Vibrating Screen Condition Monitor Detects Faults Before Failure
Schenck Process Condition Monitor, CONiQ, prevents Screening downtime
Inspection and maintenance costs due to a broken down or failing Screen in mining and metal production sites, incur immense costs.
Unique to Schenck Process, condition monitoring with the CONiQ, enables companies to realign their maintenance strategies around fault detection and prevention, thereby saving significant money and improving output. With the CONiQ, Schenck Process is very proud of its position as a provider of intelligent Industry 4.0 applications.
Proactively avoid downtime
“In heavy industries such as mining or steel manufacturing, machines are confronted with unparalleled harsh conditions,” says Jan Schäfer, Product Manager, Schenck Process R&D. “Short maintenance intervals, unplanned machine breakdowns and the damage that can result are the attendant consequences. Companies that until now have relied on corrective maintenance need to change their thinking in a competitive environment, in which downtime has become more expensive than ever.”
Particularly in the mining industry, plants are often in remote locations where service personnel are not within easy reach. However, as performance and fault data collected by the CONiQ can be accessed remotely. Therefore, monitoring a site’s screening performance, isn’t limited by their location or machine access restrictions.
Typically, it has been larger mining sites that have adopted Condition Monitoring technology, but even on smaller mines the reliance on a screen to keep performing, is very high. As a result, there is a growing demand for the deployment of proactive condition monitoring and diagnostic systems, across both mining and metal processing sites.
Highest operation availability
The CONiQ is based on the principle of predictive maintenance. Damage and wear are detected, and components can be repaired or replaced before they lead to more serious damage or breakdowns. Significant cracks or defects of the screen body are also proactively detected.
CONiQ continuously monitors the vibration of machines which includes feeders, as well as components and oil temperature. These metrics are automatically analyzed against preconfigured initial and limit values and then interpreted for possible root causes.
With the prevention of a single plant standstill caused by a vibrating screen, the CONiQ will immediately recover the investment costs. The monitoring system can be bundled into new vibrating machinery or retrofitted to a machine that is already in operation.
As well as preventing breakdowns and optimizing the machine’s efficiency, this approach allows for pre-planned maintenance: the service life of components is maximized and the time demands of maintenance personnel are reduced. Unforeseen downtime for maintenance can be avoided, and maintenance work planned more effectively. Moreover, operators can gain machine-specific experience and know-how for future sites.
CONiQ also measures screen movement with a six-dimensional inertial sensor: three-dimensional linear acceleration, and three-dimensional rotatory velocity. Six-dimensional measurement is essential towards detecting machine fault.
Additionally, CONiQ measures mechanical vibration at both sides of the exciter with piezoelectric accelerometers. This detects any possible damage to bearings and gears that could emit vibrations causing further damage to the exciter.
The CONiQ offers the option of wireless or non-wireless data communication for these sensors to the floor unit, which carries out continuous analysis of the measurements. “This combines flexibility of deployment with security and synchronicity. A wireless-only approach is not always ideal in environments where there is a lot of external interference that can affect the signal,” says Schäfer.
For more information on the CONiQ, go to www.schenckprocess.com/products/CONiQ-Monitor
Schenck Process is a global and trusted supplier of bulk handling solutions, for a variety of processing industries including Mining and Minerals, Metals, Cement. Food, Chemicals, Plastics. Transport, Automation and Utilities.
Providing new equipment, as well as maintenance and material testing services, Schenck Process technologies include Conveying, Weighing, Feeding, Screening, Power Processing, Automation, Bag Filling & Discharging, as well as Components and Spares.
www.schenckprocess.com or email info@schenckprocess.com
