WO2016007984A1

WO2016007984A1 - A process for evaluating a set of articles and means for carrying out same

Info

Publication number: WO2016007984A1
Application number: PCT/AU2015/000264
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael DEL BORRELLO; Simon VINCENT
Original assignee: Newton Laboratories Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2014-07-17
Filing date: 2015-05-04
Publication date: 2016-01-21

Abstract

The present invention provides a process for predicting the size of detectable articles within a set of articles. The process comprises causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface and measuring the effect of the movement event on each detectable article relative to the surface. By processing the measured effect of each detectable article the size of each article within the set is estimated.

Description

A Process for Evaluating a Set of Articles and Means for Carrying Out Same TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention generally relates to a process and means for evaluating a set of articles. In particular the present invention provides a process and means for identifying/predicting the likelihood of irregular sized articles being incorporated within a set of articles.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] Numerous industries convey various sized goods between various stations. In so doing it is often important to identify irregularly sized goods so that they may be handled separately, avoiding the possibility of having these goods affect normal operations.

[0003] One industry in which it is important to identify irregular sized goods is in the mining industry. In most land based mining operations blasting operations fragment the earth into ore/rocks of various sizes. The aim of each blast operation is to produce rocks which are below a certain size. Once formed, the rocks are collected and are placed on a conveyor system or, more likely, placed on a dump truck for haulage to a processing plant.

[0004] While the blasting operation is quite strategic, it is often the case that oversized rocks still exist after the blasting operation. These oversized rocks can then find their way to the processing plant and may cause blockages within that plant.

[0005] Most processing plants incorporate a crusher as stage one of the process. In some applications the crusher typically has a feed inlet which is sized such that oversized rocks cannot enter and damage the crusher. When an oversized rock enters the crusher, the crusher inlet prevents the oversized rock from entering the crusher. While this protects the crusher the oversized rock blocks the inlet, preventing other rocks from entering the crusher. Quite quickly the crusher inlet becomes full with rocks leaving the crusher with no material to crush. In other cases the rock would enter the crusher but is too big and causes a blockage. In order to clear the blockage an operator with a rock breaker will need to attend the crusher and clear the blockage. This takes a considerable amount of time, during which the processing plant is idle. When these events occur in multiples, the cumulative downtime required to clear the blockages can significantly affect the efficiency of the mine.

[0006] Furthermore, the transportation of oversized rocks places a strain on the transportation system, whether it be a dump truck, train wagon, or conveyor. This typically increases the rate of wear on the infrastructure which results in an increased maintenance requirement.

[0007] Various systems have been made available to measure the impact on a truck as an excavator loads ore onto the truck tray. A problem with one such system is that the system only measures the impact of the load hitting the truck tray and does not allow for the identification and evaluation of each rock.

[0008] Photo-analytic systems are also available whereby a photo of the truck load is taken and analysed. However, this only allows for rocks on the outer surface of the load on the tray to be measured. This system is also problematic when the load is covered in fines, or dust compromises the quality of the photo.

[0009] The preceding discussion of the background art is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. The discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to is or was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0010] It is an object of this invention to provide a system which minimizes the likelihood of oversized articles, such as rocks, affecting regular operations.

[0011] While the present invention is largely discussed in terms of mining, it is understood that the scope of this invention includes other industries in which it is important to be able to predict the size of articles within a set of articles. For instance the system may be applied to luggage sorting systems used at transit terminals such as airports. [0012] The present invention provides a process for predicting the size of detectable articles within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring the effect of the movement event on each detectable article relative to the surface; processing the measured effect of each detectable article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

[0013] The process may further comprise the step of displaying the results graphically illustrating the size of each of the detectable articles.

[0014] Each detectable article may be an article within the set of articles which is detectable by an at least one sensor measuring the effect of the movement event.

[0015] In one embodiment of the invention the process predicts the likelihood of irregular sized articles being incorporated within a set of articles. An irregular sized article may be defined by the nature of the article. For instance where the article is in the form of a rock/piece of ore, an irregular sized rock may be one that does not fit into a part of the processing system, such as the inlet of a crusher.

[0016] In an alternative embodiment of the invention the process predicts the size of detectable articles within the set of articles, whereby the process only processes those articles which meet certain parameters, such as for example those articles over a certain size or weight parameter. This allows the process to evaluate the articles faster as it does not need to process those articles which would obviously be of an allowable size.

[0017] In an alternative embodiment of the invention the process predicts the size of detectable articles within a set of articles wherein the process only considers those articles at numbered intervals to other articles. For instance the process may only consider every second article within the set of articles. [0018] The movement event may occur when the set of articles are loaded onto the surface, such as the surface of a conveyor, the surface of a dump tray of a truck, or other vehicle such as a train wagon.

[0019] When measuring the movement of each article relative to the surface, the measure may be of the impact of each article upon the surface.

[0020] The movement event may be in the form of movement of articles relative to the surface, such as may be caused by a truck as it travels between stations on a mine site.

[0021] The movement event may occur by moving the surface carrying the set of articles. For example, the surface may form part of an excavator bucket, front end loader, dragline or other containers used to transfer ore.

[0022] The movement event may be the result of the surface being excited by a mechanical device. The movement event may be caused by any device, structure of process which causes movement of the Article relative to the surface.

[0023] A measuring means incorporated with, or associated with the surface, may measure the movement of each article as it impacts upon or moves relative to the surface. The measuring means may be in the form of one or more sensors. The sensors may incorporate accelerometers and/or gyroscopes, strain gauges, acoustic sensors, location sensors including GPS. The sensors may be visual, such as a camera, or weight dependent, such as load cells.

[0024] The sensors may be continually measuring the movement of the set of articles.

[0025] The process may further comprise the step of combining the results from different movement events exerted upon the set of articles to increase the accuracy of the results.

[0026] Processing the measured movement may comprise filtering out known unwanted results and/or spurious results. Known unwanted results may include movement caused by movement of the actual surface which is not directly related to the movement event. In the case of the surface being provided by a tray of a truck, this movement includes movement caused by the trucks suspension and/or movement caused by Shockwaves through the tray. [0027] The measured movement may be the vibration of each impact on the surface.

[0028] The measured movement may be the amplitude and/or frequency of the vibration of each impact on the surface.

[0029] Processing the measured movement may comprise transforming the results into one or more outputs relating to one or more characteristics of the particular article.

[0030] The process may further comprise the step of matching the one or more outputs to known likely characteristics of the particular set of articles to predict/determine the size of each article. The likely characteristics are a prediction of how the articles would be expected to behave (e.g. vibrate) upon undergoing the same/similar movement event.

[0031] The process may further comprise the step of visually displaying the results so that an operator can assign a suitable action to the particular set of articles or otherwise alert the operator in some other way as would be known to the person skilled in the art (for example an alarm).

[0032] The process may also take into consideration one or a combination of: the size and shape of the surface, the surface material; the position, size and/or shape of the excavator/front end loader/shovel bucket; weather information, pour rate and capacity of the loading equipment.

[0033] The present invention further provides a system for executing the aforementioned process.

[0034] The present invention further provides a system for predicting the size of detectable articles within a set of articles, the system comprises: a surface adapted to receive the set of articles; a means to cause a movement event of the articles of the set of articles relative to the surface; one or more sensors to measure the effect of the movement event on each detectable article relative to the surface; processing means to process the measured effect of each detectable article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

[0035] The system may comprise a surface adapted to measure a movement event of a set of articles. The movement event may be in the form of the articles moving relative to the surface. The movement event may be in the form of the articles impacting upon the surface.

[0036] In one aspect of the invention the surface incorporates one or more sensors for measuring the movement of each article relative to the surface.

[0037] In another aspect of the invention the surface incorporates one or more sensors for measuring the movement of the larger articles within the set of articles relative to the surface.

[0038] The system may be adapted to disaggregate the set of articles in to individual articles, measuring the movement of each individual article.

[0039] The surface may be provided by the tray of a dump truck, an excavator bucket, a rail wagon, conveyors, chutes hoppers, and/or mills.

[0040] The set of articles may be in the form of a load of ore, a batch of products from a production line, or a number of selected articles from a larger number of articles.

[0041] The present invention further provides a process for predicting the size of detectable articles in a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring the movement of each detectable article relative to the surface during the movement event; processing the measured movement of each detectable article to estimate the size of each article within the set. [0042] Processing the measured movement of each article may comprise transforming the measured result into one or more outputs which may be compared with known likely characteristics of the articles.

[0043] The set of articles may be in the form of a load of ore placed into a dump truck.

[0044] The set of articles may be a detectable subset of a load of ore placed into a dump truck.

[0045] The set of articles may be in the form of a scoop of ore placed in an excavator bucket.

[0046] The set of articles may be a subset of a scoop of ore placed in an excavator bucket.

[0047] The subset may be limited to articles which, when experience a movement event, present characteristics to the surface above a predetermined threshold. For instance, when a load of ore is placed in the dump truck, the sensor may measure the vibration of the surface as each rock impacts the surface, filtering out those impacts which are below a certain amplitude provides a set of articles which is a subset of the full load. This will help reduce processing time of articles which are easily noted as being regular sized articles.

[0048] The process may detect outliers. Outliers may be in the form of an article which falls well outside of allowable parameters. The outlier may be more than one standard deviation away from the average size of the detectable articles.

[0049] The present invention further provides a process for predicting the likelihood of detectable, irregular sized articles being incorporated within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring one or more parameters of each detectable article as it undergoes the movement event; processing the measured parameters of each article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

[0050] The present invention further provides a process for predicting the likelihood of detectable, irregular weighted articles being incorporated within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring one or more parameters of each detectable article as it undergoes the movement event; processing the measured parameters of each detectable article to predict the weight of each article within the set.

[0051] The present invention further provides a process for predicting the likelihood of detectable irregular sized articles being incorporated within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; capturing one or more parameters of each detectable article as it undergoes the movement event; transforming the measured parameters of each detectable article to predict the size of each detectable article within the set.

[0052] The process may comprise capturing the one or more parameters relating to the movement event.

[0053] The present invention further provides a system for predicting the likelihood of detectable, irregular sized rocks being incorporated within a plurality of rocks, the system comprises: an apparatus to measure one or more parameters of each detectable rock as it undergoes a movement event relative to a surface; a transformation system to transform the one or more parameters to provide a prediction of the likelihood of irregular sized rocks being incorporated within the load of rocks.

[0054] The apparatus may comprise a plurality of different sensors connected to the surface to measure the one or more parameters of each rock. The sensors may measure the movement of each rock relative to the surface.

[0055] The movement event may be in the form of the rocks impacting upon the surface, such as when loaded thereon. The movement event may be in the form of the rocks moving upon the surface, such as when the surface is transported with the rocks thereon.

[0056] The apparatus may comprise a recording means to record the output of the sensors, and input the output into the transformation system.

[0057] The apparatus may measure the vibration of each rock upon the surface.

[0058] The vibration may comprise the initial impact, the bounce impact, and the trailing impact. The apparatus may measure one, a combination or all of these components. The trailing vibration component of an article may be complete when the surface becomes stable relative to the relevant impact of that article.

[0059] The apparatus may measure the trailing and/or bounce vibration of each rock after its initial impact on the surface. The apparatus may determine whether the impact was as a result of a single rock, or the simultaneous impact of several rocks upon the surface, or the simultaneous impact of several rocks upon each other at the same time as a bottom rock impacts the surface. One way this may be achieved is to have two sensors spaced apart. Upon an article/rock hitting the surface the sensors are able to detect the time difference between the vibration reaching one sensor relative to the other. The time difference can be used to predict whether one or more articles/rocks hit the surface at the same time.

[0060] The apparatus may measure the progressive accumulated load on the surface after each rock is loaded onto the surface. During loading of the rocks onto the surface, the impact of subsequent rocks may be cushioned by those on the surface. By taking into consideration the load on the surface as well as the makeup of the load (e.g. fines or lump) the impact of each rock can be normalised against the first rock loaded onto the surface. The apparatus may comprise several sensors set at different sensitivities such that the signal from a different sensor is used based on the volume of load on the surface. Therefore, as the load on the surface increases in volume, the vibration of the impact of a rock is dampened. To mitigate the dampening effect, the signal from a more sensitive sensors may be used in the determination of article size.

[0061] The apparatus may measure the downward deflection of the surface upon each rock impacting thereupon. Where the surface is a tray of a truck, downward deflection may also be greater as a result of the trucks suspension.

[0062] The apparatus may measure the upward deflection of the surface after each rock has impacted upon the surface.

[0063] The apparatus may measure the reflection impact caused by vibration reflecting off obstructions within, or at the end of the surface.

[0064] The apparatus may measure the rate of change of acceleration (rate of change of acceleration is jerk) of each impact upon the surface.

[0065] The apparatus may measure the rate of change of acceleration of jerk (rate of change of jerk is snap) of each impact upon the surface.

[0066] The transformation system may have a filter to filter out unwanted noise recorded by the sensors.

[0067] The transformation system may utilise geology indexes to assist in predicting the likelihood of irregular sized rocks. Geology indexes are attributed to specific areas of geological formations (for example mining blocks) and provide a guide as to the likelihood of regularly encountering oversized rocks after a blasting process. The transformation system may incorporate the geological index to provide a weighting to the one or more parameters for rocks taken from particular areas. These areas include specific gravity, hardness, abrasiveness, moisture content, fragmentation, shape and number of items (for example the number of rocks). [0068] The transformation system may utilise information relating to the blast pattern, volume of explosives used in a blasting process, and/or age of the mine to provide a weighting to the one or more parameters.

[0069] The transformation system calibrates the movement event against other movement events to normalise the various movement events, such that the predictability determined from one movement event can be combined with the predictability of another movement event, therefore improving the accuracy of the predictability.

[0070] As movement events may vary the one or more parameters of each rock undergoing different movement events need to be weighted accordingly to ensure accurate prediction of the likelihood of oversized rocks. By way of example, if the movement event is in the form of loading of rocks onto the surface from an excavator bucket, varying factors between successive movement events include the height at which the bucket unloads the rock, the speed at which the bucket moves, and the load in the bucket prior to emptying. This will allow results of different loads to be normalised, allowing for variations in parameters/conditions (e.g. variations in the height from which the load is dropped) to be taken into consideration.

[0071] Also, the same load of rocks may undergo different movement events as it moves from point A to point B. These events may include loading the rocks onto the surface, moving the surface to a processing unit.

[0072] The transformation system may transform the one or more parameters using one or more of the following processes: conducting a Fourier transformation; conducting a spectral analysis; conducting a wavelet transformation; conducting an RMS transformation; conducting a peak to peak transformation; identifying the frequency relative to each rock and correlating that with the known frequency of corresponding sized rocks.

[0073] The one or more processes may include comparing a plurality of parameters of each rock against known parameters of corresponding sized rocks.

[0074] The transformation system may provide a complete article size analysis of each rock based on the one or more parameters. The article analysis is designed to estimate the major diameter of each article present in the load.

[0075] The complete article size analysis may be conducted and provided in real time.

[0076] The system may provide an alert to an operator when the complete article size analysis predicts oversized rock(s) in a load on the surface.

[0077] The system may rely on remotely operated systems, WiFi or other known means of communications.

[0078] The present invention provides a process for predicting the size of articles within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring the effect of the movement on each article relative to the surface; processing the measured effect on each article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0079] Further features of the present invention are more fully described in the following description of a non-limiting embodiment thereof. This description is included solely for the purposes of exemplifying the present invention. It should not be understood as a restriction on the broad summary, disclosure or description of the invention as set out above. The description will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic of a truck being loaded with ore;

Figure 2 is a photograph of the ore being loaded onto the truck highlighting the impact of a large rock;

Figure 3 is the signal output representing the load in figure 4 highlighting the impact of the large rock;

Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating the basic process according to an embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 5 is a flow chart of the signal analysis of figure 2.

[0080] In the drawings like structures are referred to by like numerals throughout the several views. The drawings shown are not necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0081] Referring to the figures, the invention according to an embodiment is in the form of a process for predicting the likelihood of irregular sized articles, in the form of ore/rocks, being incorporated within a set of articles, in the form of a load of ore 12 loaded into a dump truck 1 1 at a mine site.

[0082] In the mining industry, blasting operations are designed such that the resulting ore can be processed in the mines processing plant without the need for any preliminary processing. However, from time to time oversized ore does find its way onto the back of a truck on its way to the mine's processing plant.

[0083] If the oversized ore is not identified before the ore is dumped into the crusher of the processing plant the oversized ore may not be able to pass into the crusher, resulting in a blocked crusher or a blocked crusher inlet. This blockage prevents further processing through the crusher until the blockage can be removed. This typically entails an operator to arrive at the crusher with a rock breaker to fragment the oversized ore into smaller pieces. Depending on the size of the ore this can take a considerable amount of time. [0084] The present embodiment of the present invention seeks to predict the probability of a load of ore incorporating ore which is oversized. This information can then be used by an operator to determine whether the dump truck carrying that particular load needs to be diverted to a different station, at which the oversized ore may be fragmented into an acceptable size, or whether the load is of acceptable sized ore to dump the load into the crusher.

[0085] While the oversized ore would still need to undergo a preliminary process before entering the plants processing plant, the present invention substantially minimises the risk that the crusher would become blocked or damaged due to oversized ore being loaded therein. This ensures the crusher, and therefore the processing plant, does not experience downtime due to crusher blockages.

[0086] Considering the present embodiment, the dump truck 1 1 provides a surface 13 which is incorporated into a truck tray 15 of the dump truck 1 1 . The surface 13 incorporates a plurality of sensors 17 in the form of accelerometers. The sensors 17 are adapted to measure the movement of the ore in the truck tray as the ore undergoes a movement event.

[0087] In other embodiments the sensors may be of a different type for measuring different parameters of the ore acting upon the surface. For instance one or more sensors may be used for measuring acoustic changes as an impact occurs. In further embodiments the surface may incorporate a variety of sensors for measuring a variety of parameters.

[0088] A movement event is provided when the ore 12 is loaded into the truck tray 15. As the ore 12 impacts upon the surface 13, the sensors 17 measure the size of each impact thereupon. In particular the sensors 17 measure the vibration that results from each impact.

[0089] In other embodiments the movement event may be provided by the truck 1 1 passing over a bump, or may be the result of the surface 13 being excited by a mechanical device.

[0090] The raw data from sensors 17 undergo a filtering process to remove spurious data, as well as data relating to the movement of the surface 13 caused by other factors, such as the movement caused by the trucks suspension. The data is then transformed to provide a set of outputs which reflect certain characteristics of the loaded ore.

[0091] When considering suspension oscillations high frequency vibration can be filtered out. Similarly, when considering Shockwaves through the truck tray low frequency vibrations can be filtered out. These filters are carried out when certain regions of the signal require closer consideration.

[0092] These outputs can then be matched/correlated against known likely characteristics of the particular ore to estimate/predict the quantity and size of ore contained within the load.

[0093] Figure 2 depicts the load of ore being loaded onto the truck while figure 3 is a graphical depiction of the same load as it impacts upon the truck's tray surface. As noted by the highlighted section 21 , the large rock 23 is represented in figure 3 as the impact having the largest amplitude.

[0094] As noted in figure 4, the data may also be considered in light of known material properties. In the present embodiment these properties may relate to the geology of the mined earth. This is helpful where the rock structure in a particular area of the mine is known/expected to fragment into larger sized ore after a blasting operation.

[0095] This information can then be presented to an operator, such as by an alarm 18, in a manner which identifies the probability of the load of ore containing oversized ore, and may provide an estimate of the quantity of oversized ore pieces in that load. The operator can then take the appropriate action based on this information.

[0096] The predictability of the system may be further enhanced by combining the results of the ore as it experiences more than one movement event.

[0097] The data collected from analysing each load of ore may also be used to fine-tune the blasting operations. When successive loads from a particular part of the mine contain oversized ore the mine is able to change the blasting operations to produce smaller sized ore. [0098] Furthermore, the type of information gathered and the sensitivity of the process of the present invention may also be readily varied. As shown in figure 5, the raw accelerometer data acquired from the sensors, information relating to the equipment, and geological characteristics may be processed to increase the predictability of the results.

[0099] In this embodiment, data relating to time, frequency and the spectral flux may be provided by the accelerometer data. Information from the equipment as well as the service condition of the equipment can include strut pressure, tyre pressure, and condition of the surface. While hardness, abrasiveness and fragmentation data can be taken from geological data. These features are then combined to provide a reliable prediction of article size.

[00100] Also, in autonomous mine sites controlled remotely, the ability for a remote operator to be notified of a load carrying oversized ore very quickly allows the operator to take decisive action to prevent a blockage to the crusher which would take a significant amount of time to clear. Alternatively, the information can cause the truck to dump its load in a stockpile for further processing before it is processed in the crusher.

[00101] In an alternative embodiment, the present invention has applications in condition monitoring. The present invention may be used to analyse and predict the size of ore being output from processing equipment (crusher, mill). An increase in the size of the processed ore is indicative of wear within the processing equipment.

[00102] In various embodiments the process extracts a number of features from the recorded signals and then feed those features to a statistical model to give rock size estimates. These signal features can include: temporal domain features; frequency domain features; RMS; enveloping frequency bins; cross correlations; peak to peak measurements; peak to peak ratios; wavelets; and/or polynomial fit coefficients.

[00103] The process is also able to predict the size and number of articles which are not detectable. In order to do this the number and size of the articles/rocks are fitted to a Rosin Rammler curve from which it is possible to infer how much smaller sized material was also loaded onto the surface of the truck's tray. [00104] The present invention improves the efficiency of the mine site by reducing the downtime due to rock breaking delays resulting in the increase in operating hours of the plant. It also minimises damage to the crusher and other mining equipment.

[00105] Modifications and variations such as would be apparent to the skilled addressee are considered to fall within the scope of the present invention. The present invention is not to be limited in scope by any of the specific embodiments described herein. These embodiments are intended for the purpose of exemplification only. Functionally equivalent products, formulations and methods are clearly within the scope of the invention as described herein.

[00106] Reference to positional descriptions, such as lower and upper, are to be taken in context of the embodiments depicted in the figures, and are not to be taken as limiting the invention to the literal interpretation of the term but rather as would be understood by the skilled addressee.

[00107] Throughout this specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Claims

1 . A process for predicting the size of detectable articles within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring the effect of the movement event on each detectable article relative to the surface; processing the measured effect of each detectable article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein each detectable article is an article within the set of articles which is detectable by an at least one sensor measuring the effect of the movement event.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the movement event is caused when the set of articles are loaded onto the surface.

4. The process as claimed in claim 3 whereupon measuring the movement of each article relative to the surface, the measure is of the impact of each article upon the surface.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the movement event is caused when the set of articles is moved relative to the surface.

6. The process as claimed in claim 5 wherein the movement event is caused by the surface being excited by a mechanical device.

7. The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein a measuring means incorporated with, or associated with the surface, measures the movement of each article as it impacts upon or moves relative to the surface.

8. The process as claimed in claim 7 wherein the measuring means is in the form of one or more sensors.

9. The process as claimed in claim 8 wherein the sensors continually measure the movement of the set of articles.

10. The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising combining the results from different movement events exerted upon the set of articles to increase the accuracy of the results.

1 1 . The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising filtering out known unwanted results and/or spurious results.

12. The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the measured effect is the amplitude and/or frequency of the vibration of each impact on the surface.

13. The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein processing the measured effect comprises transforming the results into one or more outputs relating to one or more characteristics of the article.

14. The process as claimed in claim 13 further comprising matching the one or more outputs to known likely characteristics of the particular set of articles to predict/determine the size of each article.

15. The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising visually displaying the results so that an operator can assign a suitable action to the particular set of articles.

16. A system for executing process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

17. A system for predicting the size of detectable articles within a set of articles, the system comprises: a surface adapted to receive the set of articles; a means to cause a movement event of the articles of the set of articles relative to the surface; one or more sensors to measure the effect of the movement event on each detectable article relative to the surface; processing means to process the measured effect of each detectable article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

18. The system according to claim 18 wherein the surface incorporates the one or more sensors for measuring the movement of each article relative to the surface.

19. The system according to claim 18 wherein the surface incorporates one or more sensors for measuring the movement of the larger articles within the set of articles relative to the surface.

20. The system according to claim 18 or 19 adapted to disaggregate the set of articles in to individual articles, measuring the movement of each individual article.

21 . The system according to claim 18, 19 or 20 wherein the surface is provided by the tray of a dump truck, an excavator bucket, a rail wagon, conveyors, chutes hoppers, and/or mills.

22. The system according to claim 18, 19 or 20 wherein the set of articles are in the form of a load of ore, a batch of products from a production line, or a number of selected articles from a larger number of articles.

23. A process for predicting the size of detectable articles in a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring the movement of each detectable article relative to the surface during the movement event; processing the measured movement of each detectable article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

24. The process as claimed in claim 23 further comprising transforming the measured movement into one or more outputs which is compared with known likely characteristics of the articles.

25. The process as claimed in claim 23 or 24 wherein the set of articles is a detectable subset of a load of ore placed into a dump truck.

26. The process as claimed in claim 25 wherein the subset is limited to articles which, when experience a movement event, present characteristics to the surface above a predetermined threshold.

27. The process as claimed in claim 23, 24, 25 or 26 wherein the process detects outliers.

28. A process for predicting the likelihood of detectable, irregular sized articles being incorporated within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring one or more parameters of each detectable article as it undergoes the movement event; processing the measured parameters of each article to estimate the size of each article within the set.

29. A process for predicting the likelihood of detectable, irregular weighted articles being incorporated within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring one or more parameters of each detectable article as it undergoes the movement event; processing the measured parameters of each detectable article to predict the weight of each article within the set.

30. A process for predicting the likelihood of detectable irregular sized articles being incorporated within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; capturing one or more parameters of each detectable article as it undergoes the movement event; transforming the measured parameters of each detectable article to predict the size of each detectable article within the set.

31 . The process according to claim 30 further comprising capturing the one or more parameters relating to the movement event.

32. A system for predicting the likelihood of detectable, irregular sized rocks being incorporated within a plurality of rocks, the system comprises: an apparatus to measure one or more parameters of each detectable rock as it undergoes a movement event relative to a surface; a transformation system to transform the one or more parameters to provide a prediction of the likelihood of irregular sized rocks being incorporated within the load of rocks.

33. The system according to claim 32 wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of different sensors connected to the surface to measure the one or more parameters of each rock.

34. The system according to claim 33 wherein the sensors measure the movement of each rock relative to the surface.

35. The system according to claim 34 wherein the movement event is in the form of the rocks impacting upon the surface.

36. The system according to claim 34 wherein the movement event is in the form of the rocks moving upon the surface.

37. The system according to any one of claim 33 to 36 wherein the apparatus comprises a recording means to record the output of the sensors, and input the output into the transformation system.

38. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 36 wherein the apparatus measures the vibration of each rock upon the surface.

39. The system according to claim 38 wherein the vibration comprises the initial impact, the bounce impact, and the trailing impact, the apparatus measuring one, a combination or all of these components.

40. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 39 wherein the apparatus measures the progressive accumulated load on the surface after each rock is loaded onto the surface.

41 . The system according to any one of claim 33 to 40 wherein the apparatus comprise several sensors set at different sensitivities such that the signal from a different sensor is used based on the volume of load on the surface.

42. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 41 wherein the apparatus measures the downward deflection of the surface upon each rock impacting thereupon.

43. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 42 wherein the apparatus measures the upward deflection of the surface after each rock has impacted upon the surface.

44. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 43 wherein the apparatus measures the reflection impact caused by vibration reflecting off obstructions within, or at the end of the surface.

45. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 44 wherein the apparatus measures the rate of change of acceleration (rate of change of acceleration is jerk) of each impact upon the surface.

46. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 45 wherein the apparatus measures the rate of change of acceleration of jerk (rate of change of jerk is snap) of each impact upon the surface.

47. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 46 wherein the transformation system utilises geology indexes to assist in predicting the likelihood of irregular sized rocks.

48. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 47 wherein the transformation system incorporates the geological index to provide a weighting to the one or more parameters for rocks taken from particular areas.

49. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 48 wherein the transformation system utilises information relating to the blast pattern, volume of explosives used in a blasting process, and/or age of the mine to provide a weighting to the one or more parameters.

50. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 49 wherein the transformation system calibrates the movement event against other movement events to normalise the various movement events, such that the predictability determined from one movement event can be combined with the predictability of another movement event, therefore improving the accuracy of the predictability.

51 . The system according to any one of claim 32 to 50 wherein the transformation system transform the one or more parameters using one or more of the following processes: conducting a Fourier transformation; conducting a spectral analysis; conducting a wavelet transformation; conducting an RMS transformation; conducting a peak to peak transformation; identifying the frequency relative to each rock and correlating that with the known frequency of corresponding sized rocks.

52. The system according to claim 51 wherein the one or more processes include comparing a plurality of parameters of each rock against known parameters of corresponding sized rocks.

53. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 52 wherein the transformation system provides a complete article size analysis of each rock based on the one or more parameters.

54. The system according to any one of claim 32 to 53 wherein the system provides an alert to an operator when the complete article size analysis predicts oversized rock(s) in a load on the surface.

55. A process for predicting the size of articles within a set of articles, the process comprises: causing a movement event to move the set of articles relative to a surface; measuring the effect of the movement on each article relative to the surface; processing the measured effect on each article to estimate the size of each article within the set.