The Hydrocyclones Performance Monitoring Based on Vibration Wave Analysis at Sarcheshmeh Processing Plant

Hydrocyclone is one of the main important equipment applied for the classification of materials in mineral processing plants. Presence of coarse particles in the hydrocyclone overflow adversely affects the performance of the downstream processes. This research was carried out to provide a solution for these problems by using vibrational wave analysis. The results of vibrometer analysis showed that the average rate of vibrational signal increased from 6 dB at normal condition to 11 dB at the chock condition and variation increased more than 2 times. To stabilize the hydrocyclone vibratory behavior, a rubber layer was fitted under the hydrocyclone base and tightened with an equal torque. In order to reduce the cost and increase the accuracy of the work a piezoelectric sensor was manufactured and installed by designing the printed circuit board and installing an alarm. Analysis of piezoelectric sensor data showed that the average vibrational amplitude increases from 13 dB at normal time to 23 dB during clogging. The size distribution results showed that the amount of K80 (the size at which 80% of the particles are smaller) increased from 119 microns under normal conditions to 725 microns during clogging due to the miss classification of materials transferred to the overflow. This result indicated by using these sensors the efficiency of mineral processing circuits increases significantly.