load in the mill must be of a predetermined value which is dependent upon the run-of-mine for an autogenous mill (i.e., the ; material entering the mill) or the grinding media for a ball, rod or pebble mill. Presently, no system has been developed which can reliably determine the charge load in the mill.
Attemps have been made in the past to relate the mill charge load to the bearing pressure of the trunnion bearing supporting the trunnion of the mill.
One such attempt is disclosed in Canadian Patent No.
;791,424, issued August 6, 1968 to Harries et al. These attempts have not been reliable, however, because the liner in the mill is continuously wearing, whéreby the 20~ mill weight is constantly varying. Also, it should be understood that 40 to 60 percent of the loading, due to ravity, placed on thé turnnion bearing, is due to the wei~ht of the grinding mill. Hence, any reading taken of ~loading on the trunnion bearing, cannot be accurately measured and related to charge load in the mill, because fluctuations in the grinding mill weight are largely ~J>
:
, ~ `'"

~ ~6~7~

responsible for trunnion bearing load changes.
It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide a mill load sensing system for sensing the charge load in a mill.
Briefly, a mill load sensing system is provided that includes a helical gear means assembled in secured relation with a rotatable drum of the mill. The helical gear means is driven by the pinion of a prime mover for the mill. The helical gear means during mill operation, develops react'ion axial thrust forces, the values of which are substantially a function of the charge load in the mill. At least one sensing means is located in a region of the mill that is subjected to the axial thrust forces.
The sensing means senses the thrust forces and provides output signals which are representative of the value of these thrust forces. The system further includes a load control means responsive to the output signals for determining the charge load in the mill and for providing control signals to the mill so as to control entry of materials into the mill.
By sensing directly or indirectly axial thrust forces developed during mill operation, the system of the present invention senses a force which is propor-- tional to the charge load of the mill. It should be understood that there is some predetermined error in this system which is due to the friction of the mill.
It is to be expected that the mill will provide for about ; 2%~of the total value of the developed axial forces, ~; ~ as this value is the amount of axial force that is produced during operation of the mill under no load condition. This measurement of charge load, however, is of improved accuracy over previously unreliable methods of sensing charge load.
In a system of the present invention/ it is envisaged that the sensing means need only be located in the region of the mill that is subjected to ;~,7 ~ 7 .l 1~2~7~

a~xial thrust forces. Such regions exist in various areas of the mill such as, for example, a trunnion bearing pocket and a bearing pocket of the pinion and/or the prime mover. Also, it should be understood that the sensing means may be located in more than one region.
As can be appreciated, most large grinding mills are driven by two prime movers which operate in synchronism.
Thus, the sensing means may be located at bearing pockets for each of these prime movers. The sensing means may further comprise a load cell such as, for example, a hydraulic jack or a ~ et~-clec*-r-i-e load cell.
Regarding gear drivers for such grinding mills, some gear drives may include a gear reduction unit between the pinion and prime mover. In this case and in the case where no gear reduction unit is employed, the coupling of the pinion to prime mover does not normally transmit axial forces related to the developed unbalanccd axial thrust forces. Rather, one of the pinion bearings would be arranged to accept the axial related forces and provide through the sensing means the output slgnals.
Although the present invention is described with regards to its application with a grinding mill, it should be understood that such has been done for the purposes of illustration only; and that, without departing ~from either the~scope or spirit of the invention, it may be applied to other types of machines in which the charge load of the machine develops _ axial ; thrust forces proportional thereto. Accordingly, reference hereafter in the disclosure and claims to the term "mill" shall mean a machine as described hereinabove.
Therefore, in accordance with a broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mill load sensing system for sensing the charge load in a mill. The system comprises a hel'ical gear means operably with a rotatable ~rum o the mill and beî'ng driven by a pinion of a prime mover of the mill. The he'lical gear means develops ~, :

~ ~6~7~

-Y~4~d axial thrust forces, the values of which are ~` substantially a function of the charge load in the mill.
The system further comprises at leas-t one sensing means located in a reyion of the mill that is subjected to the-unbalana~d axial thrust forces. The sensing means senses the thrust forces.
For a better understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, reference may be had, by way of example, to the accompanying diagramatic drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a grinding mill and the mill load sensing system therefore;
Figure 2 is a graph showing the relationship between the mill charge load and-unbalanccd axial thrust forces;
and, Figure 3 is a partial schematic representation of an alternate mill load sensing system for a grinding mill.
Referring to Figure I the preferred embodiment of the present invention is described. A grinding mill 10 is provided with a rotatable drum structure 12. Drum structure 12 is rotatable about trunnions 14 which are mounted by trunnion bearings 16 above floor 18. On~
of the trunnions 14 is provided with shoulder 20 and 22 so as to limit the axial displacement of the drum structure 12. Secured to the drum structure 12 is a single helical gear 24 which is driven by pinion 26 having its helical teeth in accurate meshing relation with the teeth of the helical gear 24. Pinion 26 is shown attached via a shaft to an electric prime mover 28 mounted above the floor 18 by foundation support 30.
During mill operation material, and possible water, is transported by conveyor belt 32 to one of the trunnions 14 of mill 10. Friable material entering drum structure ~ 12 is ground within the mill and discharge through the other trunnion 14 to another conveyor belt (not shown).
In order to control the charge load within the drum ~ 1620~

structure 12, a sensing means schematically indicated at 34 is provided in a trunnion bearing pocket between shoulder 20 and one of the trunnion bearings 16. The sensing means 34 may comprise a hydraulic load cell which senses the axial thrust forces developed by the mill 10 during operation.
Arrow 36 depicts the axial direction in which the axial forces will be developed.
Line 38 is a schematic representation o an output path from the hydraulic load cell 34 which runs into a load control meand 40. The hydraulic load cell 34 senses the thrust forces and transmits output signals representa-tive of the values of these thrust forces along output path 38. The load control means 40 is responsive to the output signals for determining the charge load in the mill and providing control signals which are representative of the charge, to control entry of materials into the mill. The control of materials entering the mill by control means 40 is shown schematically by line 42 terminating in arrow 44 at conveyor 32. This may involve either automatically or manually controlling the rate of movement of the conveyor 32.
The control means 40 in response to the output signals determines the charge load by averaging a predetermined numberof output signals from the sensing means. The control means compares the average of the predetermined number of output signals with a predeter-mined reference signal which provides a control signal that is indicative of whether the load in the mill i5 increasing or decreasing. The control means may further be provided with a memory storage means so that each previous average of the output signals may be stored while the next series of output signals is being averaged. The stored output signals may comprise the predetermined reference signal with which the newly determined average signals will be compared. As the electronic components for this function are well known i.,~, O?, , ~ 1.~ ,,,
2~7~

in the art, these components are not shbwn.
Referring to the graph of Figure 2, there is shown a curve 100 which illustrates the functional relationship ~3 between the-~ba~e~ axial thrust forces and the mill change load from figure 2 the relationship is shown to be one to one over the operating range of the mill;
however, this relationship ceases after the charge load in the mill exceeds a predetermined value indicated at "A" on the graph. As shown, the predetermined value "A"
is just beyond the upper limit of the preferred operating range and in some instances may define the upper operating limit. It should be understood that this predetermined value is normally a known value for which the machine control system can readily monitor through the sensing means. In the case of the predetermined value not being a known parameter, it can be detected after it is exceeded when the values of ~ L~ee~ axial thrust forces decrease as a result of an increase in the feed rate of material entering the mill. Thus the control means 40 in the 2^0 preferred embodiment further provides a warning indication when the resultant forces decrease as a result of an increase in the feed rate of material entering the mill.
Referring to Figure 3 an alternate embodiment for the present invention is shown. In Figure 3 the hydraulic load cell 34 is shown located in a pocket 102 between prime mover 28 and flange portion 104 of foundation 106.
This embodiment is illustrated to show the positioning of the hydraulic load cell in a region other than that shown in Fiyuxe 1. It is to be understood that load cell 34 indirectly senses the unba-~anccd axially thrust forces.
It should be understood that alternate embodiments may be readily apparent to a man skilled in the art in view of the foregoing description of the present invention.
For example, the conveyor 28 illustrated in Figure 1 may ~ not be employed. In this instance, the mill may be loaded ,, : `' ~ 16207~

by other means and the control signal indicates that the mill is to be charged. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should only be limited to that which is claimed in the accompanying claims.

,

Claims (9)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu-sive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A mill load sensing system for sensing the charge load in a mill, said system comprising:
helical gear means operable with a rotatable drum of said mill and being driven by a pinion of a prime mover of said mill, said helical gear means during mill operation developing axial thrust forces the values of which are substantially a function of the charge load in the mill; and, at least one sensing means for sensing said forces located in a region of said mill in a position to sense forces derived from said forces.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said sensing means provides output signals representative of the values of said thrust forces; and, said system further comprising load control means responsive to said output signals for determining the charge load in said mill and for providing control signals to said mill whereby said control signals control entry of materials into said mill.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein said sensing means comprises a load cell.
4. The system of claim 3 wherein said load cell comprises a hydraulic jack.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein said sensing means is positioned in a bearing pocket of a selected one of the pinion, the prime mover, and between the pinion and prime mover.
6. The system of claim 2 wherein said control means, in response to said output signals determines said load by averaging a predetermined number of said output signals.
7. The system of claim 6 wherein said control means provides each of said control signals after comparing the average of the predetermined number of output signals with a predetermined reference signal.
8. The system of claim 7 wherein said predetermined reference signal comprises previous average of said output signals.
9. The system of claim 2 wherein said control means further provides a warning indication when the thrust forces decrease after an increase in the feed rate of material entering the mill.
CA000377578A 1981-05-14 1981-05-14 Mill load sensing system Expired CA1162076A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000377578A CA1162076A (en) 1981-05-14 1981-05-14 Mill load sensing system

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000377578A CA1162076A (en) 1981-05-14 1981-05-14 Mill load sensing system

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1162076A true CA1162076A (en) 1984-02-14

Family

ID=4119949

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000377578A Expired CA1162076A (en) 1981-05-14 1981-05-14 Mill load sensing system

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1162076A (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2792224A1 (en) * 1999-04-15 2000-10-20 Alstom Method for checking filling level of coal in ball mill involves correction of weight measured by value of vertical component of effort created by driving torque of drum before comparison step
CN113182023A (en) * 2021-04-21 2021-07-30 南京工程学院 On-line detection method for mill load of non-measurable disturbance self-adaptive monitoring and compensation

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2792224A1 (en) * 1999-04-15 2000-10-20 Alstom Method for checking filling level of coal in ball mill involves correction of weight measured by value of vertical component of effort created by driving torque of drum before comparison step
WO2000062935A1 (en) * 1999-04-15 2000-10-26 Alstom Method for verifying the filling level of coal in a ball mill
US6619574B1 (en) 1999-04-15 2003-09-16 Alstom Method for verifying the filling level of coal in a ball mill
CN113182023A (en) * 2021-04-21 2021-07-30 南京工程学院 On-line detection method for mill load of non-measurable disturbance self-adaptive monitoring and compensation

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
EP2596868B1 (en) A method of controlling the operation of a cone crusher
US3960330A (en) Method for maximizing throughput in an ore grinding system
WO1995033896A1 (en) Sensor feedback control for automated bucket loading
US4118933A (en) Bearing load indicator
CA1162076A (en) Mill load sensing system
RU2062148C1 (en) Device for registering current volume of ground charge in rotating drum mill
US4467895A (en) Slack rope detecting apparatus
US4561599A (en) Mill load sensing system
CA1269150A (en) Apparatus and method for monitoring low-level combustibles
CA1254870A (en) Grinding mill control
CA1055088A (en) Heavy service bearing system
EP1592510B1 (en) Method and control system for starting crushing in a gyratory crusher
JPH0137972B2 (en)
JP3061246B2 (en) Detecting method of the exit gap of a rotary crusher
CA1188807A (en) Mill load condition detector
AU592254B2 (en) Method and apparatus for correcting the falling path in a loading installation of a shaft furnace
US5166589A (en) Level probe for a shaft furnace
SU770543A1 (en) Method of automatic control of wet disintegrating in ball mill
CN217024960U (en) Intelligent skip
CN114718637B (en) Intelligent skip
US20240131526A1 (en) A crushing equipment and a method for controlling the same
US20240139754A1 (en) Bearing arrangement of a horizontal grinding mill and method for determining the fill rate of the mill
CA2025888C (en) Level probe for a shaft furnace
PL150827B1 (en) Method of and apparatus for monitoring charge level in crushers
Beus et al. Conveyance monitoring to improve mine hoisting safety

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
MKEX Expiry