Performance Analysis of a Silo-SlideGate-Feeder System to Regulate the Ore Flow by DEM Simulation

• Severe variability of fresh feed ore flowrate in a crushing circuit may cause some operational damages. Related issues include conveyor belt and sieves overload, interlocked crushers, early equipment wear, and silos overflow. Usually, the speed of feeders is used to control the ore output from silos; however, it is ineffective in regulating the height of material carried by the feeder. The introduction of a slide gate in the primary silo of the crushing circuit is an alternative to increase the degree of freedom for controlling the fresh ore flowrate. This paper presents a numerical simulation using a discrete element method (DEM) applied in a silo-gate-feeder system. The simulated model is based on parameters from a Vale’s iron ore beneficiation plant located in Serra Leste Mine, city of Curionópolis, Brazil. The simulation was carried out using the software Siemens Star CCM+ ®. Three scenarios were evaluated, such as changes in the slide gate aperture. The results show that regulating the feeder speed simultaneously with the gate aperture provides a novel control strategy to reduce variability in fresh ore flowrate. The best simulation result reduced in about 11% the variability flowrate compared with the case with no slide gate.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Reglerteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Control Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Numerical simulation

DEM

Apron feeder

Sliding gate

Automatic Control

Reglerteknik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)