MechChem Africa November 2017

⎪ Plant maintenance, lubrication and filtration ⎪

Monitoring mills’ liner profiles aids efficiency Unreliable and time-consuming methods of monitoring the condi- tion of mill liners are now a thing of the past, as mines can now ensure higher efficiencies by tracking liner wear in real time. This is thanks to the use of MultoScan by Multotec Rubber, whereby millingplants areable toaccuratelymeasureamill’s liner profileand predictthepointatwhichthemillwillstartbecominginefficient.The automatic measurement and display of the charge level confirms that the operation of the mill is correct.

having better information on the liner profile gives maintenance crews the ability to set the trigger point for the liner inventory as and when it is needed. MultoScanallows keyperformance indicators froman individual mill to be mapped and linked to the liner profile condition. This extends the capability of the monitoring system by allowing mines to select and track specific criteria. Field trials have proven how well the system works in some of Africa’smost arduousmilling conditions and, recently, the technol- ogy has even been exported to Australian customers. q

According to Matthew Fitzsimons, technical manager at MultotecRubber, wear rates of liners arenot linear, as the increased slippageofthechargeonwornlinerstendstoexponentiallyincrease the wear rate. Data generated by the MultoScan is analysed and interpreted by highly skilled technicians usingMultotec’sHawkeye proprietary programme, so there is no time lag, allowingplants to respondmuch more quickly. “When combined with critical mill operating parameters, this data can help predict the point where the liner becomes ineffi- cient and hence when the mill itself will become inefficient,” says Fitzsimons. “Customers can receive immediate feedback on the condition of the liners, so any urgent issues can also be timeously addressed.” RepeatabilityoftheMultoScanresultsmeansthatthereishardly any room for human error in this system. It also savesmines signifi- cantly in terms of the time value ofmill stoppages for takingmanual wear readings. Further savings can be harnessed by reducing the stockholding of liners that mines need to keep; this is because,

MultoScan, fromMultotec Rubber, can accurately measure a mill’s liner profile and predict the point at which the mill will start becoming inefficient.