MechChem Africa July-August 2022

⎪ Products and industry news ⎪

Ultra-compact infrared camera for the metals industry

The OPTRIS PI 1M IR camera, available in South Africa from Instrotech, is especially suited to measuring the temperature of metals, as these exhibit a distinctly higher emi ss ivi ty at the short measurement wavelength of 1.0 μm than at measure ments in the previously convent ional wavelength range of 8 to 14 μm. The advantage of temperature mea surements with the new infrared camera lies in the large amount of information in an IR picture/IR video and the short reaction time of 1.0 ms for the output of temperature information of freely select able individual pixels. The use of these image sensors allows a large dynamic range for temperature measurement so that the prev ious l y necessary use of relat ively many and narrowly defined sub-ranges is no longer required. Intel l igent measuring with a pyrometer is now possible thanks to the two-dimensional temperature recording of the Optris PI 1M. The large measurement temperature

For more information on the Optris PI 1M, for application in the metal, contact Instrotech. www.instrotech.co.za

range of 450 to 1 800 °C that the Optris PI 1M IR camera offers satisfies practically all demands in the fields of metal produc tion and processing. Pertinent features of the Optris PI 1M IR camera include: • A h i g h l y f l e x i b l e

CMOS detector with an optical resolution o f up t o 764×480 pixels. • A large temperature measurement range – wi thout the need for sub-ranges – of 450 °C to 1 800 °C. • Frame ra t es o f up t o 1 kHz f o r f a s t processing. • Real-time output of middle pixel at a set up time of 1.0 ms. • Inclusion of license f ree ana l ys i s sof t - ware and full SDK

Transfer chutes: a primary consideration

should be part of the design process from the very start.” Weba Chute Systems has, over the years, forged strong relationships with several leading EPCMs, and Baller notes that there is an apparent change in attitude towards the role of chutes in plant designs. Many EPCMs, he says, have seen the importance of getting a chute supplier involved at an early stage of the design process.

experience, a significant portion of plant downtime is general ly attributable to transfer chutes, be it through blockages, spi l lage or high chute wear,” explains Baller. “That’s why chutes should never be considered an afterthought in plant designs. “An experienced chute manufacturer

The signi f icance of correct chute de s i gns to ensure ef f i c i ent t rans fer of material in processing plants wi thout blockages, spi l lage and with minimum wear cannot be emphas i sed enough . Ye t , Eng i nee r i ng , Procur ement and Construction Management (EPCM) con tractors rarely collaborate with an expe

rienced chute manufacturer early on in their plant design processes to ensure correct configuration of transfer points. Th i s i s accord i ng to Mark Ba l l er, manag i ng d i rec tor of Weba Chute Systems, who warns that the consequences of insuffi cient attention to transfer chutes in plant designs can be dire, as op timummaterial transfer is seldom achieved at plant start-up. “The role of transfer chutes in a plant is traditionally underesti mated. Based on our decades of

“Involving us in the early stages of plant designs el iminates the need for time consuming and costly modifications, which is often the case when a chute supplier is only consulted at a later stage of the process. Correct transfer chute designs eliminate unplanned plant stop pages and production losses down the line, thus boosting revenues for the mine,” concludes Baller. www.webachutes.com

Material being conveyed between two custom engineered Weba Chutes transfer points.

44 ¦ MechChem Africa • September-October 2020