Design of an automated grinding media charging system for ball mills
- Rupare, W.F., Nyanga, L., Van der Merwe, A.F., Matope, S., Mhlanga, S.
- Authors: Rupare, W.F. , Nyanga, L. , Van der Merwe, A.F. , Matope, S. , Mhlanga, S.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Mill load , Grinding production ratio
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4919 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13019
- Description: The parameters of mill load (ML) not only represent the load of the ball mill, but also determine the grinding production ratio (GPR) of the grinding process. Monitoring and recognition of milling conditions have significant effect on the operating efficiency, product quality, and energy and grinding media consumption for the milling circuit. This paper presents an automated grinding media charging system incorporating a multi-agent system developed in Java Agent Development Environment (JADE). A control logix program is designed to determine the precise quantities of grinding media to be charged in an incremental manner such that shock loading is avoided. The multi-agent system created in JADE monitors the power drawn and the mill load of the ball mill such that proper charging conditions are established. High quality of the regulation process is achieved through utilization of the control logix and the multi-agent system.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Rupare, W.F. , Nyanga, L. , Van der Merwe, A.F. , Matope, S. , Mhlanga, S.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Mill load , Grinding production ratio
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4919 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13019
- Description: The parameters of mill load (ML) not only represent the load of the ball mill, but also determine the grinding production ratio (GPR) of the grinding process. Monitoring and recognition of milling conditions have significant effect on the operating efficiency, product quality, and energy and grinding media consumption for the milling circuit. This paper presents an automated grinding media charging system incorporating a multi-agent system developed in Java Agent Development Environment (JADE). A control logix program is designed to determine the precise quantities of grinding media to be charged in an incremental manner such that shock loading is avoided. The multi-agent system created in JADE monitors the power drawn and the mill load of the ball mill such that proper charging conditions are established. High quality of the regulation process is achieved through utilization of the control logix and the multi-agent system.
- Full Text:
Designing of an intelligent fuzzy logic system for accretion prevention in Sponge iron SL/RN rotary KILN based 100TPD DRI process
- Garikayi, T., Nyanga, L., Mushiri, T., Mhlanga, S., Kuipa, P.K.
- Authors: Garikayi, T. , Nyanga, L. , Mushiri, T. , Mhlanga, S. , Kuipa, P.K.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Sponge iron , Fuzzy logic , Kiln shell temperatures
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4971 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13072
- Description: Sponge iron is an intermediate product of steel formed during direct reduction of iron ore with aid of regulated temperatures and pressures within a rotary kiln. The greatest challenge is the direct measurement of kiln shell temperatures due to the catastrophic accumulation of sintered particles of solid bed which form rings at places along the length of the kiln thus hindering material flow. The accretion reduces productivity, damage kiln lining and reduces the production period as well as reduction in product quality. This process requires a controller which will be able to control with imprecise and partial data input; and be able to achieve the desired product quality under dynamic process conditions thus a Fuzzy Controller was used for the proposed design. The main goal of the research was to predict the rate of accretion build up within the kiln and minimize it with aid of a Fuzzy Control System cascaded to an already existing Programmable Logic Controller. A 16.2% build up rate was achieved as compared to the most appreciated 27% thus nearly a 10% decrease, a result which can improve the campaign period by approximately 48 hours which will be a 200 tons of sponge iron.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Garikayi, T. , Nyanga, L. , Mushiri, T. , Mhlanga, S. , Kuipa, P.K.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Sponge iron , Fuzzy logic , Kiln shell temperatures
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4971 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13072
- Description: Sponge iron is an intermediate product of steel formed during direct reduction of iron ore with aid of regulated temperatures and pressures within a rotary kiln. The greatest challenge is the direct measurement of kiln shell temperatures due to the catastrophic accumulation of sintered particles of solid bed which form rings at places along the length of the kiln thus hindering material flow. The accretion reduces productivity, damage kiln lining and reduces the production period as well as reduction in product quality. This process requires a controller which will be able to control with imprecise and partial data input; and be able to achieve the desired product quality under dynamic process conditions thus a Fuzzy Controller was used for the proposed design. The main goal of the research was to predict the rate of accretion build up within the kiln and minimize it with aid of a Fuzzy Control System cascaded to an already existing Programmable Logic Controller. A 16.2% build up rate was achieved as compared to the most appreciated 27% thus nearly a 10% decrease, a result which can improve the campaign period by approximately 48 hours which will be a 200 tons of sponge iron.
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Development of a resource agent for an e-manufacturing system
- Nyanga, L., Vlok, P.J., Mutingi, M., Matope, S., Van der Merwe, A.F.
- Authors: Nyanga, L. , Vlok, P.J. , Mutingi, M. , Matope, S. , Van der Merwe, A.F.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Distributed manufacturing systems , Maintenance free operation period (MFOP) method , e-Manufacturing , Maintenance free operation period method
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4952 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13052
- Description: Due to globalisation and distributed manufacturing systems the development and manufacture of products is no longer an isolated activity undertaken by either one discipline or a single organization but has become a global process. Using e-manufacturing companies can now outsource to manufacturers outside their geographical area and make them dependent on the production capabilities and responsiveness of the suppliers. Hence there is need for the suppliers to provide reliable information on the state of the orders being processed. E-manufacturing promises companies to exchange the required information with their suppliers by increased visibility to the shop floor and providing a platform for information interchange. The paper discusses the development of an e-manufacturing resource agent to enable manufactures to predict the probability of their outsourced machinery being available and the probability to complete an order without having a breakdown. The Maintenance Free Operation Period (MFOP) method is used to develop the agent. This means that the manufacturer will be expected to have a guarantee that no unscheduled maintenance activities will occur during each defined period of operation with the predefined level of confidence.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nyanga, L. , Vlok, P.J. , Mutingi, M. , Matope, S. , Van der Merwe, A.F.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Distributed manufacturing systems , Maintenance free operation period (MFOP) method , e-Manufacturing , Maintenance free operation period method
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4952 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13052
- Description: Due to globalisation and distributed manufacturing systems the development and manufacture of products is no longer an isolated activity undertaken by either one discipline or a single organization but has become a global process. Using e-manufacturing companies can now outsource to manufacturers outside their geographical area and make them dependent on the production capabilities and responsiveness of the suppliers. Hence there is need for the suppliers to provide reliable information on the state of the orders being processed. E-manufacturing promises companies to exchange the required information with their suppliers by increased visibility to the shop floor and providing a platform for information interchange. The paper discusses the development of an e-manufacturing resource agent to enable manufactures to predict the probability of their outsourced machinery being available and the probability to complete an order without having a breakdown. The Maintenance Free Operation Period (MFOP) method is used to develop the agent. This means that the manufacturer will be expected to have a guarantee that no unscheduled maintenance activities will occur during each defined period of operation with the predefined level of confidence.
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Investigation of the effects of lubricant fat content on drawn copper wires
- Chiduwa, A.C., Nyanga, L., Mhlanga, S., Kanyemba, G., Van der Merwe, A.F.
- Authors: Chiduwa, A.C. , Nyanga, L. , Mhlanga, S. , Kanyemba, G. , Van der Merwe, A.F.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Cable manufacturing , Lubricant fat content , Lean manufacturing , Copper wire manufacturing
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4963 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13064
- Description: The Lean Manufacturing goal of reducing waste and increasing productivity has made it a necessity to produce good quality products in manufacturing industries at a low cost. In the cable manufacturing companies this can be achieved by optimising the wire drawing process. One way to meet the desired quality of the drawn wires is to improve lubricant efficiency through installation of an automatic, continuous lubricant fat content control system on the drawing machine. The paper shows a method of finding the optimum lubricant concentration for producing good quality copper wires using Taguchi experiments. Taguchi experiments are employed to analyse the effects of different lubricant fat content levels on the tensile strength and lubricant temperature. The results from the experiments indicated that the tensile strength of the wire is affected by low lubricant fat content. The lower the lubricant fat content: the lower the tensile strength drawing lubricant resulting in numerous wire breakages that affect the quality of the final product, namely the cable.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chiduwa, A.C. , Nyanga, L. , Mhlanga, S. , Kanyemba, G. , Van der Merwe, A.F.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Cable manufacturing , Lubricant fat content , Lean manufacturing , Copper wire manufacturing
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4963 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13064
- Description: The Lean Manufacturing goal of reducing waste and increasing productivity has made it a necessity to produce good quality products in manufacturing industries at a low cost. In the cable manufacturing companies this can be achieved by optimising the wire drawing process. One way to meet the desired quality of the drawn wires is to improve lubricant efficiency through installation of an automatic, continuous lubricant fat content control system on the drawing machine. The paper shows a method of finding the optimum lubricant concentration for producing good quality copper wires using Taguchi experiments. Taguchi experiments are employed to analyse the effects of different lubricant fat content levels on the tensile strength and lubricant temperature. The results from the experiments indicated that the tensile strength of the wire is affected by low lubricant fat content. The lower the lubricant fat content: the lower the tensile strength drawing lubricant resulting in numerous wire breakages that affect the quality of the final product, namely the cable.
- Full Text:
Model reference adaptive control system for moisture regulation in cotton ginning
- Garikayi, T., Nyanga, L., Mushiri, T., Mhlanga, S., Muzinda, A., Mutangi, T.
- Authors: Garikayi, T. , Nyanga, L. , Mushiri, T. , Mhlanga, S. , Muzinda, A. , Mutangi, T.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Cotton ginning - Moisture control , Cotton - Moisture content , Model reference adaptive control
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4928 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13028
- Description: Moisture content (mc) within the cotton fibre is an important aspect for all stages of the ginning process. However due to the process dynamics, mc is currently being controlled by regulating the water and air temperatures from the Humidifiers. Human intervention and lack of consistence on set-points determination has resulted in inconsistent mc during humidification. This procedure requires a control system which will be able to adjust the process set-points automatically by eliminating the need for human intervention. In this paper a robust Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) system for a Samuel Jackson Humidifier is presented. This system improves upon the existing system by creating a closed loop controller with parameters that can be updated to change the response from reference model. The control parameters are then updated based on this error thus the parameters converge to ideal values that cause the plant response to match the response of the reference model.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Garikayi, T. , Nyanga, L. , Mushiri, T. , Mhlanga, S. , Muzinda, A. , Mutangi, T.
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Cotton ginning - Moisture control , Cotton - Moisture content , Model reference adaptive control
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4928 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13028
- Description: Moisture content (mc) within the cotton fibre is an important aspect for all stages of the ginning process. However due to the process dynamics, mc is currently being controlled by regulating the water and air temperatures from the Humidifiers. Human intervention and lack of consistence on set-points determination has resulted in inconsistent mc during humidification. This procedure requires a control system which will be able to adjust the process set-points automatically by eliminating the need for human intervention. In this paper a robust Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) system for a Samuel Jackson Humidifier is presented. This system improves upon the existing system by creating a closed loop controller with parameters that can be updated to change the response from reference model. The control parameters are then updated based on this error thus the parameters converge to ideal values that cause the plant response to match the response of the reference model.
- Full Text:
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