A sensor for assessing the quality of the mineral flotation process

Author

Guarini, M. ; Cáceres, J. ; Guesalaga, A. ; Cipriano, A. ; Olmedo, J. ; Lozano, H.

Author_Institution

Dept. de Ingenieria Electrica, Pontificia Univ. Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

fYear

1994

fDate

25-27 May 1994

Firstpage

386

Lastpage

391

Abstract

An instrument to assess the quality of the flotation process for mineral concentration in the copper industry has been developed. It is based on computer processing of images of the foam formed at the surface of flotation cells, that are captured by a CCD camera. The instrument evaluates the size, shape and color parameters of the foam bubbles, which, according to experienced plant operators, are associated with the quality of the flotation process. It is being used for supporting plant operator control decisions, and to correlate the calculated parameters with the performance of the flotation process. In future applications, it can be used as a sensor for a fuzzy logic or neural net based control system

Keywords

CCD image sensors; bubbles; computerised instrumentation; foams; metallurgical industries; quality control; spatial variables measurement; CCD camera; bubble size measurement; copper industry; foam bubbles; mineral flotation process; plant operator control decisions; quality assessment; sensor; Charge coupled devices; Charge-coupled image sensors; Color; Copper; Instruments; Metals industry; Minerals; Mining industry; Sensor systems and applications; Shape;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industrial Electronics, 1994. Symposium Proceedings, ISIE '94., 1994 IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Santiago

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1961-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISIE.1994.333085

Filename

333085