Introduction Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This project aims in automation of mining equipment. Mining is the process of extraction of
valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein,
seam, reef or placer deposit. In mining industry, there are machines like vibratory feeder, screens,
stone crushers and sand washers.

1.1 PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM

This project mainly focuses on automating the vertical shaft impact crusher (VSI) and sand
washer. Process flow as shown in Fig 1.1 starts from the input feed to the VSI, where less than 20
mm stones are fed into the machine. Inside the VSI, there is a crushing chamber and rotor containing
rotor tips. The rotor is designed with exhaust ports along with outer radius. The high speed of the
rotor permits the particles to exit via the exhaust ports to enter the crushing chamber. The rotor tips
hit the stone with high velocity and crushes the stones inside the crushing chamber. The material is
stored in a storage hopper which is fed into the VSI through a vibratory feeder. The material is
conveyed using a conveyer. The output from the VSI then goes to a vibrating screen where oversized
material i.e., >4 mm, goes again into the vibratory feeder and then into the VSI. The sand output
from the vibrating screen is conveyed to the washer to improve the quality and increase its value.
The sand washer mainly consists of the hydro cyclone, dewatering screen, slurry pump and pump
motor. The role of the dewatering screen is to drain the water and to screen m-sand and p-sand
separately. The role of the hydro cyclone is to flush the water with high pressure to remove the dust
particles from the sand. The slurry pump is used to pump the p-sand from the tank into the hydro
cyclone.

Fig 1.1 Process Flow Diagram

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1.2 VERTICAL SHAFT IMPACT CRUSHER

The VSI as shown in Fig 1.2 comes with a control panel. Control panel consists of ABB’s variable
frequency drive (VFD), motor starters, and safety relays. This project is about updating the control
panel by installing Siemens S7 200 SMART PLC, Simatic HMI KTP 700 Basic panel, an extension
module for thermocouple (EM AT04).

Fig 1.2 Vertical shaft impact crusher

1.2.1 SEQUENCE FOR VSI

The sequence for automating the VSI is given in Fig 1.3. The sequence starts by checking
the bearing temperature. If the temperature is greater than 120°C, an error page pops up. If the
temperature is normal, the motor starts. Simultaneously an hour meter also starts running. This hour
meter shows the total runtime of the machine. Now, the current is monitored using a VFD, if the load
current exceeds the rated current, a buzzer turns on and the motor stops.

Fig 1.3 Sequence of VSI

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1.3 CLOUD COMPUTING OF TEMPERATURE DATA

For testing of vibrating screen and vibratory feeder the motor is coupled with it and tested for
several hours. Vibration of these machines are achieved by coupling an unbalanced load to the non-
drive end of the screens / feeders, heat generated in the both drive and non-drive end of the
screen/feeder should be tested for almost 8 hours with different frequencies. This temperature data
is being noted manually every 15 minutes. The temperature is measured using a K-type
thermocouple. This project aims in collecting the temperature data and uploading it in the cloud every
minute using nodeMCU and max6675 chip.

1.4 SAND WASHER

In order to increase the efficiency and to reduce the downtime of the sand washer as shown in
Fig 1.4, Siemens S7 200 smart PLC along with Simatic HMI KTP 700 Basic panel is used to automate
the machine. Ladder logic and HMI screen is developed for the sequence. In the HMI screen, there
are two modes - manual and automatic. In automatic mode, the pumps and motors in the washer
automatically switches on/off with respect to the level sensor data. In manual mode, except slurry
pump motor, all the other motors and pumps can be switched on/off manually and individually.

Fig 1.4 Sand washer

1.4.1 SEQUENCE FOR SAND WASHER

The start sequence for automating the sand washer is given in figure 1.5 and the stop
sequence is given in Fig 1.6. The sequence starts by switching on the inlet pump and then checking
the water level. If the water level is high, the slurry pump is switched on, if not it waits for the water
level to become high and then the slurry pump is switched on. The dewatering motor is switched on
immediately after the slurry pump is switched on. After stopping the machine, the inlet pump is turned
off after 5 minutes’ delay, the slurry pump is turned off 2 minutes after the inlet pump goes off and at
last the dewatering motor is turned off 2 minutes after the slurry pump is switched off.

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Fig 1.5 Start sequence of Sand Washer

Fig 1.6 Stop sequence of Sand Washer

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1.5 CALCULATING THE TOTAL OUTPUT

The output of the mining plant will be different types of sands like M sand and P sand. The total
output of the mining plant can be measured by using the load cell as shown in Fig 1.7 and a load
cell module as shown in Fig 1.8. Load cell is used to measure the weight of material pass through
the load cell. Load cell module is used to calibrate, tare weight and it also mainly helps in Modbus
communication with the PLC. The weight measured by the load cell is sent to PLC using Modbus for
the calculation of the total output weight in tones. The PLC is programmed to calculate the total
output by the machine and to calculate the total output delivered by the machine per shit.

Fig 1.7 Load cell

Fig 1.8 Load cell module