CST weighing equipment is popular in mines across the country. ABHR speaks to the company’s Western Australian service manager to find out why.
Australian mines are massive undertakings, moving monumental amounts of material every minute.
If a weighing system is off by a mere one or two per cent, it can lead to megatonnes of lost production potential and money.
This is why Control Systems Technology (CST) has a laser focus on delivering some of the most accurate weighing systems and service practices available on the Australian market.
Andrew Paterson, service manager for CST (WA), told ABHR an inaccurate belt weigher can be disastrous for mines.
“It can lead to underutilisation of a conveyor, blocked chutes, slower ship loading, inventory write-offs, over or underloading of ships, production downtime and lost production capacity,” he said.
“Weighing systems are our core product, supporting processes like stockpiling, primary crushing, train loading, and reclaiming.
“The more accurate they are, the more efficiently a mine or port can run these operations, and the more utilisation they can get out of the fixed plant infrastructure.”
Each mine site and material are different, and even small factors can potentially cause inaccuracies. This is why CST’s design philosophy is to work closely with mines to build a measuring system based on their unique requirements.
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CST’s engineers will run a series of calculations to determine what equipment is needed for the application and then design the weigher needed for the specific location and accuracy requirement. This helps guarantee the system will provide the accuracy readings required.
Paterson said offering application and location engineered solutions rather than ‘off the shelf’ weighing systems means major mining companies can trust in the equipment as installed.
“This is why CST are preferred suppliers to most of the worlds major mining companies, and also why we are able to guarantee accuracy,” he said.
“We have 3000 installations of our weighing systems around the world, and many are trade-certified units where accuracy has been proven through live load testing” he said.
“We have a reputation for having the most accurate systems available in the industry. That’s in part thanks to some of our approach and understanding of the problems of in-motion weighing.
“CST works closely with major mining companies. In this industry, all it takes is one mistake, and that trust can be broken, which is why we have worked hard to develop the best design and service practices in the industry.”
The company’s research and development department works closely with process engineers, metallurgists and mine electrical departments to find ways to improve its products.
One way CST is helping mines learn more about their process is by using its Mass and Volume Information System. The system integrates a volumetric scanner on CST’s retractable scanner mounting frame, with CST’s industry leading belt weigher system via their MaVIS-ICS-ARM integrator software. The result is a system that not only accurately measures tonnage and volume, but can also measure product quality via KG/M3 data as a cumulative figure, instantaneous figure, or averaged batch figures.
It also accurately measures how close material is to the edge of the conveyor belt for safety checks allowing sites to ease back on feeds on conveyors spilling rocks or other materials.
Material-to-belt-edge measurement is also used in the control logic to allow sites to optimise the material loading to ensure maximum safe throughput for the conveyor system.
This means that more production is possible from a conveyor that has this system fitted and the conveyor can operate more efficiently and with higher standards of safety.
It can also be used as a dual verification tool between the weightometer and the scanner as a sanity check and to provide potential for dual redundancy.
“This system is a game changer for bulk handling as it changes a belt weigher from something that usually provides only flow rate and cumulative tonnes to something that also provides cross section (m2), instant density (kg/m3), average density, batch density, material-to-belt-edge measurements, surcharge angle, belt edge position for belt tracking monitoring, belt width monitoring, material height monitoring, as well as the usual tonnes per hour, cumulative tonnes, alarms and belt speed,” Paterson said.
“This is a full suite of conveyor belt loading data, allowing all sorts of clever load optimisation algorithms to be implemented into processing control systems.”
On the service side, CST has worked very hard to have the best service practices in the industry.
CST has spare parts available in major hubs in the Pilbara, Queensland and New South Wales. If the team is required on-site, they can quickly get the parts to the mines to prevent production down time.
CST technicians undergo rigorous training to ensure they know the equipment, like the back of their hands. This training helps minimise delays and cuts down on downtime.
Paterson said a lot of work goes into managing shutdowns and maintenance to keep downtime to a minimum and ensure best quality assurance practices.
“We’ve developed a system that ensures we are providing the best possible outcomes, and allows data to be verified in situ against theoretical data, historical trends and other empirical data,” he said.
“In addition, we have found innovative ways to help minimise downtime for calibrations. Historically, to calibrate a conveyor, you would need to run the belt empty for several hours to complete a calibration. This would potentially delay production.”
“We’ve recognised that this was causing delays and went about developing practices that allow us to calibrate the belt quickly and easily but without compromising accuracy, we now have a system where we can hand back conveyors into production in a fraction of the time but while maintaining the highest standards in accuracy. ”
CST’s research and development (R&D) team have also been hard at work finding new ways to adapt to the evolving needs of modern mines through products like the IntelliRoll.
The IntelliRoll is a low-cost, low-maintenance wireless, autonomous, self-generating belt weigher in a single roller. It can enable sites to gather data from difficult, hard-to-reach or faraway places and gather useful data between feed points where larger weighers can’t be assembled.
It can connect to an existing PLC via a Wi-Fi network or directly to a smart device using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. It can also store data on board, which can then be logged later. Multiple IntelliRolls can be linked together to increase the overall accuracy of the weigh data.
With the introduction of the IntelliRoll, CST can bring its weighing capability to whole new markets in agriculture, waste management, quarrying, and smaller mining operations. It can also gather data at a new level for process control in large ore processing plants.
“We plan to continue investing in innovations like the IntelliRoll to make sure CST provides the best weighing systems possible,” Paterson said.
