Assessment of Reconfigurable Vibrating Screen Technology for the Mining Industries

Abstract

AbstractVibrating screens are very vital in the mineral processing industries for the beneficiation (separation) of mineral particles into different sizes. The breaking down of vibrating screens due to unforeseen contingencies have reduced the productivity of these machines thereby reducing the competitiveness, availability and reliability of these machines for the set production target made by the company. Also since human wants are insatiable, fluctuation in the mineral concentrates demands has been an inevitable scenario, thus, reducing the efficiency of the mineral beneficiation industries. During peak mineral concentrates demand, most of these industries do not have an option than to purchase another beneficiation screen in order to meet up with the continuously increasing production demand. A solution called the Reconfigurable Vibrating Screen (RVS) that can cover the gaps created by machine breakdown, and ensure that the variations in quantity of mineral concentrates needed by customers are met. In this paper, a state of configurations achieved by RVS as compared to the existing conventional vibrating screens was made. In addition to this, a market assessment of the proposed RVS and other existing screening technologies was performed. The index parameters used for this analysis are capacity, reliability, efficiency, versatility and cost. From the comparative analysis, it was observed that there are high advantages for using RVS for beneficiation operations in the mineral beneficiation in place of existing vibrating screens.