Adaptive mass flow sensor calibration method for crushing circuits

摘要

Development of automated feedback control and optimization systems for crushing circuits requires accurate online mass flow measurements. In the recent years, plant-wide online mass flow estimation systems utilising cost-effective sensor technology, such as power transducers, have been developed and researched in crushing industry with good results.The most significant benefits of these measurement systems are accuracy and cost-effectiveness. The low unit prices of the sensors enable plant-wide measurement capabilities, which have been previously financially non-feasible. However, little attention has been paid to online calibration of such systems.This paper presents an adaptive calibration method for online mass flow estimation systems in crushing circuits. The presented method includes two features: online crushing plant operating state recognition and measurement calibration based on mass balance, and offline adaptation based on the cumulative end-product volumes of the crushing plant. This paper demonstrates an example implementation of the presented method applied into an online mass flow estimation system of a large scale crushing plant.